Won DV2021, but hit a snag, how fast should I send DS-260?

[Macconet 0]

Hi Guys,

 

So i won the DV 2021 lottery and my case number is 2021AS10XXX. I've been with my girlfriend for almost 4 years, was looking to get married so that both of us can immigrate together.

The problem is that she's currently in France and I'm in Canada. With the travel restrictions and the time needed to process the marriage, we will not have the marriage certificate ready before sometime November 2020 at the earliest. I think that by then it will be too late to send the DS-260, and i'm thinking of sending the DS-260 on my own for now, and then unlock it to add her later once we have the marriage certificate? or sponsor her once I receive the green card; i'm aware of the lengthy wait period, 2-3 years :(

 

What would you do if you were in my shoes? 

 

Let me know!

Thanks!!

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

November won’t be too late at all -  you’ll still have plenty of time to get a visa submitting then. (Also: If you submit earlier on your own and then if case numbers happen to move surprisingly fast and you get invited to interview as single, that’s more complicated than getting an interview a month or two later than you otherwise might have.)  If you submit in November, you could probably interview Feb/March if your number is current by then. And going by past years it’s unlikely your number would be current before then anyway, so you’d lose no time submitting “late” anyway.

. 

In the meanwhile, make sure you have plenty of evidence of your relationship as marriage after selection is usually closely scrutinized. 
 

Plan B of sponsoring her once you have a green card makes no sense to me when you have a cheaper, faster, and easier option with plenty of time to do it.

[Macconet 0]

  

On 6/15/2020 at 1:25 AM, SusieQQQ said:

November won’t be too late at all -  you’ll still have plenty of time to get a visa submitting then. (Also: If you submit earlier on your own and then if case numbers happen to move surprisingly fast and you get invited to interview as single, that’s more complicated than getting an interview a month or two later than you otherwise might have.)  If you submit in November, you could probably interview Feb/March if your number is current by then. And going by past years it’s unlikely your number would be current before then anyway, so you’d lose no time submitting “late” anyway.

. 

In the meanwhile, make sure you have plenty of evidence of your relationship as marriage after selection is usually closely scrutinized. 
 

Plan B of sponsoring her once you have a green card makes no sense to me when you have a cheaper, faster, and easier option with plenty of time to do it.

 

Hi Susie,
Thanks for your thorough answer. I was under the impression that interviews are scheduled starting October on a first come first serve basis, thus, my thinking was that I would be late applying in November. In later months, would the visa bulletin page update to show which numbers they're currently looking into?

In your opinion, by which month range would I be recommended to apply? I don't want to risk not getting the green card and want to play it completely safe. I'm asking, because Canada extended the border closures by another month today, if they open it up next month, we should be still good to apply DS-260 by November, otherwise, it may get pushed back.

 

I appreciate your help.

Thanks in advance!

Edited June 17, 2020 by Macconet

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

2 minutes ago, Macconet said:

  

 

Hi Susie,
Thanks for your thorough answer. I was under the impression that interviews are scheduled starting October on a first come first serve basis, thus, my thinking was that I would be late applying in November. In later months, would the visa bulletin page update to show which numbers they're currently looking into?

In your opinion, by which month range would I be recommended to apply? I don't want to risk not getting the green card and want to play it completely safe. I'm asking, because Canada extended the border closures by another month today, if they open it up next month, we should be still good to apply DS-260 by November, otherwise, it may get pushed back.

 

I appreciate your help.

Thanks in advance!

 

Interviews take place from October  2020 to September 2021, in case number order (not first come first served).
 

For you to be scheduled for an interview the following needs to happen:

1. You submit your DS260

2. You respond to the subsequent KCC request for documents and wait for their confirmation that docs are ok

3. Your case number is current

 

If all of the above happen, you will get scheduled for interview.
If steps 1 and 2 are complete in time before your case number is current, you will (usually) get an interview in the month that your case number becomes current. Note that “in time” usually means by about 6-8 weeks in advance, as that is when they schedule interviews. (Example interviews for October will be notified in August.)
If steps 1 and 2 are not yet complete and are only done sometime after your number is current, you will just be slotted into the next available interview slot after docs are confirmed. 

 

They spread visa issuance over the fiscal year, so even if it is a year that visas run out (some years it happens, others it doesn’t) that won’t happen before sometime in September. So even an interview slot in August should be safe.  Basically if you have submitted your DS/documents anytime by about March/April, you should be easily safe for an interview slot and visa.