<p>Hi, I am an ex f1 student who won the dv lottery 2009. I returned to my home country after studying, but worked without employment authorization while I was studying on my SSN. All taxes were filed and paid.</p>
<p>I am doing counsular processing and was wondering if I would be denied the visa because of my illegal employment. Maybe the question should be if there is any chance of an approval for my case?</p>
<p>Can anyone assist me? Thanks very much!</p>
<p>Oh, I forgot to add....I have been issued a b1/b2 visa since then. I've been living in my home country 3 years now and have visited the US twice since then</p>
<p>First of all congratulations for winning the lottery!</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don't think anyone on this forum can give you advice on this matter. I suggest you contact an immigration lawyer.</p>
<p>Thanks- although I am not sure if I should be thankful that I won. </p>
<p>Thanks for your quick response. I do not know any lawyers, since I am not present in the US. Do you have any suggestions?</p>
<p>Which country are you from?</p>
<p>I won the DV-2008 lottery and was scared that pursuing the DV visa might interfere with my F-1 application (and my first priority was to study in the US, not to stay there). I posted a similar request similar to yours in an online forum and someone gave me the number of an attorney who specialized in US immigration law and offered consultations by phone. I think it was around $3 per minute and the fees were charged directly to my phone bill. He answered all of my questions clearly and promptly, so we were done in about 10 minutes. The $30 for the consultation were very well spent! Unfortunately it's a special service number that can only be called from within my country, so it probably would not be of too much use for you. Maybe there's an attorney offering a similar service in your country.</p>
<p>^
So what's the deal with DV visa while being on or applying to F-1?
Is it a problem?</p>
<p>Well, I was applying for an F-1 visa at the same time that I won the lottery. To get an F-1 visa you have to convince your interviewer that you do not plan to immigrate, and concurrently applying for a DV visa would undermine that :) And while F-1 visas are issued within a few days, DV visas take about a year to be processed. I would have not pursued the DV application if it had meant postponing my enrollment for a year. Fortunately, I was able to get an F-1 visa to bridge the time until I got my DV visa.</p>
<p>(If you care how: The immigration lawyer suggested that I do not bring my DV application to the mail office until after my F-1 interview. That way I could say that I have not previously applied for an immigrant visa on my F-1 application. This lawyer also knew the exact point in time at which consulates abroad got the names of the winners and apparently the consulate was not aware of my win at that point in time. The only risk involved was the long wait until my F-1 interview. Since every year 100,000 "winners" are notified but only the first 50,000 eligible applications are approved, holding back my application for nearly two months could have meant that I did not make the cut.)</p>