octobervb

 

The “October” visa bulletin has been published – so this is the second bulletin for DV2017. It concerns the case numbers eligible for November interviews.

For those that are current, and have forms processed early enough, they can expect their 2NL in about 2 (maybe 3) weeks from now. I know I am going to get a lot of people who will ask me this exact question – so let me say that again. 2NLs for November interviews will be sent in about two or three weeks time.

It is possible that some people will be current for November interviews, but will not be scheduled in November because they submitted late, or there is a processing backlog that causes a delay. This has happened in the last 2 years, and although I am guessing the effect will be reduced this year (because of lower selectee numbers), it does mean that cases submitted in around June onwards may not get their 2NLs.

To those new to looking at VBs, let me explain what the “except” XXX country means (for Nepal, Egypt and Ethiopia).

Processing is spread out over the full year. You can see the progress of the two previous years in this post about basic questions.  However, some countries have a high number of selectees and those selectees are concentrated in the lower case numbers. For various reasons, mainly to do with embassy capacity, KCC slow down certain countries as compared to the region. So – in Africa, any case with a case number of 13500 can be interviewed but for cases from Egypt or Ethiopia, that number is lower. That isn’t a big problem, it just “slows down” those countries a little more than the rest of the region. Since selectees from those countries all have lower case numbers, this slowing down does not present any risk. It does not (at this point) mean they won’t allow all selectees an interview from those countries. In fact, in DV2017, I think all regions and countries will go current (assuming no further draw).

To understand why some countries get lower case numbers, read this article about the lottery draw process.

Read this link if you are unsure how to read the visa bulletin.