More than 5,500 citizens of Uzbekistan won the DV-2023 lottery, but only 70 percent of them can get a Green Card to the USA. According to compatriots who contacted Kun.uz, the US Embassy in Tashkent scheduled only 90 interviews for June and 99 for July. Moreover, for some reason, mostly candidates with small digital numbers are being called for interviews.
119,262 candidates were selected from around the world in the DV-2023 program. They are invited for a visa interview at the US Embassy in their home country between October 1, 2022, and September 30, 2023. 55,000 of the 120,000 winners, that is, 46%, will be granted a US visa. This means that one of the two winners will not be able to get a visa.
Green Card holders are randomly selected. No country is given more than 7 percent of the total Green Cards offered (7% of 55,000). But it is said that getting this 7% visa is becoming more difficult day by day.
So far, 44% of the winners in Uzbekistan have been called for an interview. The deadline is approaching (September 30)
5,511 citizens of Uzbekistan won the DV-2023 program. So far, 2,425 of them have been called for visa interviews. This is 44% of the total winners.
However, the US embassy in Algeria, which has almost the same number of winners as Uzbekistan (5,526 citizens of this country won the lottery), called 3,333 people (60.3 percent) for a visa interview until July. Figures for other countries: Morocco – 2,795 citizens (62.5 percent) out of 4,469 winners called for an interview; Nepal – 3,031 citizens (79.6 percent) out of 3,808 winners called for an interview; Armenia – 2,751 citizens (78 percent) out of 3,525 winners called for an interview.
These statistics show which US embassies are conscientious in scheduling visa interviews for DV program winners, and which may be lax.
According to the Uzbeks who contacted Kun.uz, the US embassy in Tashkent will allocate only 2,000-2,500 visas for Green Card winners until the end of the fiscal year. However, if the consulate had worked according to the guidelines of the program and allocated 7 percent of the visas, around 3,850 citizens of Uzbekistan (about 70 percent of the winners) should have been able to get a visa.
"Why no interviews are scheduled for applications with big case numbers?"
As a rule, after the winners of the Green Card are announced, they are asked to fill out the DS-260 form. After that, the application data and documents of the visa applicants are reviewed and the date of the interview is determined.
For some reason, the US embassy in Tashkent does not invite winners of applications with rather big digital numbers for interviews. Applicants who have their interviews scheduled until July are those with digital numbers up to 9,144. It worries winners of applications with big digital numbers.
If the process continues in this way, applicants with case numbers under 10,000 might expect to be invited to interviews in August. Green Card winners with case numbers up to 11,000 could be interviewed by the end of the deadline, which is in September. As a result, others may not even have the chance to go to the interview despite winning the DV Lottery program.
This is just a forecast, let's say that if the number of interviewees decreases in a certain month, these numbers will change as well.
"At the beginning, the US Embassy in Tashkent called the winners for visa interviews randomly. Therefore, in October, those with case numbers of 5,600 also entered the interview. But after that, for some reason, only applicants with rather small digital numbers are being called. They don't even care about the late submission of their DS. Those with a large case number, despite submitting their DS earlier, are not given a chance.
Interviewees in June and July have already been announced. There will be 3 interviews in June and 5 interviews in July. The highest case number is 9,144.
Since the embassy is not calling applicants randomly now, they should at least increase the number of interview days and thus the number of interviewees. Then the opportunities of others will not be wasted. Because regardless of the case number being big or small, everyone is a winner and has equal rights," says a man who won the DV-2023 program.
Visa interviews are scheduled for Monday only
People say that the invitation of DV-2023 winners for visa interviews started in October. The US Embassy in Tashkent has been conducting interviews only once a week, on Mondays. However, from October until now, there have been no visa interviews on 9 Mondays. This is due to the fact that many holidays in the USA fall on Mondays this year. But the interviews were not rescheduled for other days; they were simply wasted.
"For example, November 14, February 13, and March 13 did not coincide with any holidays, but for some reason, no interview was held. The embassy did not comment on this.
December 26 is Christmas, January 16 is Martin Luther Day, February 20 is President's Day, May 29 is Memorial Day, and June 19 is Emancipation Day (the day slavery was abolished).
In addition, January 2 was a non-business day in Uzbekistan due to the New Year holiday, but the visa interview for that day was not rescheduled. On the other hand, the interviews for March 20 (a non-working day because of the Navruz holiday) were postponed to March 23. It shows that if they work conscientiously, they can reschedule interviews for other days.
For example, we have heard that the embassy has no meetings scheduled for Thursday. So, missed days could be reimbursed by organizing interviews on Thursdays. But to that, the embassy employees should have the desire to do their task conscientiously," said one of the Uzbeks who won a Green Card in an interview with Kun.uz.
It is noted that there are applicants with case numbers between 16-21 thousand among winners. They say if the embassy organizes interviews for only those with small digital numbers, then their chances will be wasted.
Citizens of other countries who transferred their applications to Uzbekistan for an interview are given a priority
There is another problem for Uzbeks who won the DV-2023 program: Citizens of other countries who won a Green Card but were not able to apply for a visa to the US embassy in their homeland for various reasons are applying to the embassy in Tashkent.
"The US Embassy in Tashkent is giving them priority. We have evidence to prove it.
We understand correctly that citizens of these countries cannot get visas from their homeland due to, for example, the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. But, in our view, the embassy should allocate interview slots for them on other days.
Giving them special preference at our expense is unfair. As the number of people coming from other countries is increasing, it is appropriate for the embassy to increase the interview days or consider the transferred cases on another day," said one of the interlocutors.
"Don't let our dreams become a mirage"
The period for obtaining a visa under the DV-2023 program lasts until September 30. The green card winners interviewed by Kun.uz said that interviewing visa applicants is very slow, and if everything continues like this, they are worried that many of them will not be able to enter the interview and will be left without a visa.
"Our case number is above 11,000. My husband and I applied for the program in October 2021. We were very happy when we learned in May 2022 that we had won. I was 4 months pregnant at that time.
We were both students. Having heard that it would be wise to submit the DS-260 application form earlier, we filled out it immediately. Since then, we are waiting for the embassy to call us for an interview.
Back then, we did not know that serious trials were waiting for us. My husband and I were in a car accident in September, just two weeks prior to the childbirth. A young man came out at a high speed at a traffic light and crashed into the part of our car where I was sitting. The car was crushed by the force of the impact, and I was unable to get out of my seat. We found out that our child did not survive the accident when we arrived at the hospital.
Then, a long trial began. I couldn't walk because my pelvis was badly damaged in the accident. During the trial, the judge said that the death of the unborn child could not be an aggravating factor in the case because the baby could have died even if it had been born healthy. When I heard such cold words from him, I could only calm myself with one thought – that we won a Green Card and if we were lucky, we would soon leave here, that our other children would be born in the USA, and that we would live in a fair and prosperous society.
Only this hope made me walk again. Only these dreams did not allow me to fall into depression after the accident. I am now pregnant again and I am hoping that my baby will be born in the US.
I am worried that we may end up without a visa because of the embassy’s current regime of work; they are not organizing enough interviews with applicants. If the consuls understood our situation correctly and created equal opportunities for everyone, our dreams would not have turned into a mirage," says one of the winners of DV-2023, who wishes to remain anonymous.
The deadline for interviews is September 30. After that, the chances of Green Card winners will expire. This was also confirmed in the embassy's response to Kun.uz. It is not known how many more people will be called for interviews before September 30 if things are going this slowly.
June 5, 12, 26, and July 3, 10, 17, 24, and 31 are set by the US Embassy in Tashkent as the days for interviews with the winners of DV-2023. Here, everything looks smooth and right. But in reality, it is not. In June, 90 people are scheduled to be interviewed in only 3 days, but for some reason, in July, 91 applicants are invited to interviews when there are 5 days allocated for this purpose.
According to the applicants who contacted Kun.uz, if the interview days that were not held on Mondays are compensated and rescheduled, and if everyone is given an equal opportunity and called for visa interviews in random order, then all the problems would be solved.
