Over the last few months we have all become aware of the DS260 backlog and the consequences for the DV process this year.

The consequences have been twofold.

1. The late processing of cases meant that many of the interview slots have been taken each month by cases that were current in previous months but had been waiting for their DS260s completing. This factor was keeping VB progress low each month.

2. There was a chance that some people submitting their DS260 very late could have found they were unable to have their forms processed in time to get an interview at all this year. I explained this in a previous post here. This factor was giving hope to some higher case numbers since some people would have been caught out by the processing time.

I had always assumed/hoped that processing times would reduce as KCC dealt with the higher volumes of DS260 submissions earlier in the year. Month by month I was feeling like we were about to turn that corner – but it never happened. Until now.

I can finally report, with confidence, that the DS260 backlog is reducing. I am aware of a number of cases that have completed processing , several submitted as recently as January. So – the next 2NLs  will include many cases in November, December and even January. IF that has broken the back of the DS260 backlog, those cases will soon start being less of a drag on the month interview allocations, and it might even be enough to increase my estimates in the next VB (as explained in this post), but I suspect that it will help us more for July interview rather than June.

So – the clearing of the backlog in relation to point 2 above is good news for anyone that submitted their DS260 in February and March – and even reduces the chance of people being unable to process their cases because of timing out. But – at least we will finally be able to see some better progression on the VB up to the CNs made possible by the response rate. Talking of the response rate – we should also see that response rate fully mature over the next 2 VBs – so we will by late May be able to predict the final  response rates which is key to understanding the final cutoff.

DS260 backlog update