ivan.escalona

Hi there! I entered the US on June 3rd. I know there will be at least 3 months until I can even think of receiving my Green card.... But I'm not sure how to check the status of my case. I mean, whats my case status number? and in which website am I able to check it?

Anyone please?

Thanks as usual Susie for your quick and accurate response...

I know what you are saying, but I have been told by several people they were having troubles when they checked the box, since they have told them "It will arrive to your email on 21 days" then nothing happens and when they call they tell them they dont have records of their application and that they should go to a local office to file the application again, and this application is quick and they get it in no time.

Of course we all want the SSN as fast as we can since without it we are basically tourists and with it we can start all the necessary government errands to be able to apply for jobs, driver's license, open bank accounts, etc. So thats why I was asking. If I can uncheck the box and go to the office to apply for the SSN, say, the next day upon my arrival (June 4th arriving on June 3rd), can I go to the office and will they accept my application? Or do I still have to wait for some more time before I can go to apply?

I don't think the physical card would be important for job applications and all other things, so that can wait, but I do want to know if its better to have it done by myself or if its the same as letting them do it.

So your answers for number 2 and 3 are basically: "don't ask for the box to be unchecked cause you will still have to wait some time to get your SSN even if you do that?

Thanks for the reply!

Hello fellow Visajourneyers!! Wife and I got our visas on April 8th 2014 and we are all set to go to the US. I'm from Venezuela and I came to Mexico with her since she is Mexican and has her job here. I will be entering the US first and she will come in September. We got our Visas through DV Lottery 2014, she is DV02 and Im DV01

1) Our Visas expire on October 2014, does this mean we can get to the US the first time before this date and everything will be in order? I have heard from people that you have to enter before Medical Exams expire or something like that, but we had our medical exams for February which means we would have to enter the US before certain date of August, is this true? or false? Mind you the whole reason we had our interview rescheduled from february to April in the first place was because the information of the www.dvselectee.gov site was one and the information from the people in the embassy was different so... Any experience from anyone on this particular one?

2) The important one on SSN (Social Security Number): I checked the box of "I want the government to make arrangements for me to get a Social Security Number", can this be changed a Port of Entry (like the Address for the Greencard to be sent)?

3) If I can change this and can in fact go and get my SNN by myself by going to the office with the passport and the Seal in the Immigrant Visa, can this be done as soon as I get in the US? Like... arriving on the 3rd and going on June 4th? Or do I still have to wait for some time to be able to apply for SSN?

Thanks in advance people! You rock!

PS: Already pay the 165$ immigration fee for both of us!

Hello all!!! Well, all documents have been sent... With any luck I will be recieving the email with the interview when the case number becomes current in the following months...

I'm already planning the interview and all the documents I have to send. I was wondering, would it be advisable or any help at all to have some letters from cousins and/or uncles who are U.S. citizens that state that they will make sure I'm ok over there if I'm granted the visa and that they will help me get on track or something like that?

I have heard of such letters but I'm not sure how does it work, for instance I have heard of people writing a letter of recommendation or something like that to the corresponding U.S. Consular office where they asked for the tourist visa of a very dear friend of theirs to be approved since it was rejected priorly and they wanted to have her for a visit in the US.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

Ivan

You need to send your forms in ASAP. KCC will not schedule an interview appointment for you until they have received and processed the forms, which can take 1-2 months. So even if your number is current in December you may find you will be scheduled a later interview because you have delayed sending in your forms.

Notification is usually 6-7 weeks before interview. Usually the interview letter is on the website a couple of days after the visa bulletin with your number is published for example you would get it around mid-October for a December interview. If your forms are only processed after the visa bulletin has already been published, I understand the usual practice is for them to schedule you for the next available interview once processing has been completed - in which case (depending on the consulate you're interviewing at) you may get less notice than this.

Don't forget your wife will also have to have her medical done in the country she's interviewing in so depending on how your panel doctors schedule their interviews, she may have to be there a couple of weeks before the interview. Normally the doctors will not schedule the medicals until you have your interview letter, but you can call and ask them what their usual timeline is.

Finally, if you don't already have all the required civil documents I'd suggest you start gathering these as soon as you can too.

Thanks there SusieQQQ, I did send all the documents with the adendum that said I was getting married like I was suggested to. So they are processing my forms right now as they confirmed me earlier. I think as of today I'm sending all the updated DS-230 forms from me and my wife as well as a certified copy of the marriage certificate as was instructed me by KCC, they should be arriving by the end of the week if all goes as planned.

I was wondering if you would happen to know if this sending of updated forms would mean that they should process my forms again for 1-2 months and that after those 1-2 months asuming they send the notification letter right away there would be another 6-7 weeks until the interview?

Thanks in advance!! As usual you have been very very helpful!

Ivan

You need to send your forms in ASAP. KCC will not schedule an interview appointment for you until they have received and processed the forms, which can take 1-2 months. So even if your number is current in December you may find you will be scheduled a later interview because you have delayed sending in your forms.

Notification is usually 6-7 weeks before interview. Usually the interview letter is on the website a couple of days after the visa bulletin with your number is published for example you would get it around mid-October for a December interview. If your forms are only processed after the visa bulletin has already been published, I understand the usual practice is for them to schedule you for the next available interview once processing has been completed - in which case (depending on the consulate you're interviewing at) you may get less notice than this.

Don't forget your wife will also have to have her medical done in the country she's interviewing in so depending on how your panel doctors schedule their interviews, she may have to be there a couple of weeks before the interview. Normally the doctors will not schedule the medicals until you have your interview letter, but you can call and ask them what their usual timeline is.

Finally, if you don't already have all the required civil documents I'd suggest you start gathering these as soon as you can too.

Oh, I sent the forms on August 28th and they reach KCC on the 31st, they keep telling me they are processing them but this should be that they are waiting for my number to become current right?

Hello again!! My applicant number is SA0006** so Im expecting that my number becomes current for december 2013 or january 2014 at the most. I'm asking when should I send the forms to KCC? How long do they take to process them and send them to the Embassy I will be doing the interview in? And when should I expect the letter from KCC with the exact date of my appointment?

Im very much in need of the latter cause currently my wife is working abroad and we need to buy her a plane ticket for her to come to the interview and since it will be peak season we want to buy them with plenty of time. What was your experience of receiving the letter from KCC? When did you get it? How long before the actual interview date? Any help here?

Thanks in advance,

Ivan

Hi there!!! So I'm filling my wife's application DS-230 form to send updated ones where I include my wife's DS-230 and a translated certified copy of the Marriage Certificate as instructed by KCC. All good till now but we have some doubts as to items #30 and #35 of said form:

- Item 30: She has lived all her life on her city of birth, although she once made a 1 year trip to India, and there she stayed lets say 3 or 4 months in a different city so it wouldnt qualify as the 6 months that the said item tells the applicant to take in account to write the places where we have lived, still in the global picture she did lived 1 year in India. What we did was put it something like this on the additional sheet:

Puttaparthi, Mumbai, Indore

Andra Pradesh / Maharashtra / Madhya Pradesh

India*

11-2008

10-2008

**I never lived in each of the 3 cities listed for at least 6 months, although since I lived in India for more than 11 months I’m listing said trip in the above Item.

What do you guys think? Is this correct?

- Item 35: She lives near the US - Mexican border and hence she travels every other year as a tourist to the US but her passport is not stamped, instead she is given a permit so she can enter the US and go in and out for the time the permit allows her to. Hence remembering the dates of all entries is being a little complicated. We put all the info we could recollect and added this footnote to the additional sheet:

**Most of these visits were either for transit purposes for traveling or few days to go shopping and visiting relatives studying in the US. Given that most of these trips were done by car, I was given a tourist permit to go in and out of the US for a certain period of time and hence I wouldn’t be 100% sure of said visits, unlike the ones that are registered in my passport, which I keep and record my visits by air to the US. Hence, I have tried to the best of my ability to recall all these visits but acknowledge that these dates and the visits themselves are approximate and might not be 100% accurate. I also want to state that I have been very careful about not overdoing my stay in the US pass the permitted amount of time I was granted, and have always returned the permits I have been given before they expire as is the rule for said permits.

So, what do you guys think? Would these be ok? Or what would you guys recommend us instead?

Thanks in advance,

Ivan

Hello all!!! Im filling the updated DS-230 forms for me and my fiancee since we are getting married this saturday (September 21st) and hence I would like her to get benefit of me winning the DV lottery. She is Mexican and she actually lives rather close to the Mexican - US border (around 6 hours by car) and hence she used to travel a lot to the US to go shopping, mostly in Texas. She lost one of her expired passports so she also lost a lot of dates of entries and exits to and from the US, with the consequence that she can't recall all the entries and exits for the DS-230 form Item #35. Also lately when she travels to the US to go shopping they only issue her temporary permits which enable her to go in and out of the US for the time that the permit allows her and when she is done with it she gives it back when the immigration officer asks her to do so. This also leaves her with no record of her visits to the US, only a few, which actually are mostly for transit during flights to europe, asia, etc.

The question is, what can we do in that item of the said form, we want to give all the information they want us to give, she has been very disciplined with her entries to the US and never had any trouble of overstaying there, she also has a current tourist Visa. How could we fill these forms then so that there wont be any trouble for us when the interview date arrives?

Thanks so much in advance, sorry if I rambled too much.

Ivan

on the same page... im marrying soon my fiance and she is mexican. im fron venezuela and i won the dv lottery for 2014... we would be living in mexico... she could still have the immigrant visa as im the winner right?? also... could we have the interview in mexico? its not one of the participant countries so im curious.

this is somewhat how it would go. any thoughts?....

Dear kentucky consular center,

Im from Venezuela and I Was selected for further processing on 2014 DV Lottery by the case number 2014SA000xxxxx. I am currently arranging all the details following each step you provided us in the webpages. I have some doubts regarding to my particular situation upon which I elaborate below:

1) I'm currently with plans to marry my girlfriend in the next couple of months and hence im hoping to include her as family which will be joining me to the states in case that I get the immigrant visa.

She is mexican and I have come to know that mexicans are not eligible for DV DIVERSITY program, but since Im the main applicant and Im from Venezuela would she be able to benefit from my immigration visa (in case I was granted it)?

2) As part of the marriage I intend to go and live in Mexico after marrying her. Could we go for the interview in the mexican embassy (or even Monterrey, Nuevo Leon consular office)? If thats the case, which documents should I get to the interview? Venezuelan or Mexican??

3) If we have to do the interview in Caracas, Venezuela. Would my wife have to use her Mexican documents? Or would she need Venezuelan documents?

4) I'm finishing college soon (presentingy thesis on july tops and mandatory social service during summertime), yet official graduation documents will only be avilable as soon as february 2014. Since there is a chance that my interview for immigration visa would happen prior to my graduation and hence before getting the official degree Im asking you what should I write on my DS-230 & DS-122 on the fields about education level? Im writting "college no degree" on form DS-122 and putting an estimate finishing date of february 2014 for my college education. I did the same in form DS-230. Would that be alright? Or should I write something different?

hi all!! i have some questions regarding another post and I thought that since they offer the KCC email address I might as well clear these couple of doubts with them. Would that be advisable?? or is this email address not for that purpose???

hello all, me again... i won the dv lottery for 2014 and my number is SA00006xx so im expecting my interview on december/january... ill be marrying soon to my gf... we have been in a relationship for almoat five years now.... anyhow, she is from mexico and i was curious if that would be a problem for her to get the visa. my guess is that it wont since im the winner and she will be getting is as a family member, am i right?

the other question is that if i move to mexico with her after marrying, would it be possible for me to have the interview in mexico with her instead of venezuela?? im saying this cause both it would be a different address than the one i posted when i applied (im currently living in venezuela) and also mexico is not one of the countries that participate in the visa lottery. i would rathee doing it in mexico, otherwise we'll have to travel to venezuela from mexico just for the interview.

thanks all in advance

Hola Ivan!

La verdad que tu mejor opcion es casarte ANTES de que apliques para que te entreguen tu green card. Los green card holders si se les permite reagrupacion familiar pero la lista de espera para esposos es de 3 anos. Y como no eres ciudadano americano no cumples con los requisito de una visa de prometida o de esposo.

Lo mas realista en cuestion de opciones pudiese ser una visa de estudiante pero tendria que tener la universidad, y minimo un programa de 5 anos para que no quede fuera de status. Una visa de trabajo es muy complicada porque necesitaria un sponsor empleador, y este, debe justificar ante el gobierno de los estados unidos, que no hay nadie aqui que pueda hacer el trabajo.

La visa de turista no es una opcion porque ok ella puede entrar, pero en lo que se venza su i94 va a estar completamente ilegal.

Tengo el caso de una pareja de amigos donde el es green card holder y ella visa de turista. Estando estudiando se conocieron, se enamoraron y casaron. El puede aplicar por la ciudadania el ano que viene. Ella va a tener que esperarse todo ese tiempo para que el pueda pedir su residencia legal, de lo contrario la lista de espera para residenciar esposo/a de residentes es de 3 anos aproximadamente.

Gracias por los consejos!! Muy muy apreciados! creo que en definitiva eso haré porque no creo que sea factible que ella consiga una visa de estudiante (ademas que la idea no es que ella esté estudiando por allá en USA) y bueno, no quiero esperar 5+ años para casarnos. Gracias! Algún otro consejo?

Yes, your best course is to marry her before your interview. Bear in mind they are suspicious of marriages that take place after selection, so take evidence that you have a bona fide relationship with to the interview.

There's no deadline per se but you should get your forms in a few months before your expected interview date, which is hard to predict but depends on your case number. You can either marry first and send all forms in, or you can send yours in and then update your case by sending in a DS230 for her after marriage. If you do the latter it might be worth sending an addendum with your initial forms that you have marriage plans in progress, to help preempt later suspicion that it's a sham marriage ( though I imagine you will still be closely questioned about the marriage at the interview ).

SusieQQQ thank you so much for the quick and accurate response!! Yes, indeed we have been in a relationship for almost 5 years now, looking forward to me finishing studies so that we could get married.

I have to ask you another question. Which documentation would be useful as evidence that we have a bona fide relationship? I can only come with passports certifying travels to Mexico and her to Venezuela and one trip we took to India together, what else could we show to aid our case? Also there is a good chance that we wont be able to live together by the time of the interview (you know.. recently graduated students... and Venezuela is not the best place) but we were indeed planning to be either in Mexico or Venezuela. So any thoughts?

Thanks in advance

Im from Venezuela, I was selected on the DV lottery for further processing under the number SA0006xx or something.... Im finishing my studies in college and was planning on marrying my girlfriend from Mexico next year after I got settled there in Mexico, but since I have the chance on going and have the US residence my plans are changing and want to get settled there and marry her.

Many people have told me that if I do get the greencard, then I could only bring her back to the US when I get the citizenship in 5 years or so and that prior to that, unless she applies for student Visa or working Visa or something like that, then chances are that we can't live together (married or not) in the US unless she comes and goes with a turist Visa she has.

Hence to correct this situation I have been told that I could get married before my interview at the embassy and that we apply together for the immigrant Visa. Is that correct? Is that the only choice? Because I do want to get married with her. But I don't want to have to wait 5+ years so that she can come and marry me and we can live together in the US.

Any insights on this?

Also... Whats the deadline to send the forms and pictures and stuff to KCC???

Thanks in advance!!

Sorry to yet ask another question, but I'm curious, I won also DV Lottery 2014. I'm currently living abroad, do I have to pay the fees before sending the documents to KCC? Or do I have to pay them before the interview on the embassy? How can I know what's the fee for it? Thanks in advance

I was selected for 2014 DV Lottery.... My number is 2014SA 600 something (I don't have it right now) ... When should I expect my interview? Thanks in advance!!

Hello all,

I have filled the forms that the government have people filling for this DV case and all… (DS-230 & DSP-122). I have some doubts before sending my info:

1) Do I have to pay a fee for sending the documents to the Kentucky Consular Center?

2) The documents I have to send are: Forms DSP-122 & DS-230; 2 photographs (With the specifications, the printed page of the selection notification with its bar code and that’s it right? I put them on the envelope and send them to the direction they listed right?

3) In form DSP-122 it says “Using the enclosed self-adhesive return address label, immediately send this form along with Form DS-230 to:…” I’m understanding that this was supposed to be when they used to send the notification via regular mail and not online like they do now, am I right?

4) Is there any need for me to put my case number on the right upper corner of each of the forms? On the notification says that all documents to be send to KCC should have the case number and stuff. Does this apply too for the forms? Also… I can’t edit the pdf so one could think that there is no need for that.

5) I’m currently in college, I’m hoping to be graduated on November 2013 (or maybe February 2014) either way when asked for my level of education I’m answering “College, No Degree” is this right to answer? And also on form DS-230 I’m requested to write “from/to” on the education level item… Since I have not finished College should I go and just put “High School, Degree” or is it ok if I put “College, No degree” and on the “From/to” I type the estimated time of culmination?

6) In jobs section I should write the name in Spanish (the original language of the companies) of each company or should I translate them to English?

7) When is the due date for me to send the documents? (Considering mail in my country is not the best in the world)

8) Is there a visa code for my status?

I think that’s it for now… Thanks so much in advance!!