The United States has some of the strictest drug laws in the world, and those laws extend to foreign nationals who wish to enter the country.
Under Section 202 of the Controlled Substance Act, individuals who have engaged in drug abuse or drug trafficking may be deemed inadmissible to the United States.
Specifically, Section 202 lists a number of controlled substances that are illegal under federal law. These substances include marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine, among others. If an individual has used or possessed any of these substances, they may be denied entry to the United States.
But it’s not just recreational drug use that can cause problems. Section 202 also covers prescription drug abuse. If an individual has abused prescription drugs or has a history of addiction, they may also be deemed inadmissible.
Section 202 of the Controlled Substance Act has broken them down into (IV) schedules: Schedule I, Schedule II, Schedule III, Schedule IV. Here are some of the drugs listed under each schedule:
Schedule I:
Heroin
LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide)
Marijuana (cannabis)
Ecstasy (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA)
How to Prepare for DV Lottery Interview as a Derivative
A derivative is basically the eligible immediate family member who is deriving visa benefit for a principal applicant.
When it comes to DV Lottery, the derivative(s) does/do not influence the visa decision of the principal applicant. Meaning if the derivative fails to pass their interview for any reason, it will not impact the principal applicant’s visa unless in fraudulent cases.
{Now that we have clear this out of the way, let’s go to topic}
Basic Checklist
Interview Appointment letter; if you are not attending an interview with the Principal Applicant then you must have your interview appointment letter. This letter will be your means of entry to the embassy premises. But if you are attending interview together with the principal applicant, then one letter will suffice.
Confirmation page; this will be the DS260 confirmation page . It will contain the name of the derivative and the case number of the principal applicant.
Passport; valid and unexpired passport with minimum 6 months validity and minimum 2 used pages free.
Passport photo; (2) 2×2 inches or 5cm x 5cm color passport photo with your full name and DOB written on the back. DO NOT STAPLE
Birth Certificate; the original birth certificate and if you are unable to obtain it, please check the reciprocity page on the State Department’s website for your embassy’s procedure.
Medical Exams; Typical, the medical exams results will be sent directly to the embassy electronically. However, some U.S. embassies still utilize hand delivered report by the visa applicant. So inquire from the medical facility if you might need to come back to pick up your results for interview day.
Police Clearance (s); if you meet the requirement for police clearance then make sure you have it or them. If you are unsure, please refer this video (insert video title)
Visa Fee; $330 per applicant. Derivatives are considered applicants at this stage and must also pay this fee. The fee must be paid in USD or local currency equivalent.
You may bring your educational certificates and work experience, but know that it will not be used in determining your visa eligibility since only the education or work experience of the principal applicant will be used in the visa approval determination.
If you are not attending this interview with the Principal Applicant, then you need to consider bringing relationship evidence and marital status evidence.
BUT if you are attending together, then there’s no need for you to also bring relationship evidence and marital status evidence.
If you have children then you have to go over this checklist for each derivative.
If you are derivative through who the eligibility is derived from, please WATCH my video on YouTube (WATCH THIS If Your DV Lottery Eligibility is Derived from Your Derivative)
IETLETS is not required from applicants whose educational instruction is done in English language
UK government plans on expanding the program to include all countries.
Process to become QTS ready
*Applicants will not have to travel to UK for their training. Rather, they would be able to training in partner schools and institutions in their countries or regions.
It’s the beginning of a new fiscal year, 2023 and interviews have already begun at many posts/embassies around the world. In October 2022, a total of 1,356 visas were issued to Diversity Visa applicants by 62 U.S. embassies around the world.
This is a breakdown of the number of diversity visas issued and where they were issued.
The 5 top posts in Europe based on performance in the month of October 2022 (FY2023)
Algiers
Cairo
Yaoundé
Addis Ababa
Lomé
The 5 top posts in Asia based on performance in the month of October 2022 (FY2023)
Abu Dhabi
Amman
Bangkok
Kuwait City
Doha & Hong Kong
The 5 top posts in Europe based on performance in the month of October 2022 (FY2023)
Warsaw
Tashkent
Tirana
Frankfurt
Ankara
Top performers in South America Region in the month of October 2022
Lima
Georgetown
U.S. Embassy in Suva, Fiji is the top performer in Oceania in the month of October 2022
Only Montreal issued visa in the NA region in the month of October 2022
We hope that many more embassies will increase their working capacities and more interviews will be scheduled for DV lottery winners. Please check out Wofoy TV YouTube channel for more info.
Welcome to America, the home of “credit”. In my opinion, if cash is king then credit is an emperor in America. Having physical cash can get you so far but having credit opens many opportunities to you. Here is a simple experiment, go to any of the hotels in your area to book a room, ask to pay in cash and see what happens. More often than not, they would want to have a credit card for the transaction. So as a new immigrant, you will have to learn to understand and embrace this culture of credit in America.
What is Credit? Who maintains the credit report and calculates the score?
Ability to have access to goods and services with the understanding that you will pay later. It may be a credit card or access to loans. There are 3 credit reporting bureaus : Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, they are non-governmental agencies responsible for maintaining credit report and calculating the credit score of all Americans.
What is a credit score?
It is the measure of your “credit worthiness”. It basically determines whether you are a high risk or low risk borrower. A good credit score means you are a low risk borrower but poor credit score means you are a high risk borrower.
Image from Experian.com
Why is it important?
Loans
Your ability to secure loans such as auto loan, personal loan, mortgage loan are determined by your credit worthiness. A poor credit may disqualify you from getting approved for certain loans.
Interest Rates!
Having a good credit can offer you benefits such as low interest rates but a poor credit could put you at risk of high interest rates if you do get approved for a loan or a credit card. Example: Person A goes to an auto dealership to buy a 2022 VW Atlas but your credit score is 720, which is good so you get approved for an auto loan with 9% interest rate for 48 months. However, Person B with 810 credit score get the same car at an interest rate of 3% for 48 months.
Person A ends up paying $ 2,415.48 in interest
Person B ends up paying $797.17 in interest
Person B saves $1,618.31..That’s the impact of credit!
Some jobs may require it as a condition of employment.
Having a good credit is necessary for some jobs such as military, law enforcement, prison jobs, attorneys etc. Imagine the horror if criminals could influence our law enforcement officials with money. Our justice system is not for sale so to maintain the integrity of our judicial system, all the people connected to it are expected to be held to a standard where they can’t be influenced by money.
How to you build a credit as a new immigrant?
You can start with cellphone account
most cellphone plans do not require you to have a credit history or score, so this will be a good starting point.
Open a bank account where your paycheck gets deposited
Most banks offer their customers credit cards after you have been with them time, you bank will offer credit cards to you
You can use credit builder loan accounts to help you build your credit.
A Credit builder loan account allows you to make monthly payments to be held by the bank or service provider and at maturity, you will get the money you paid back minus administrative fees. These monthly payments will be reported to the credit bureaus and missed payments will also be reported to the credit bureaus as well.
Pay rent
Some apartments report rent payments and missed payments to the credit bureaus. Making your rent payments on time and consistently could help boost your credit score
How do you lose or gain points?
Payment history
Making on time payment of bills and not missing a payment goes a long way to increase your credit score points. Doing the otherwise will cause you to lose point resulting in decreased score.
Credit Utilization
It is a percentage of how much credit you have used versus the total credit line. Having a higher credit utilization will have negative impact on your credit score and vice versa. The goal is to maintain a low credit utilization percentage so that you can gain points.
Example; if you have $1500 credit limit, keep the rolling balance under 20%. This will show other lenders that you have your spending under control and they can trust you with even more.
Length of credit history
It is the amount of time you have held that credit account for. This may go against a new immigrant since you are starting from scratch. But one way to overcome this, is to be an authorized user on an older account of someone who has a good credit score. This will help boost your credit history. Similarly, a negative activity by that user could impact the authorized user. Been an authorized user does not necessarily mean you should be given a credit card on that account.
Credit mix
Having varied credit accounts such as credit cards, loans, etc., help boost your credit score.
Recent application
Every time you apply for a new credit card or loans, the lender performs a “Hard pull” on your credit report. This hard pull could result in loss of 5 points or more on your credit score. So, it is a good idea to not have as many hard pulls and avoid unnecessary credit applications that may result in hard pull. A hard pull may stay on your credit report for 2 years.
Derogatory information
This may be the result of having multiple nonpayment or an account going into collection. An account goes into collection when the original creditor/lender has been unsuccessful in collecting payment on a bill. And so, the lender sells the account to a collections agency which will attempt to collect the payment. Try and negotiate with the original creditor/lender to come to a flexible payment plan before your debt goes into collections. A collections action against any of your accounts could impact your credit for 7 years.
