I have been undecided about posting this. Part of me wants to wait for official corroboration, part of me says people need to know what is going on.
Over the last few days there have been a number of reports that people are being told that DV-2017 visas are exhausted. Iranians have been told that from Abu Dhabi embassy, an OC region selectee who had to reschedule his appointment was told that, and now two separate AoS cases have been told the same thing.
For consular processing cases, when the case is scheduled, KCC allocates visas for each person they expect to attend the interviews. The embassy has that visa allocated and must use it or return it by the end of each month. If the case is placed on AP, the embassy must return that allocated visa at the end of the month – meaning cases that stay on AP from one month to another need to get a new visa allocation later on when the case is finalized. If a case is refused, the embassy can re-use those visas for other people who are finishing AP, or they simply return those visas to KCC to be re-allocated.
So – there is a difference with all the cases that have been told there are no more visas. They are either:
- Adjustment of Status (AoS) cases, processed in the USA
- Cases where AP is finishing
- Cases where someone rescheduled an interview with the embassy from an earlier month.
In all of those cases, there is no pre-allocated visa – and THAT is where the problems are showing up.
I phoned KCC today. They did NOT say they were aware of this ending of visa numbers. They did confirm they cannot set any more interviews – but that is not a surprise. So, there is a small amount of doubt that this is final. But if you are in one of the three positions above (AoS, finishing AP, trying to reschedule), then there is some risk that you cannot be granted a visa.
***IMPORTANT*** If you have a September interview – ARRANGED BY KCC – then there should be a visa allocated for each person in your group. PLEASE do not ask me about that scenario. Those cases are not affected.
I am searching for a more definitive statement, but in the meantime – at least you know as much as I do…
***Update 14th September***
We now have reports from multiple people that they are being told visas have run out. This affects all regions. My comments above stand – if someone has an interview scheduled in September (not re-scheduled), that person should have an allocated visa. All uncompleted AP cases or rescheduled cases will be told there are no visas UNLESS the embassy has some visas in their allocation for the month of September (which would only be where other cases were refused).
For AoS cases, the door seems to have closed completely. Several people have now been told the visas are exhausted, and one selectee received a denial notice that says as follows:
“On Friday, September 8, 2017, the US Department of State released a memorandum effective immediately informing that no further authorizations will be made in response to requests for Diversity Visa (DV) cases for the remainder of fiscal year 2017 because the maximum level of numbers which were available for use on a worldwide basis for DV applicants during fiscal year 2017 had been reached.”
February 2, 2018 at 07:31
DID ANYONE SEW DEPARTMENT OF STATE FOR MAKING AN INTERVIEW THEN DENIED FOR RUNNING OUT OF VISAS
February 2, 2018 at 14:54
Of course not. That would be ridiculous when from the very moment of entry and selection people are warned that selection does not guarantee a visa.