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Hi Heidi, congrats and congrats. What a wonderful opportunity for a single gal. We in our 8th month and have never looked back. As a guideline, 10 000.00 USD, but as Malamute also said, they did not really focus on it. Best of luck!

adventurer1 is 100% correct about the Affidavit of Support. In most cases, you don't need it, as you self-petition. You DO need to convince the interviewing officer that you will not become a public charge - so proof you have funds of your own, your ability/likelihood of finding employment are all factors, and if satisfactory, then no affidavit is needed. As a DV recipient myself some years ago, that never even came up - they were satisfied that I was employable, had some funds, and, to be honest, they hardly focused on that at all. I came over on my own too. It is easier in one sense (you only have yourself to be concerned with from application, to travel, to finding somewhere to stay, a job etc), but also it is harder as you have NO support, NO backup initially, and have to do everything yourself. Small things, like listing your emergency contact at work, in systems that only support USA addresses and telephone numbers, can be challenging too. Good luck!

Congrats Heidi556 Unless this is a new requirement for all DV winners- an Affidavit of Support would usually only be required if you can't show your own means off support via enough financial funds (to support you in your initial settling phase when you will be searching for employment etc), your qualifications and work experience field could also be off benefit. (the officer will know which industries / fields off employment has higher chances off you getting employment.) In your case being unmarried and no dependable beneficiaries will mean that you require less financial funds than a say a family off 4 (https://www.uscis.gov/i-864p) This is just a guideline and cases as judged individually and case by case. Good luck with your journey

I’m not sure there’d be an impact from the new October entry period as everyone who entered in the valid draw will know about it. (In 2012 when there was a re-draw take up was very slow, but that was because a lot of people didn’t realize the first draw had been invalidated and never checked again just assuming they hadn’t been selected. We had one of those here on sausa who got contacted by kcc near the end of the fiscal year, he hadn’t realized they had to check again until then.) So for this year to come the issue is more how many valid entries they have selected. But in any case 26xxx should be a totally decent number. Congrats, you’re in for a wild ride!!

It’s an 11hr drive for us. Would be a good excuse to get out that way and visit my friend up in Santa Barbara, but still darn annoying every time you need to do something. Thankfully, after my wife’s passport, we shouldn’t need anything for another 8 years. I hope! We mailed in our apps separately with, two separate checks and two return envelopes. Funny thing is they sent our certificates back in one envelope, addressed to the both of us 🤔

It’s great to see we can apply from within the US. But When should one apply for retaining their SA citizenship? And when in year 4 can one start applying for US citizenship? Thanks a lot for any help you can give.