Visa Lottery Applicants Should Hold On!

Seal of the United States Department of State. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Unselected DV-2013 Entrants Should Keep Their Confirmation Numbers at Least UntilSeptember 2013

As the new fiscal year DV lottery may start in two or three months ahead, people may forget this State Department advice. There are a number of people who entered the DV-2013 lottery registrations but did not make it, partly owing to the agency’s system glitch last year. As part of this episode, the State Department released this advice that they may select additional candidates out of the pool of the existing list of registrants. For this added chances of selection, the entrants should keep in mind two things for another opportunity in October 2012: (1) The Confirmation Number is absolutely necessary when they are selected. (2) Additional selection can be checked only through the Entrant Status Check site. It is thus imperative for them to keep the confirmation number safe to prove entry and come October 1, 2012, start checking status again on Entrant Status Check site of the U.S. Department of State. It is only about seven (7) weeks away!

Important: New Visa Processing Fees

Effective April 13, 2012 the Department of State will change some of the visa processing fees.

The fee for nonimmigrant visas H, L, O, P, Q and R will increase from $150 to $190.  The fee for B, F, J, and I visas will increase from $140 to $160.

The fee for E-2 fee (investor) visas will decrease from $390 to $270 per person and the fee for F-1 visas fees will decrease from $350 to $240.

Also, the fees for ALL of the immigrant (permanent residence) visas  will decrease,  some significantly.  The fee for an employment based immigrant visa will decrease from $720 to $405.  In contrast, the government fee to do an equivalent background check in the U.S. (adjustment of status) is $1,070 per person.

Check out the New Visa Processing Fees table to find out more.