How long does the process take?

[Coraliine 1]

Hello everyone. I am an American citizen and my boyfriend is Dutch. We live together in The Netherlands and are interested in moving to the US so I can find a job in my field. He meets all the requirements of the diversity lottery, and we were thinking of entering him into it to avoid having to get married (I do love him, and I think we would get married in the future, but I do not want to get married at this time).

I just wanted to know what the timeline of the entire thing is. I know the drawing for it will be in the spring, but how long does the visa process take if you are chosen? I graduate from my university in February and have 6 months before I have to start paying back my student loans (yay America!). It is 100% impossible for me to find work in this country, and I just wanted to know if it was even possible for us to go through this route or if we should completely avoid it and just get married.

[Asia 2,491]

If he's selected in the lottery it all depends of what case number he gets.

Te lower number, the earlier interview.

Interviews for the current lottery (DV-2016) will take place from 1st September next year, till 31st August 2016.

Or it can end earlier when all the green cards would be distributed.

[SusieQQQ 11,584]

Asia is almost right , except that visa issuance is from 1 October 2015 to 30 September 2016, or earlier if visas are exhausted.

Edited October 29, 2014 by SusieQQQ

[Asia 2,491]

Yeah, I got the months wrong

Of course its October-September

Sorry!

[Coraliine 1]

Thanks for letting me know! It seems like this is definitely off the table. My loan repayments begin in August, and I cannot afford to be unemployed here any longer than that.