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Hi Simon, I’m from Africa and Cameroon to be precise. My case number is 2024AF68k . Do I have a chance of getting an interview? Thank you

Dear Simon,

I have for DV24 a EU34XXX number. My question; is it allowed to participate in dv2025 if the results of dv2024 have not yet been fully announced?

All the best,

Marc

Hi. Brit you r doing great my Allah reward you with what he loves
* I have got a question for you *
Am I in safe category with CN 2024AF44k **?

Hi Brit, how do you think the approximate distribution of “At NVC” throughout the year is? For the EU, it starts at around 10% for smaller case numbers and ends at around 40% for higher case numbers. I think the high numbers are because the DS-260 was not processed or sent to the embassies. What about lower case numbers? Do you think the majority of cases with 10-20% at NVC simply did not submit their DS-260, or is it being held at KCC?

Hi Simon

I am a dv2022 winner. I have renewed my passport and I haven’t received my green card yet as I only recently payed the fee because I didn’t know I had to pay the fee and thought the greencard would automatically be sent to my USA address. I’m currently back in Australia and need to return to the USA by mid November as i was first granted access to the USA in November 2022, so that is when my temporary I-551 will expire. Do I need to get another temporary I-551 on my new passport to get on the plane and get through USA customs because the passport number is different, or can I just show the I-551 in my old passport?

Dear Simon,
I have 2 question –
1. I am in the process of issue an L1 visa. Is my visa at risk if I participate in the DV lottery? I know it is possible to apply from L1 for a green card but I was told that it will take about four years.
2. I have two children aged 18 and 20. I have to include them in my application, is it possible to submit them separately as well and it will not be considered duplicates and therefore we will be disqualified?

Hello, Simon

When DV2023 appeal response? I sent my I290 in last May.

Hi Simon,

in Security and Background: Miscellaneous Information 2 I answered yes to the question “Are you a former exchange visitor (J) who has not yet fulfilled the two-year foreign residence requirement? ” because I was under a J-1 visa from oct22 to sept23. I could see on my passport/visa that I do not apply for the 2 year rule. Should I change the answer and is it possible?

Hi, Simon. I was a winner for the DV Lottery back in 2018. I already have a Green Card but haven’t lived yet in the US and due to the pandemic (and other reasons) I’ve actually been overseas from February 2020 till the present day. Now I’d like to return for a trip and don’t know what the right procedure should be: using an ESTA permit with my European passport o using the Green Card knowing that my status can be lost at the port of entry for a long absence.

Thanks in advance for you help.

Hi Simon or fellow bloggers,

Hoping someone can assist with my question below.

My family and I were approved and our green cards endorsed on 25th November 2022. We are still in the process of moving to the USA from Australia and will miss the 12 month rule regarding staying outside the USA for less than 12 months. Due to finishing up work and school commitments in early December we will be out of the USA by missing the cut off by 2-3 weeks.

Is there a grace period in our 1st year as a green card holder due to moving or is this rule strict?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Regards,

Phil

2024EU46XXX, Frankfurt or Madrid, Germans (VWP)
We are considering renewing our expired ESTAs after we filed DS-260 in July and by that filing had expressed immigration intent. Over the next year until our case outcome will be clear, we are considering one or maybe even a couple of short vacations in the US under the VWP, as done many times in the past decade.

This might be a bit outside of your typical topics, but;

1) Is there a legal incompatibility between ESTA and the expressed (future and conditional) intent?
2) Is there a risk of denial of ESTA?
3) Would there be possible implications after such a denial, hindering potentially necessary further future ESTAs, similar to how having been denied a visa once complicates future applications?
4) Is there a somewhat expectable risk of success with ESTA renewal but then denial or at least questioning by CBP at the port of entry?
5) Being somewhat pre-cleared through TTP Global Entry and going through the machine should be irrelevant, right? I am not even sure we are allowed to continue using the program as it’s pretty much limited to arrivals with zero to declare and the most standard and boring everyday entries, which we, formally, might no longer be seen as. I’ll check that with TTP.

I would not want to travel to the US for a whole year unless we know quite surely that we’re not risking to lose the TTP GE, not risking to make future ESTA applications complicated, and not risking to be sent back home at POE when arriving.

Given that our CN could very well leave us out of luck and thus we’d end up without LPR status yet with that once expressed intent;
6) Whats the outlook for future ESTAs after DV2024?
7) What about an E2 visa (a bit of a weird and different type of visa as its treaty based, non-immigrant)?

Knowing the E2 would still be available with only maybe a bit more scrutiny would give me the calm I am trying to find when looking at that whole year of uncertainty ahead of me. Not as a “backup”, but as a non-immigrant alternative. Had my wife not won we might have applied for the E2 in these years but we’ve put that to the side now as it might not be necessary. Hope its not gone forever.

Seven at one stroke. Thanks for the hundreds time, Simon. Happy 10 year anniversary btw!