The program materials do not turn payment into an entry date. Processing, eligibility review and admissibility checks follow, and the applicant should not sell her remaining practice interest or set a move date until the official process confirms the outcome. Verify current timelines on the program page.
Payment starts a process; it does not end one
A sensible timeline treats the gift as the beginning of the government's review rather than as its conclusion. After submission, the applicant should expect identity and background checks, review of the eligibility basis, and the steps that any immigrant process involves before status is granted. The official page and frequently asked questions are the only reliable statements of expected timing, and they may be updated.
For the veterinarian, the practical decisions are about the practice: whether to keep her remaining interest and continue working in Centre Wellington until the outcome is known, how to structure the eventual handover to the associate, and whether state veterinary licensing in the intended US state should begin in parallel, since licensing is a practice requirement independent of immigration. Do not accept a client's referral to a consultant who promises a fixed number of weeks; no such promise appears in the official materials, and paying for speed through an intermediary is exactly the kind of transfer the official channel rule is meant to prevent.