Diversity Immigrant Visa

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The Diversity Immigrant Visa program is a United States congressionally mandated lottery program for receiving a United States Permanent Resident Card. It is also known as the Green Card Lottery. The lottery is administered on an annual basis by the Department of State and conducted under the terms of Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Section 131 of the Immigration Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-649) amended INA 203 to provide for a new class of immigrants known as "diversity immigrants" (DV immigrants). The Act makes available 50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.

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[edit] Ineligible countries

Those born in any territory that has sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the previous five years are not eligible to receive a diversity visa. For the DV-2009, natives of the following nations were ineligible: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam [1]. The entry period to apply for the diversity immigrant visa (DV-2009) was October 3, 2007 through December 2, 2007.

The ineligible countries may change from year to year, and are determined by counting those countries which sent 50,000 "immigrants" in the five years including that covered by the last published immigration statistics.

[edit] Exemptions

The term 50,000 "immigrants" is partial and refers only to people who immigrated via the family-sponsored, employment, or immediate relatives of U.S. citizen categories, and does not include other categories such as refugees, asylum seekers, NACARA beneficiaries, or previous diversity immigrants. It is for this reason that Cuba, Ukraine, Russia, Iran, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Bangladesh are not on the ineligible list despite sending over 50,000 immigrants in the previous five years. [2]

[edit] Changes

Changes to the ineligible list over the years include the following:

The large number of changes for DV-2002 was due to a three-year gap between the publication of the 1998 and 1999 immigration statistics. In other words, DV-2001 was still using the statistics from the five-year period from 1994 to 1998 to determine country eligibility.

Starting with the DV-2008, several questions and options for answers have been added. Applicants are now required to provide information, such as the country where they currently live and their highest level of education achieved, in the Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form (E-DV Entry Form).

Russia fell below the ineligibility limit for DV-2010 due to a combination of a sharp dropoff in adoptions (from 5,878 in 2004 to 2,301 in 2007) and the unusual bureaucratic quirk of large numbers of Russian immigrants being allocated to "Soviet Union (former)" rather than Russia in 2006 and 2007.

[edit] Distribution and lottery process

Regions and eligible countries for the Diversity Visa lottery
Regions and eligible countries for the Diversity Visa lottery

The visas are distributed on a regional and national basis, with each regions sending fewer immigrants to the US in the previous 5 years receiving more diversity visas. Currently, Africa and Europe receive about 80% of the visas in the lottery. [3]

In order to allow for those who do not pursue immigrant visas, more 'winners' are selected in the lottery than there are visas available. Hence being selected from the lottery does not guarantee an immigrant visa to the U.S. To receive a Diversity Visa and immigrate to the United States 'winners' must meet all eligibility requirements under U.S. law. Requirements include at least a high school diploma, or its equivalent, or two years of work experience in an occupation requiring at least two years training. Individuals from among all qualified entries will be notified by mail between May and July 2008 for the DV-2009.

[edit] Legal status

In December 2005, the United States House of Representatives voted 273-148 to add an amendment to the border enforcement bill H.R. 4437 abolishing the DIV. Opponents of the lottery said it was susceptible to fraud and was a way for terrorists to enter the country. The Senate never passed the bill.

In March 2007, Congressman Bob Goodlatte introduced H.R. 1430, which would eliminate the diversity visa program.

In June 2007, the U.S. House passed H.R.2764 to eliminate funding for the program, and the Senate did likewise in September. [4] However, the final version of this bill with amendments, signed into law on December 26, 2007, did not include the removal of funds for the program. [5]

Several attempts have been made over the last several years to kill the lottery. Although H.R.2764 was an appropriation bill and could only cut funds for the lottery during one fiscal year, this was the first time that both the House and the Senate passed a bill to halt the diversity visa program.

The following bills in 110th Congress still open, mainly are introduced, related to DV: H.R.750, H.R.1430, H.R.1645, H.R.3064, H.R.3371, H.R.4065, H.R.4192, S.2868

[edit] Green card lottery scams

There is a growing number of fraudulent green card lottery scams, in which agents take money from applicants by submitting application forms for them, usually for a fee between US$50 to US$250. Some claim that they can increase the chance of winning the lottery. This is not true - in fact, they may even delay the application or not submit the application at all. Likewise, some claim that they will provide free airline ticket to winners or other benefits such as multiple years submissions in future year. However, there is no way to guarantee their claims; actually, there are ample reasons for them not to fulfill their promises. Both the United States Department of State and the Federal Trade Commission have issued warning statements about this type of fraud or similar business practices. [6] [7]

[edit] Recent developments

Over 6.4 million applications for the 2008 Diversity Visa Lottery were submitted — an increase of 0.9 million from the 5.5 million applications submitted in the 2007 Diversity Visa Lottery. Taking into account dependents, there were more than 10 million participants in the 2008 Diversity Visa Lottery.[8]

[edit] Criticism of the DV Lottery System

 Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (November 2007)

Currently, there is no means by which an applicant can check the status of an application online. Only those selected in the lottery are notified, by mail. This is a considerable drawback in the procedures in countries where postmail may be censored by authorities. For instance, it is likely that in Uzbekistan, most first-stage winners do not get their initial notification letters because these letters are believed to be destroyed by authorities controlling the postal service (secret service (SNB), customs, etc.) to prevent emigration of Uzbek citizens to western countries.

There are some indications that certain Security Services (such as Russian KGB/FSB) use their influence on corrupted individuals who process DV Lottery, in order to get Permanent Residence status for their agents.[citation needed]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Instructions for the DV-2009, U.S. Department of State.
  2. ^ Immigration Statistics, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
  3. ^ Characteristics of Diversity Legal Permanent Residents: 2004, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
  4. ^ US Visa Lottery Underway Despite Uncertain Future
  5. ^ H.R.2764
  6. ^ Website Fraud Warning
  7. ^ http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/lottery.htm
  8. ^ 2008 Diversity Visa Lottery Registrations, U.S. Department of State, 15 December 2006.

[edit] External links

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