RegionAll DV Chargeability Areas Except
Those Listed Separately		 
AFRICACURRENT 
ASIACURRENT 
EUROPECURRENT 
NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS) CURRENT 
OCEANIACURRENT 
SOUTH AMERICA,
and the CARIBBEAN		CURRENT 

No big surprise here, the regions were already current, but now they just removed the country limits. In reality the new document procedure has caused extremely low visa issuances this year, and for some months it has been clear that the VB numbers would not be the challenge that DV2019 cases have to worry about.

So – visas will NOT be exhausted this year, BUT some cases will miss out due to the new procedure. There will be some people expecting their 2NLs that don’t understand they need to send documents. As of now I am aware of a number of cases that STILL have not be asked to submit documents, and we are very close to the end of the year. Readers of this blog know to follow up on their documents, but what about people who just think this is normal and they are waiting for an email for their 2NL and don’t realize the importance of the documents. Those people will probably miss out this year.

Remember, the final interviews (September) will be scheduled in July. That means that cases must be fully processed, INCLUDING DOCUMENTS, within 2 to 3 weeks from now. KCC might still continue trying to push through last minute cases in mid July, but they will mostly be working on DV2020 cases. So – every DV2019 case not already scheduled needs to pay attention and keep checking with KCC over the next couple of weeks.

Those that are current, and have forms processed early enough, they can expect their 2NL in about 1 to 2  weeks from now. This is the same every month. VB from the 8th to the 15th of each month, and 2NLs in the second half of the month. For the last few months there have been 2NLs sent in two main batches, some early (around the 15th to 20th) and then some in the later part of the month. But given the low numbers that may not be necessary. I would expect the 2NLs to have all been sent by the end of this month. The end of the month really means THE END OF THE MONTH. Please don’t waste my time later this month asking about 2NLs. Please. They can be sent right up until the last day of the month.

To those new to looking at VBs, let me explain what the “except” XXX country means – and you can also read this post on how to read the visa bulletin.

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 shown as under the new number can be interviewed but for cases from Egypt, 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.

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