The new visa bulletin has just been released, it is the second one for DV2024. It shows the numbers for DV2024 interviews that could be held in November. The numbers haven’t moved much, which is somehing that we should not take too seriously at this point, but basically if they don’t increase the number for a region by much, or at all, it means there are still enough cases under the number from the previous month yet to be scheduled. That happens because DS260s are still being processed at all number ranges so more of the actual cases will become ready to be scheduled.

Remember this is the second of 12 visa bulletins for DV2024 – we don’t need to get upset over the movement at this point.

We can expect to see the first 2NLs within the next few days, and then 2NLs could continue to be sent until about the end of the month.

Those that are current, and have forms processed early enough, can normally expect their 2NL in the next 2 to 3 weeks from now. This is supposed to be 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 in daily batches, but we seem to be moving to a more normal procedure where almost all the 2NLs are sent before the end of the month, with just a handful being sent earlier this month. I would normally expect all the interview 2NLs to have all been sent by the end of this month, but we can see recently they are exceeding that to try and get as many interviews in as possible. They can be sent right up until the last day of the month, and even the first few days of the following month during exceptional times.

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, for example – in Africa, any case with a case number shown as under the new number can be interviewed but for cases from a few countries, 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.