Immigrant Visa

Hi everyone,


My spouse & I just completed our CP in Sydney successfully on 21st Dec.
We have been working in the US since 2001 on H1-B visas. We arrived from the US 10 days before our interview date. We scheduled our medical 2 days after we arrived with Dr Millar. The medical was very straightforward. Chest X-rays, blood tests etc as per previous postings. We had immunization records & taken blood tests in the US to show antibody levels as a proof of vaccinations.

We arrived at the consulate on a clear sunny summer morning at 7am. We felt confident that we had all the appropriate documents but decided not to be disappointed if we didn¡¦t get the visa because life is great in Sydney as well. Boston in winter is no comparison to Sydney in summer ƒº and we felt fortunate that we live in a great country like Australia.

We were the first to arrive at the MLC center lobby. Based on previous postings we were dressed in suits but we saw that noone else was dressed up. We waited for the lift to work until 740 am. By then several people with various visa appts had gathered at the entrance. We went to the 10th floor completed the security check up & were asked to go to the 59th floor. We were the first to take the immigration visa number for the day.

The immig visa counter opened at 805 am and our ticket number showed up on the screen. We went up to the counter with 3 folders- one with all the documents arranged as per the instructions from the Sydney consulate, the second & third folders had extra documents such as our social security cards, house deed, payslips, supporting documentation for all US visas we had held to date etc.

An Australian lady examined our documents carefully & ticked the checklist. She instructed one of us to pay the visa fees (Apprx $1900 AUD) at the cashiers counter as she continued to check our documents. Sometimes Amex may not work so be sure to take either a visa or master card with you as well.
I returned from paying me the fees and she was still checking our documents. First she checked my documents since I was the primary & then my spouses¡¦.

She asked questions like Are you a part of a terrorist organizations, have you served in military, have you been married before, do you have any children of your own, when do you plan to go to the US (early Jan). We replied no to most of the questions. She checked our bank statements thoroughly.

She kept the originals of the letters from our employers, copies of all other documents and returned all our originals including all our old passports. She told us that everything seems to be in order & told us to tale a seat until we were ! called up for the next interview. This first interview took about 25 minutes.

We waited for 5 minutes and were called to a different counter where we met an American guy. He took our both index finger prints. He asked both of us to raise our left hand and swear that we were telling the truth. He also asked us to sign a form. He asked me what my profession was. I replied consulting. He asked what sort of consulting, I replied business.

We asked what my highest level of education was, I replied MBA. He said that we had 2 options ¡V we could pick up the visas next day or we could have them mailed to us.

We chose to pick them up the next day. He said that our H1-B visas are being cancelled and gave us a form that allowed us to return next day to pick up the visa.

We also requested him to cancel our H1-B appointments that we had the next day and he said that he would take care of that. He also advised us to allow 2 hours for the immigration process at the POE (for us LA)
Next day we went and picked up our passports with the immigrant visas. Overall if you have your documents in order it should be a pretty straightforward process.

I want to thank Wikas, Curious, kji, George, Steven and all other members of this board who helped me understand the process and keep my paperwork in order.

I think the DV lottery is a great opportunity for living & working in US.

Other options like the employment visa take immense amount of time to come through.

Good Luck to everyone else who is going through the process & especially for other OC winners I would say keep a good perspective around this process.
Merry Xmas & Happy New Year OC winner

I was on a H1B visa in US. I am native Irish. But my last country of stay was India. As we were in US we decided to do AOS. But after looking at numbers for October and November, decided to switch from AOS to CP.
KCC told I can goto Ireland or India. If I decide to goto India, I need to prove my residency there. So I decided to go to Dublin, Ireland for CP.
My interview was scheduled for 9th Feb. I got my medical done in Dublin on 6th Feb. I learnt later on that I could have completed my medical in US and that would have been okay. And would have saved the fees as I have insurance in US.

Anyways, reached to Embassy as scheduled on 9th and came to know that my interview was preponded by embassy ! They called my cell in US for the same before 2 days but as I was not in US, I did not check the voicemail and missed the date. But they were kind enogh to give me another appointment next day. They also told that technically I should have gone to India as my last stay before US was in India.

They asked for following docs.
1. Notification letter from KCC and Visa Appointment Letter from Embassy
2. Passport
3. 1 Photo
4. Medical
5. Fees (755.00 USD each in cash)
6. Proof that I qualify (12th, BS and MS all degree certificates)
7. Proof of valid status in US (All prior I 797)
8. Proof of Financial (Experience Letter from current employer, Summary letter of all my Bank accounts, Letter from Banks)
9. PCC
10. Full form Birth Certificate (should include complete name of parents)
11. Marriage Certificate

I also took following docs which were not presented.
1. Social Security Card
2. All W2s, 12 months Paystubs, 12 months Bank statements
3. Old Passports
4. Experience Letters from prior employers
5. Evaluation of MS in India as MS in US
6. Evidence of Relationship with Spouse (1. Photo album of wedding & togather in US 2. Lease agreement for apartment)
7. Birth certificate of my daughter who is born in US

I took 1 copy of all documents above, they asked for copy whenever they needed. First they asked for my docs and then for my spouse. So I had prepared 2 folders as below for me and 2 for spouse

1. Documents that they asked for in the appointment letter along with a copy 2. Extra supporting documents without any copies as they did not ask for them !

After waiting for 30 mins, I was called for interview.
I had to take oath, everything in the forms (DS 122 and DSP 230) is correct. I was fingerprinted.
And then I was asked following questions.
1. How long you lived in Ireland?
2. How long your parents lived in Ireland? Why & When did they move to India?
3. Where do you live in US?
4. Where do you work?
5. When did you apply for the DV lottery?
6. How many applications did you have for DV this year? 2(one for me as primary other for my spouse as primary)

My husband was asked following questions.
1. Where do you work?
2. How many employees are there in your company?
3. Why your employer, residence and job location are different? Answer - consulting in IT
Thats it. We were told to sign on back of 230 - Part 2. And got the stamped visa and yellow package for immigration officer in an hour.

At last, we were relived and came out of all tensions.

We had a return flight after 3 days. Surprisingly our Immigration check was done in Ireland before boarding the flight, by US Customs. Again, we had to do fingerprint and our passport was stamped. After reaching Newark, we did not have to go via Immigration check ! Directly went for customs !!

Interview Tip: Contact Embassy for whatever questions you have. On the board someone said chained folders, stapler, stroller... is not allowed. But with Irish Embassy we could have taken all of them. So it is better to contact them rather then relying only on message board !
I wish you all best of luck.

Hi i am lookin for a reliable immigration consultant to move to canada ..plz help

If any one know about the Administrative Processing, please let me know how long it will be take time to completed. because Since i am waiting for a long time (over six month now) to complete this process and call from U.S. consulate chennai.if any one know about this process plz let me know.thank you.

Anyone who has the misfortune to transact with this consulate via mail or phone must absolutely plan & act well in advance since once the application is sent in, then all you can do is sit & wait.

The two telephone numbers provided for consulate inquiry are always busy. If you are lucky enough to connect then it goes into voicemail or better still it encourages you to hold & says "we'll be right back shortly". After 2 hours being on hold the call is simply disconnected. Indian bureaucrats certainly know how to deal with stubborn (paying) customers who demand service.

Also, check out the definition of India as printed on the application for PIO (Person of Indian Origin) card as resproduced below:

--------------------------------
Expression ‘India’ as given in sub-section (1) of the section 311 of the Government of India act, 1935 means British India together with all territories of any Indian ruler under the suzerainty of His Majesty, all territories under the suzerainty of such an Indian ruler, the tribal areas, and any other territories which His Majesty in Council may, from time to time, After ascertaining the views of the federal Government and the Federal legislature, declare to be part of India.
----------------------------------

Above form is actually posted on the Consulate General of India - Houston website. Check it out for yourself (on page 2):

http://www.cgihouston.org/PIOTemplate2.pdf

You may need to cut/paste above URL into your browser.

Regards,
Sanjay Bhatnagar.

I do not completly agree with all of you guys. Generaly when we think about Immigration from a professional company we think that everything wouldbe done with in 12 months the complete process but this is not the exact time for immigration. Whenever you think about immigration you should know that for Canada it would take FOUR FIVE years and Atleast one year for Australia . These guys are also proceeding the case through High comision which generaly takes 4-5 years for the complete process.
I applied for Immigration in the year 2001 and finally got my landing papers 2 months back. Now i am in Canada and enjoying far better than India.
About their services those were also good. I got a job in local call centre with in 15 days of landing in Canada.
So change your misconception about WWICS i mean this company has very good formats and that could help your case processing faster than applying on our own.

it is realy very nice to share my good experiance with all you guys.

Thanks
Naresh Bhandari

hi everyone,
I just had my CP on 20th Nov. 2005 in US consular section in Cairo,it was so difficult,1st of all the lady cosular there,asked me about every single detail in my papers,then i faced 2 problems ,1st there data base is saying that my parents r applying with me which is incorrect & the funny thing is that my father is dead since 2001,2nd she told me because of that prblem she has to recheck with KCC in a process that will take about 1-2 months,also when i went to the cashier i found that he closed the window & he refused to take the 755$ & they gave me another date the next day 21th Nov. 2005 to pay the fees & to bring them my father's death certificate,so i went next day,paid the fees,submitted my father's death certificate,didn't meet the consular again,i told the lady clerck that i wanna meet the consular again as she didn't gave me a decesion yesterday,but she refused & told me that they gonna call me within a week to tell me the decision. that terrified me alot coz the consular told me the day before that she doesn't see any thing that preclude me from getting my visa,but she has to recheck with the KCC,so my visa is pending adminstration notice.so do u think this will affect getting the visa?or this means that i got the visa but it is just won't be issued untill rechecking? thanks a lot for ur help & time GOOD LUCK TO U ALL

had my CP interview in Egypt, it went pretty nice. I wake up at 5 A.M , I Prayed then dressed up and checked my paper and my money then I went down at 7 A.M as my interview was supposed to be about 10 A.M .

I reached a car park near the embassy at 7.5 and I kept there for half an hour But that was wrong thing I have done cause that when I went to the embassy I surprised with long column outside the embassy and they don?t take on consideration the exact time for your interview they gave you a number when you enter the embassy and you set down and when your number come in order a lady call your number in a microphone.

When my number was called I went to the lady clear she asked me to present my paper each document should be (original , copy and translation) she asked me about the sponsor letter (fortunately I got it few weeks from a relative) I asked if she wants the bank statement , she answered that there is no need for it; then she asked me for another photo despite that she has the one I sent to the kcc after that she gave me to paper to pay for the visa fee (755$$) and for the TNT (15 L.E)

I paid then set down for the interview with the councilor officer; I waited less than hour then they called me , then I went to meet the officer she pointed to me to pick up the phone to speak through the glass shield , she was a nice young lady first she asked me if I could speak English then she asked me about the reset I got from both TNT and the visa fee payment place I gave them to here then she asked me few question about the college I am graduated from , where I am going to stay on the States and what I am going to do there then after that she took my finger print the left index then the right one and she asked me to swear that the information on the form I sent to the kcc is right , I did then she asked me to sign in certain place after that she congratulated me and she told me that the passport and the paper will be sent to me after 7 to 10 days .

The strange thing that she didn't ask me about any address to send me the green card, don't know why and I didn't ask.

Now I am planning to move in May(isa) but tell now I am hesitated about going to Massachusetts or Washington.
Thanks to all people who helped me in this board it's really a great place I hope it continues to help people; personally I will stick to this board.

Hello everyone!


Thank you all for your good wishes for our interview.

This forum was very helpful for me during my CP process. Now I would like to share my interview experience with all of you. Hope this information may help all the Sri Lankan winners and all the others who’s waiting for their interview.

First our time line :

21st of May 2005 - Received the 1st NL
26th of May 2005 - Sent back the filled forms to KCC via UPS
24th of September - Received the 2nd package, with instructions and the Appointment Letter
27th of September - Went to the US Embassy and collected the Medical Forms
01st of October - Did our Medicals in Asiri Hospital. (Procedure took only one day.)
03rd of October - Went and collect our Medical reports. They have given the sealed envelops to hand over to the Embassy.
04th of October - INTERVIEW DATE

We went to the embassy 30 minutes earlier than our scheduled time. There were few people standing out side the embassy. One guard came out around 12.45 and we all were ushered in to a security room.

I was the 2nd on the queue and in turn we had to present our appointment letters and the passports then they emptied our hand phones from our bags and kept the bags on the x-ray machine, then we went through a **** l scanner (and be scanned with a handheld scanner too).

After the security clearance they have open the heavy iron door for us to enter the embassy ground. There we had the 2nd Security checkups before entering in to the building ( same procedure went on ) Finally we all went to the consular room and took seats until they open the counters.

Sharp at 1.00 pm. one lady came to the counter no.2 and asked us to hand over the appointment letters.

There was another two DV winners ( one was with his wife) we handed over the letters and were asked to be seated. Within 10 minutes time another lady came to the counter no.3 called the couple and informed them that the letter which they handed was a forged document and not a proper NL which was sent by the KCC. (We all were shocked)According to the couple they applied the DV program through a company which they had paid and the company has cheated them by sending the forged NL.

Please keep this mind and encourage all the applicants to apply the DV program only through the state gov. web site.

Lets focus on my interview again……….

At the same time the previous lady came to the counter no : 02 and called one by one I was the 2nd to be called.

Here are the list I was asked for :-

1. Birth Certificates + Translations + Copies ( Main applicant & Dependant )
2. O/L Certificate ( M.A. only )
3. Passports ( M.A & D. )
4. Marriage Certificate
5. Sponsor letter ( I had 02 sponsor letters + affidavits 1-134 so I asked should I hand over both, she said only one is sufficient and that should be one from the sponsor which I mentioned in my DS 230 form. They only wanted the sponsor letter not the 1-134 even though I had it.)
6. Medical forms (sealed envelopes only ) ( M.A & D.)
Never mentioned of my police clearance, bank statements or current employments at all.

Once these documents were handed out, she then asked me to sit and wait. After about 15 minutes the same lady came to the cashier and called my name and asked to pay the fee of $755 each, since I was prepared with Bank drafts I paid through them. Upon the receipt of the payment , she then asked me to take a seat again and told me that I would now be called to room # 4 or 5.

We then took a seat and waited. After about 45 mints we were called up to room # 4. This time we were faced with an American male and a female ( it was very small room and they were sat behind a thick glass) . We started off by swearing an oath to tell the truth. He then took fingerprints of our index fingers. ( first my wife’s then mine)

Then just few questions were asked :-

When did I pass out the Medical College ? What I intend to do when I go there ? How long I was married? Whether I have children? he Asked my wife her name before marriage ?
Then he explained us that the embassy going to have a police clearance even though we did one, if the clearance ok we can collect the visas on 20th . Then he thanked us and gave a blue form on which he had ticked a box that mentioned return on 20th That was pretty much it.
now it’s just more waiting...

MC and all Sri Lankan DV winners.....

I'm sure you all can go through this process without any problem. My advice is to prepare all the documents + translations + photocopies in order, Don’t wait till you get the 2nd package. Officers of the US Embassy are very kind and helpful, you just have to be honest and loyal with them. so that’s about it,

I am really grateful to this forum and all the members for their valuable information and advices during my CP process.

If anyone have questions please feel free to post in this forum, I will try to answer them best to my knowledge. I will update you all after the 20th …… Good luck to the rest of you!

Here is some information regarding our interview:

We arrived at 08:30 as we were asked, saw the long que from outside and waited... the security guide told everyone to shut down our cell phones and the first 8 ppl entered in (we were in).

we walked to another door and there we had to deposit the electronic devise.we entered in and i saw a huge que but i knew that these ppl are waiting for turist visa so i asked the security person where is the que for the DV interview and he said "come with me" and he pointed me (it was 5 meters a head and no one was there before us) he gave us a number and the person behind the window told me to pay first.

so i went to pay and my hubby+my 2 kids stayed and waited for me to arrive with the receipt. when i arrived i showed the clerk the receipt and he asked me for all the papers.

It took him 40 min as i think he was new. then he said now you have to wait 20 min while the councler will have to go over your papers again and then you will do the finger prints and the swearing.

we were waiting for 3.5 hours!!!! we were the last to stay at the embassy ,we thought we had a problem and they rejected our file, but then we heard on the microphone "family xxxx" go to window 13- Finally.

we enterd in and the women behind the window asked us to sign the forms and sign on behalf of the kids as well, then she asked my hubby as he won the DV to tell her about his history because he used to live abroad for couple of years and that was it.

We did the right hand swearing , finger prints and she took our passport and said that we will get them via mail to the adress that we wrote. She mentined that the green card will be sent to the same adress that we wrote on the forms.

they were very f! riendly and then another councler arrived and asked " is your dream casme true? and my hubby said we are waiitng for that since i was 18 as his mother is a citizen only 3.5 years and she started the process then.... I have to admit that this whole process took 16 months and all the energy gathered for this moment.

we arrived home ate something and went to sleep for 2 hours- it was such a hectic day even that you need to sit and wait all the time. I can't remember myself so tence and nervous.

I wish all of you good luck and will update you all when the passport will arrive Thanks to all the ppl on the board.i got allot of necessary information here.

We are planning to move there within 4 months to Colorado.
Sharon