Won the Diversity Visa while studying in US with a M-1 student visa.. Now what?

[jeffadam 0]

Hello everyone, I just got selected for the chance to win the green card in my first try! So excited about that. Anyways, from what I could gather from the DV website and other resources, I'm suppose to schedule an appointment with my local USCIS office to discuss my further options if I'm found eligible. I been here for about 4 months with a M-1 visa (expires early November) studying aviation and have college degree so am thinking eligibility requirement will be met. From there, depending on the availability of my visa number on the visa bulletin, I will apply for the Adjustment of Status (within the 90 days prior to my interview if am not mistaken?). Here's what I don't quite understand:

1. Since my visa number is relatively high (close to 2800 in the oceania region; cutt-off number for May and June are 1115 and 1275 respectively), there's a chance that my current visa may expire before my visa number could be available for the AOS. Is it legal to apply for AOS early to avoid this dilemma OR should I just extend my M-1 visa for another year?

2. Would extending my current M-1 visa, while knowing I won the DV lottery, be illegal? Essentially, am trying to legally stay here in the states and complete all necessary paperworks if for some reason my visa number is not available yet.

If any of you know the exact steps an international student with a student-visa already in the state suppose to take after winning the DV lottery, please respond. Thanks in advance.

Jeff

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

Hi Jeff

I am no expert on this but what I have gleaned from other forums is that yes it is illegal to extend your student visa with immigrant intent. The safest bet for you is probably to go home and do consular processing rather than AOS, but hopefully someone with actual experience of this will chip in.

I meant of course go home after your current visa expires, not right now!

[Asia 2,496]

Don't look at DV-2013 numbers too close. As far as I saw DV-2013 numbers for Europe are different from the DV-2014 numbers. The DV-2014 numbers are much higher than the last year ones.

And since you wrote that the difference for your continent is around 100 per month, it would mean that your number won't get an interview at all (since the interievs start on October 1st, and end on September 30th).

You will know in August (if I'm not mistaken) what are the first cut-off numbers for your region and then it will be easier to say how much time you have to wait till your number will become current.

This is the part of instruction how to AOS from inside the US: http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/visa_4762.html

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

Don't look at DV-2013 numbers too close. As far as I saw DV-2013 numbers for Europe are different from the DV-2014 numbers. The DV-2014 numbers are much higher than the last year ones.

And since you wrote that the difference for your continent is around 100 per month, it would mean that your number won't get an interview at all (since the interievs start on October 1st, and end on September 30th).

You will know in August (if I'm not mistaken) what are the first cut-off numbers for your region and then it will be easier to say how much time you have to wait till your number will become current.

This is the part of instruction how to AOS from inside the US: http://www.travel.state.gov/visa/visa_4762.html

The numbers never go up that regularly and for a very long time the last month or two of the year have had all numbers current, so I wouldn't go so far as to say that s/he won't get an interview at all - that does remain a possibility though.

[Asia 2,496]

The numbers never go up that regularly and for a very long time the last month or two of the year have had all numbers current, so I wouldn't go so far as to say that s/he won't get an interview at all - that does remain a possibility though.

I said that she might not get an interview, if she had her number in last year's lottery.

Maybe this year, the numbers for Oceania will start from 1,000 instead from 1 (cause it's not like every region starts from number 1), so she'll have her interview

Edited May 14, 2013 by Asia

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

I said that she might not get an interview, if she had her number in last year's lottery.

Maybe this year, the numbers for Oceania will start from 1,000 instead from 1 (cause it's not like every region starts from number 1), so she'll have her interview

I still don't understand you. All Oceania numbers were current from June last year for DV2013, and this year's numbers are not over yet - they may well go all current in August or September this year for DV2013. It's been years since the fiscal year ended with a numerical cutoff.

It's also very difficult to predict early on in the year what the trend is. They often start by going up slowly each month and then start leaping ahead later in the year.

Edited May 14, 2013 by SusieQQQ

[Asia 2,496]

I still don't understand you.

That's okay. It's not that important anyway.

But if you say that all the numbers for Oceania were current last year in August and September, that may be a chance for a repeat this year and the next one.

But the thing is that for DV-2014 they selected even more green cards than usual. Usually they selected 110,000 applications, and for DV-2014 they selected 125,000.

Edited May 14, 2013 by Asia

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

That's okay. It's not that important anyway.

But if you say that all the numbers for Oceania were current last year in August and September, that may be a chance for a repeat this year and the next one.

But the thing is that for DV-2014 they selected even more green cards than usual. Usually they selected 110,000 applications, and for DV-2014 they selected 125,000.

Apparently they have been having less take-up than they used to - probably why the numbers went current so early last year - all regions were current in June. (Not this year though)

Also, it depends on the applicants. The 50000 visas available includes derivatives. If countries where large families traditionally come from are facing lots of disqualifications along the way ( as eg Nigeria tends to do) or have been excluded (as eg Bangladesh has been this year) and more single or childless people are applying, their algorithm adjusts for this. For example, 5 visa numbers might have been assigned for 5 families of 6 last year, whereas this year it is 10 numbers for 10 families of 3 - the chances of the 31st person in line to get an interview are the same irrespective of there apparently being more numbers in front of him.