Consular Processing versus Adjustment of Status

In talking about the DV lottery you will often hear the terms CP or AoS – Consular Processing versus Adjustment of Status. The vast majority of DV lottery winners process their cases outside of the USA (which is CP or Consular Processing), but there are some selectees who are already in the USA on some form of temporary visa. Those people have the option of adjusting their status.

Consular Processing

For CP cases, the selectee has to wait until they are current and then do medicals and a DV interview at the embassy in the country where they are residing. Some people mistakenly believe the embassy that processes your case must be in your home country – that is not the case. The CP process is very straightforward and there is no need to hire a lawyer. The information on this blog, and the various sites and of course the often neglected processing instructions, is more than enough to get you through the process.

Adjustment of Status

AoS cases account for less than 5% of DV cases each year. The process has some significant differences, and is generally a bit slower than CP. However, the convenience of dealing with your case at an office a few miles from your home and with minimal disruption to your worklife is a big benefit. I processed my case in this way because it allowed me to avoid taking extensive time off work to travel back to the UK for medicals and the DV interview.  However, it was a stressful experience because my field office (San Francisco), failed to understand the importance of speed in the process and caused my case to be delayed from June (when I was current) to finally getting approved in September. However, I’m glad I did it that way and I was supported throughout the process by a very knowledgeable expert (“Sm1smon”) in the immigration.com forum.

If you are choosing to process your DV lottery win by AoS, I strongly recommend you head over to the forum and read the information contained on post 1 of this thread. Engaging a lawyer is not necessary in the majority of cases – the paperwork is simple and the process is easy with the right guidance.