Minsk_2_San_Diego

Yes, each time that you successfully navigate to the next page, your prior page is saved... emphasis on the "successful". Too many times, we tried to advance to the next page only to be thrown to the login page again. Since time is not critical in entering your DS-260, maybe waiting will safe you a few gray hairs.

This topic is also of interest to me as we are trying to bring my stepdaughter here under the U4U program... and at the same time, she has qualified (with a very high case number) for the Diversity Lottery. IF she is able to come to the US under U4U and then IF she is selected for DV interview, I can only assume that she would have to pursue Consular Processing (as opposed to AOS in the US) because she would have no valid immigrant status under Humanitarian Parole... so, to attend her interview, she would have to fly to a foreign consulate with no way to return to the US if her green card visa is declined. Lots of "IF" in this scenario, but this issue about being not/able to get advance parole is sort of a hot topic for us.

If you just try and try and try... sometimes you hit a gap and you're able to log in and start your form... but then you get to the bottom of that page and click "next" and you're kicked out again, only to be unable to log back in... and when you do at last get back in, you find your last page of work was lost anyway (personal experience). If we had it to do over, we'd just take a week or a month away from it and try again without the aggravation.

I actually paraphrased that point of view directly from BritSimon's response to a comment I made on his site a few days ago in which he said, regarding possibilities for 2023 cut-off reporting, "On the other hand, if they mismanage the processing, the demand is underreported to the visa office, so the VB is moved (incorrectly) to current. In that scenario, people who are current miss out. That scenario is playing out right now in DV2022. Regions are current, but many cases will be left without interviews." -- BritSimon

Your number is high... but it may not be too high to get an invitation to interview. No matter what anyone tells you now to reassure you or tell you it's hopeless, nobody knows yet what constitutes a "too high" number for each region. That will only become gradually knowable as KCC begins to work through 2023 applications in August, Spetember and October of this year - and by watching the Visa Bulletin after those months are processed - to see how many applications are made available for processing each month. Only then could you start to extrapolate whether your number will be called before they run out of visas (or time) for the year of 2023.

I would use caution in having people compare this year against any prior year... ESPECIALLY the past two years where only about 5,000 visas were granted each year, worldwide, due to travel bans and COVID. Even 2022 is not a fair comparison because that year has apparently been rife with problems. The fact that EU is going "Current" in June does not suggest that everyone will be invited for an interview for 2022... I would suggest watching this video which was just posted yesterday. Brit Simon is extremely knowledgeable about DV and has a lot of informative videos that are quite cautious and try to be very accurate. Best of luck to all who were chosen for 2023.

We have applied for my stepdaughter to come to the US under the U4U Humanitarian Parole program - we have been approved as sponsors and are waiting for CBP to make a determination if she is qualified. Meanwhile, her name was just selected to move forward in the DV lottery (although her case number is so high that we are cautious about counting on that too much). Full disclosure, we also have a pending I-130 (F2B) petition for her - but she is many years away from having her date become current. My question is this: If she is approved for humanitarian parole under Uniting For Ukraine and she comes to the US... and then is invited to an interview for DV Lottery, will she need to leave the country to attend the interview in the Consulate listed in her DS-260? Is it possible for her to Adjust Status in the US when she doesn't HAVE an Immigration status (because she would only be here on parole)? Does being in the US hurt or benefit her entry in the lottery? If she waits where she is now, outside of the US, she may not be selected for a DV interview and then she will have missed the window of opportunity to come to the US under U4U. We hope to bring her here asap, but don't want to block any options with the lottery.

NVC also has a separate expedite channel (NVCExpedite@state.gov) that we planned to try being approved for by requesting faster processing once her petition arrives at NVC. @SteveInBostonI130, are you saying that NVC cannot expedite her case even if they want to - because there are no visas available? Perhaps this is common knowledge - but I had been led to believe that a petitioner could also request "expedite" handling from NVC separately. Can you point me to any reference you may have that establishes that as a closed path?

My step-daughter is a Belarusian citizen who moved to Kyiv, Ukraine in 2020 (due to political oppression in Belarus) and received a Temporary Residence Permit and was working in Kyiv full-time, had an apartment, was paying taxes, etc. Then the war began. As with most Ukrainians, she fled to Poland, leaving all her belongings, her apartment, her job - her whole life behind. We were able to help her fly from there to Georgia where she has a friend to stay with, for now. When the "Uniting For Ukraine" Humanitarian Parole program was announced, we (her mother (LPR) and I (USC)) registered as sponsors (even though she is not a Ukrainian citizen (nor married to one)). We were approved as sponsors - she has been notified to create a USCIS account, attest to immunization status and respond to the CBP - presumably moving forward as part of the Ukrainian Humanitarian Parole program. We know that this program is specifically designated for Ukrainian citizens and non-citizen relatives - but she has suffered the same losses as Ukrainians have... and is fearful of returning to Belarus because of the war and her past anti-corruption protests. Has anyone heard if non-Ukrainian's have been approved for Humanitarian Parole under this U4U program?

I (M/USC) am married to a Belarusian citizen (F, now LPR in US, N-400 pending). Last year, we filed our I-130 to bring her 21+ y/o unmarried daughter to the US and began waiting our place in line ( F2B - 5+ years by current estimates). Meanwhile, my wife's daughter (the beneficiary of the I-130) moved to Kyiv, Ukraine in 2020 (due to political oppression in Belarus) and received a Temporary Residence Permit and was working in Kyiv full-time, had an apartment, was paying taxes, etc. Then the war began. As with most Ukrainians, she fled to Poland, leaving all her belongings, her apartment, her job - her whole life behind. We were able to help her fly from there to Georgia where she has a friend to stay with, for now. When the "Uniting For Ukraine" Humanitarian Parole program was announced, we registered as sponsors (even though she is not a Ukrainian citizen (nor married to one)) and we were approved as sponsors - she has been notified to create a USCIS account, attest to immunization status and respond to the CBP - presumably moving forward as part of the Ukrainian Humanitarian Parole program. We have no idea if her Belarusian citizenship will derail her process or not. Meanwhile, we were advised to request that her I-130 be expedited. We contacted USCIS this week and made a verbal request - and we are waiting to see if they will move the case forward by asking us to provide documentation for our claim. Being approved for either process would get her out of harm's way and bring her to us quickly - but the expedited I-130 would give her LPR status (where Humanitarian Parole only lasts for 2 years, at most). We have no idea if either of these endeavors will be successful but we don't want to pursue a path that closes off another. If she is approved for Humanitarian Parole, would her expedite request be denied because she is no longer perceived to be "in need" of humanitarian aid? If she comes to the US under Humanitarian Parole, and not under and expedited I-130, would she have to leave the country again at the end of her parole period - to wait out her I-130 processing? Do these two programs conflict with each other? If we follow one path, will it close off the other? Any thought or opinions welcome