Share Your DV Interview Experience Too!

Discover a wealth of firsthand accounts and valuable insights from individuals who have successfully navigated the Diversity Visa (DV) interview process.

26 Comments

  1. J.M.

    Hello verified so, I am back again. I would like to share my interview experience from Zambia with case number around 39K. My interview was on the 9th of May.

    Prior to my interview date, the embassy sent me an email instructing that I submit all original documents a week before the interview. A list was provided on what was required
    -passport
    -2 Photos
    – Medical results
    – original academic certificates and transcripts
    – Birth certificate
    -Police clearance certificate
    -DS260 confirmation page
    -Affidavit financial support
    -Tax clearance transcripts
    – Immigration status of my sponser.
    I went to the embassy and submitted them. After a week, my interview date arrived. My interview was at 11am, so I made sure to be at the embassy an hour earlier. Immediately it was 11, security allowed me to enter the building. I passed security check and proceeded to the consular section. Surprisingly I was the only interviewee there. I guess my embassy is not busy.
    I was met by a lady who directed me to the cashier where I made a payment of 330 USD. Then I was told to seat and wait for my name to be called for the interview. I waited for about an hour until I was called.

    INTERVIEW

    CO: Good afternoon
    Me: Good afternoon
    CO: Asks me to swear
    Me: I do that
    CO: Hands over my original documents back to me
    Co: I can see you have a Bachelor’s degree
    Me: yes
    Co : When did you enroll into university and what grade did you get in this course (she mentioned one of the courses I studied)
    Me: I answered
    Co: Do you have relatives in the US
    Me: answered, Yes mam.
    Co: Are you married?
    Me: No
    Co: Do you have children?
    Me: No
    Co: What do you do?
    Me : I answered, I own a business, I explained the type of business
    Co: Do you have any form of prof
    Me: Yes mam, I presented my business documents including tax returns
    Co: Great!
    Co: Okay let me check if there is something we are missing. She types on her computer for a few seconds and then she says, Okay it seems we have everything, I am glad to inform you that your visa has been approved with a smile on her face and handed me a white paper with instructions on when and how to collect my passport and travel package.
    Me: I Thanked her and left

    THE END.
    Thank for the work that you do. May God bless you.

  2. TOH Jérôme

    Just to give you feedback on my interview. I’m case number 2023AF00031XXX, had interview in U.S Embassy Yaounde, Cameroon on Tuesday May 16th, 2023

    I received my 2NL on Wednesday 29th March, 2023

    Showed up at interview way before time, was calm with all documents complete. Later on went through normal security check and document verification by Embassy support personnel. Interview was pretty straight forward, less than 2 minutes as a single applicant, a recap

    CO: Warmth greetings, good morning Sir!
    CO: Now raise your right hand, You have to take this oath, that you promise to say the truth and only the truth

    Me(Response): Did as asked

    CO: What is your name Please?

    Me(Response): gave my full names

    CO: Have you ever travelled to another country before?

    Me(Response): I had travelled before, so I gave the country and even added confidently by specifying the duration period

    CO: Are you married?

    Me(Response): NO

    CO: Do you have a child?

    Me(Response): NO

    CO: Do you have a fiancee, girlfriend or someone you intend to marry later on, smiled at me? (She later on said the reason was just in case your partner happens to apply in future, so that we know by putting her name in the system will facilitate the process, just in case she ever apply for a visa)

    Me(Response): NO

    CO: Ok, CONGRATULATIONS sir, welcome to USA. You will have to wait for 1-2 weeks for your visa to be printed. You will be notified by mail. That’s all, you can go now

    So, I was approved. I want to thank you personally on this occasion, for taking upon you to serve others in this manner, I have gained value through your YouTube videos, please keep up!

    JUST FEW TIPS/ADVISE***

    1) I see many persons abandoning the whole process/forms to be filled by someone else and they just wait to be told what to do, I don’t think is the right way to go, even if some other person has to fill and follow up your process, you should at least know everything happening by reading the information needed and if better, take out time to do all by yourself. Don’t be lazy, take out time to read and re-read

    2) There are also guidelines for new immigrants. When approved, you can even take the burden to start reading and know what is expected of you as we plan to take this new phase of life in another land, very important

    Though long, I believe someone will always learn. Best wishes to all approved 2023

  3. Hello
    Am a dv 2024 winner an I wanted to share my experience during the dv interview.
    I pass all security checks and then proceeded to the main hall were a lady direct me to pay a visa fee an she told me to wait in the interview queue.
    I wait around 40 to 50 minutes then they cal my name.
    My finger prints was taking from there he processed the interview.
    I was ask three questions
    1. Did u married I said no because am single
    2.Did u like computers I said yes that the certificate I presented
    3.where did ur host live I answered
    From there my visa was approved
    Then he congratulated me with a smile

  4. Thank you very much VS, I’m DV 2024 Winner with case number 30499.

    I entered / played the DV in Rwanda Kigali because l was studying there.

    After l got selected, l started following your videos on YouTube, and you said it’s better to do interview in your home country . Kcc sent my case to Kenya, so l transferred my case from Kenya to Liberia during the filling of the DS260 on July 28,2023, because Liberia is my home country.

    I received my 2NL January 15, 2024

    I collected my transcripts from my university l was studying and the Rwandan police certificate and returned to Liberia February 17, 2024. I did my medical February 19, 2024.

    Interview date March 29,2024 8:00 am Liberian time Friday.

    I left my house by 6:45am to the embassy because my house is not far the embassy it’s about 5 minutes drive.

    By 8:00am l submitted all the required documents and waited about 3 Minutes, after l was called to pay which l did. I waited outside for 2 minutes and l was called for interview.

    The Co asked me double questions at the same time, (Do you have child and are you married), my reply was no,
    Co : come pick your Visa Wednesday April 3rd 3:00pm, my interview took only 45 seconds.

    I didn’t even take oath

    That day l was the first in all , first to enter, first to collect documents from , first to pay, first to be interviewed, first person visa approved that day bro.

    Currently I’m in the US living North Dakota Fargo city. Thanks so much VS for the guidance.

    • Oh, a wonderful interview experience. Congratulations. I don’t find many selectees going to either of the Dakotas. I don’t know why. All the best in U.S. Thank you for sharing.

  6. Hello my wife won dv 2025 ,we are legally married but she didn’t include my step child during the initial entry dv form,now can she fill the ds 260 and add my step child?

      • Hello Verified So, I really appreciate your effort to help us. I won DV 2025, I’m legally married and I have a stepchild I didn’t include during the initial entry dv form. Because she included him on her entry form, but she did not win. Even after I won, I did not add him on summary page as company/Derivative list but I included him on the list of family/children on the DS-260 FORM by specifying he is not coming with us now but he’ll join later. does this cause a problem on my case? Please E-mail me. Thank you

        • You should have included him. Not including him-that is the mistake that will deny you the visa. to contact me directly, just click that ‘contact verified so’ button

  7. Hi, I am a DV24 winner my interview is on July 10 I am in the process of registering for the interview online. My husband failed the medical and has to take a test that will be ready on14 August. Do I still add him to the interview registration or should I exclude him. If we go with him can my visa be approved and his wait for the results or will all our visas be put on 221g? Can we go without him with consent from him that he is ok with me and the children relocating without him.

    • Hi, You must add him. On the event that you pass the interview, your visa will be approved and your husband’s be put on 221g. You must add him and attend the interview together.

  8. Good morning, I am a DV-2025 winner, and my case number is a bit high around 74 thousand plus, do I stand a chance to be called for an interview or it wouldn’t be called?

  9. I am a DV-2025 winner but my case number is very high, I am wondering as to whether I will be called for an interview.

  10. hello, i am a 2025 dv winner from Addis Ababa my case count is high 36k , so I want to transfer to another embassy what do you recommend? our embassy is not very fast

  11. hello i am from Freetown, Sierra Leone. i am dv2025 winner
    my case No is 2025AF64XXX do i have chance for interview or will my case number be current?.

  12. I did not know much about DV but in 2022 I decided to apply for it for the very first time in my life. You can therefore imagine my surprise and excitement when come May 2023 I saw that 1st NL. In my head that was a visa. My case number was 51,*** and I knew there were 55,000 visas up for grabs, so in my head, I had been issued a visa and that was the visa number and all I had to do is fill the forms and submit required documents and I would be out of here by July 2023.

    I filled out the DS260 and submitted it by 20th May 2023! That I did not make mistakes is a miracle (though there was nothing to lie about or amend – I filled for myself, my husband and 3 kids). But Lo! and behold, I went into the internet and now I discovered what 51*** really means. I was so devastated that I thought I should give up and at one point I actually did. By October 2023, I applied again for the DV Lottery (I did not win- Ha! I guess it is a once in a lifetime thing as BritSimons says).

    My two sources of information was Verifiedso and Britsimonsays the others were just noise that in most cases put me in despair! I loved verifiedso coz it looked homegrown -not sure if you are a Kenyan but I assumed and that was comforting for me as I knew you were talking about things that really applied to the US embassy in Nairobi – I appreciated the resources on your website which told me the position of my case number.

    From these two channels I got to learn about everything DV (I feel like I am almost an expert) especially what the bulletin meant, and I got resources to check the performance of the embassies. So fast forward to me receiving the 2NL (please note that at one point I almost gave up and did not think Nairobi would get to my number).

    To say that I tried to prepare for anything is an understatement – I had a “Visa Bag” which had every document that anyone could ask for including certificates, letters of employment, affidavits including fathers’ consent, title deeds, money market statements, pension statements, logbooks etc. I even had a list of the interview questions you had on your channel which we had practiced as a family. I was ready!!

    I got my 2NL on 15 May and immediately I tried to register my interview at the embassy, but the system did not allow me to do so until 6 June which was a blessing in disguise. I had booked for the medical on 6th June which we went for and this was what happened

    1. They only did physicals and chest x-rays for me and my husband based on our age. I was cleared.

    2. My husband was not cleared, and he had to repeat the X-ray and after that he was told that he has to do a sputum test for the next 3 consecutive days. The results would come out in 5 days after which if he is +ve of TB they will inform him to start treatment but if -ve they would still have to keep the culture for 8 weeks. This meant that his file would not be sent to the embassy until then. This was to be 20th August

    3. They did physicals and blood tests for the kids when they were 14 years old. The children were cleared on principle pending the results of the blood test which was to come out in a few days time. They said that if the blood is clear they will not call and they will forward their file to the embassy but if they are not clear then they would call so that the kids can go for an x-ray.

    4. The tests cost us Ksh 245,818

    After the test, we were not sure what our options were, the medical test had never been any worry for me coz we are all pretty healthy with no issues at all so now we were not sure what to do.

    · should we still proceed with the interview scheduled in July or do we wait until August

    · should I book an interview for my husband too or do we go to the interview without him

    · Will we all to be put on AP and how long would AP take considering September

    We agreed as a family that 4 is better than none and that I should proceed with the process for me and the kids. But this did not feel right to me so I was back to the internet and that is when I reached out to you and you told me to just go ahead and book the interview for him. I therefore included my husband knowing that the following options could happen

    1. All of us get put in AP

    2. 4 visas could be issued and 1 put on AP

    3. All approved (we prayed for this)

    4. All denied (worst case scenario)

    Come interview day. Some misinformation happened which were funny when we considered them after

    1. That you cannot wear hoodies or big Jackets (it was dead cold at the embassy! We suffered with our sweaters- wah!!).

    2. For DV interviews 7 am does not mean you will be called in at 7 am. We got there at 6 am and found almost 30 people ahead of us, then they gave priority to the physically challenged and the parents with children – we were going for our interview after 12 pm. I think that someone needs to describe better what really happens between the gate and the interview counter. The fact that the sitting area is outside, and the counter is like a bank teller window was a shock for us and I remember my daughter saying “I thought we would be in a room and we would sit and get interviewed in private”.

    After the registration process our number was called and we went in for biometrics and then we paid the visa fee. Then we waited outside and passed time by watching as some people left with a green form and you watch them walk to the gate almost jumping while others left with white, yellow and pink looking so depressed. My kids are 14 and they got to understand what these forms mean and they got so distressed and I got depressed as this was one of my biggest fears as I proceeded with this process. When our number was skipped, my daughter started crying and we intensified our prayers. Then we were called in and by now we were all tense as we wondered why our number was skipped.

    We got to the counter and the consular (a very kind and pleasant lady, I have to say) verified our names and asked us to take the oath

    Questions

    1. What is your highest level of education

    2. When were you married

    3. Are these your biological children

    4. Why do they have different surnames

    5. What is your profession

    6. Do you practice

    7. To my husband – what is your highest level of education

    8. Are these your only children

    9. Have you lived out of the country (to both of us)

    10. To my husband how long were you in Russia

    11. What is your major

    At this point I am almost sure that I will hear “welcome to America”. Instead she says “please ask the children to wait outside, I want to talk to the two of you”

    To my husband, “have you ever applied for a US visa”. He says no. She says “We have an application for someone with your name and date of birth for an application done in 1996”. Now I am confused and panicked. Then she says “Unfortunately, because of this I cannot approve your visa”.

    My hands just went to my head! And my heart sank! She looks at me and says “no, yours and the children, I am giving a conditional approval”. She hands me a green form written “conditional” she says her machine has hung and she is therefore not able to complete a background check on me. She says that she has to print the refusal for my husband so she moves to the printer. She comes back with my husband’s form, she checks the screen again and tells me to give her back the green letter and she hands me a yellow form – MIMI KWISHA!! I am thinking my children are out there, what am I telling them!!

  13. Hello evryone
    My case number is 2025af58001. I am an Algerian i am in France now . I chose an interview at the Paris embassy. I am waiting for a residence permit from the French state because I do not have a legal residence in the country. Will this affect me on the day of the interview appointment?

  14. Hello Everyone,

    I’m DV2025 winner. After selected, i noticed that photo used on my DV Entry is used on Passport Visa, DV Entry and it has a bigger head (Not fully match requirement). I would to know if there anyone experienced same issue? Does it effect to my upcoming interview?

    Note: Photo is taken in last 3 months of entry date.

    Passport Visa that i mentioned, look like this https://shorturl.at/hQtU7

    Thank you so much for everyone answering.

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