Talk:Diversity Immigrant Visa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] Expansion

The H.R. 4437 section is too short and did not present view from all sides. I'm not knowledgable on the HR-4437 so, I'm not sure how to expand it. If you're someone who knows more about this issue please expand this section.

Also, there's seems to be some companies out there that you can pay so they would enter you every year for a certain fee. And since the visa is free to register, wouldn't this be a fraud of some sort?

Danke Feureau 15:52, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Redirects

Shouldn't there be redirects from "Green Card Lottery" and "Diversity Visa Lottery" to this page?

Agreed, Done, Why didn't you just do it? Dainamo 12:37, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Hello. I have a Diversity Visa. I did apply via an "agency", who did take a fee. This was in 1999. However the fee is to make sure that the application is sent to the correct processing center, during the short application period. I don't think what the "agencies" do is illegal. However, I would say that they do occupy an "ethically grey" area, because the agency I worked with never indicated that the application process is free. I hope this helps. AndrewItalic textbbbbbb

[edit] Eligibility is based on birthplace not citizenship

Persons are allocated to a jurisdiction for the purpose of the Diversity Visa lottery based on their birthplace and not their current citizenship.

In exceptional cases it is possible to claim chargeability to the place a parent was born. Additionally, if one's spouse is selected in the lottery, one can receive a visa on this basis.

JAJ 04:02, 10 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Non-Sovereign Jurisdictions

Most DV jurisdictions are sovereign countries. There are at least four exceptions where those born in one part of a country are treated differently to the majority from that country. These are:

  • Northern Ireland (UK)
  • Hong Kong SAR (China)
  • Macao SAR (China)
  • Taiwan (China). US recognises PRC as the sole government of China, however Taiwan is maintained as a separate jurisdiction for the visa lottery.
  • Persons born in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, Sinkiang, and Tibet are chargeable to the limitation for China-mainland.
  • Persons born in the areas administered prior to June 1967 by Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Syria are chargeable, respectively, to the foreign state limitation for Israel, Jordan, Egypt, and Syria.
  • For the purpose of the Diversity Immigrant category only, Northern Ireland is treated as a separate visa chargeability per INA 203(c); the symbol for Northern Ireland is NIRE.
  • Treated as a separate chargeability area per sec. 103 of the Immigration Act of 1990.
  • Persons born in Junagadh and that portion of Jammu and Kashmir controlled by India are chargeable to the foreign state limitation for India. Persons born in that portion of Jammu and Kashmir controlled by Pakistan are chargeable to the foreign state limitation for Pakistan.
  • Persons born in the Habomai Islands, Shikotan, Kunashiri, Etorofu, and Southern Sakhalin are chargeable to the foreign state limitation for Japan.
  • In November 1986 three of the four political components which made up the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands assumed new status and are no longer subject to the Trusteeship agreement. The Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia are now sovereign, selfgoverning states in free association with the United States; as such, each has become a separate chargeability for immigrant visa purposes. The Northern Marianas is now a Commonwealth in political union with the United States, and thus a U.S. territory; therefore, it is not a chargeability for immigrant visa purposes. The Trusteeship agreement remains in effect for Palau, however, immigrant visa applicants born in Palau continue to be properly chargeable to the limitation of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.
  • Madeira and the Azores are included as integral parts of Portugal.
  • The Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, and the following areas of Spanish sovereignty in North Africa - Ceuta, Islas Chafarinas, Melilla, Penon de Alhucemas and Penon de Velez de la Gomera - are considered as integral parts of Spain.
  • The Macau Policy Act (incorporated and enacted as Title II of Public Law 106-570) provides that the laws of the United States shall apply to Macau in the same manner as before December 20, 1999. Consequently, Macau immigrant visa numbers are chargeable to Portugal.

Some countries have dependent areas:

  • AUSTRALIA:
    • Christmas Island CHRI
    • Cocos (Keeling) Islands COCI
  • DENMARK:
    • Greenland GRLD
  • FRANCE:
    • French Guiana FRGN
    • French Polynesia FPOL
    • French Southern and Antarctic Lands FSAT
    • Guadeloupe 1 GUAD
    • Martinique MART
    • New Caledonia NCAL
    • Reunion REUN
    • St. Pierre and Miquelon SPMI
    • Wallis and Futuna WAFT
  • GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND:
    • Anguilla ANGU
    • Bermuda BERM
    • British Virgin Islands BRVI
    • Cayman Islands CAYI
    • Falkland Islands FKLI
    • Gibraltar GIB
    • Montserrat MONT
    • Pitcairn PITC
    • St. Helena SHEL
    • Turks and Caicos Islands TCIS
  • NETHERLANDS:
    • Aruba ARB
    • Netherlands Antilles1 NETA
  • NEW ZEALAND:
    • Cook Islands CKIS
    • Niue NIUE
  • PORTUGAL:
    • Macau MAC
  • SPAIN:
    • Western Sahara SSAH

Because the DV eligibility criteria are based on birthplace, citizenship is irrelevant, except a special case when a person was born in US and does not US citizenship.

JAJ 04:30, 10 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Scams

Maybe a paragraph should be added noting the fact that entry is free of charge and is done electronically, and that third parties exploit ignorance of this fact and demand fees for the "service."

Estr4ng3d 15:56, 12 November 2005 (UTC)


Did anyone ever consider the fact that these sites can be helpful to applicatants, who may have questions. I don't think people have to pay the fee for the application, its for making sure the application is correct. I think there should be a paragraph about that.

[edit] December 2005: Green Card Lottery Abolished

Needs citation. F15x28 06:27, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

Done. http://www.house.gov/herseth/press_12172005_visa.html
Thanks! By the way, don't you think Bush is using terrorism as an excuse for everything? Scaring people to vote him for a second term, monitoring credit card use by international students, tapping into the privacy of all US citizens alike, attacking Saddam, stealing oil from Iraq,... and now cutting off sources of diveristy in the US? F15x28 03:00, 4 February 2006 (UTC)
Actually, it was Congressman Goodlatte who thought up abolishing the lottery, not Bush. BGManofID


I proudly came to the U.S. through the Diversity Immigrant Visa. To abolish it would be a joke... the U.S. doesn't want to accept 50,000 LEGAL immigrants, who are documented and checked by the government, while millions of illegal immigrants are pouring through the borders. Haha, what a joke. Noamokun

Let's place this in perspective. It would take the diversity program 20 years to bring in 1 million immigrants. At the same time, millions of illegal immigrants have flooded the U.S. over the last few years. The diversity program should be a non-issue. Noamokun

[edit] Foreign-Language Links

Does anyone think it makes sense to keep a link there to a website that is in Byelorussian only (save.greencard.by)? Besides, I don't see the point of a website that apparently aims to influence US policymaking and does not provide an English translation...

I agree and removed the link --84.191.168.243 20:39, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Legit services

There are several reputable companies providing paid value added services to green card lottery applicants such as http://www.usafis.com/ offering 365 days a year service; Free airline ticket to winners to come to the USA; acceptance of photos by regular mail, email and uploading; photos update anytime; extensive winners notification by regular mail, phone, email and fax multiple times; contact details update; multiple years submission; online support to questions by experts and comprehensive instructions in multiple languages. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Aviregev (talk • contribs) 05:29, 15 February 2007 (UTC).

The guy who has written this is either somebody clueless or THE usafis guy. I don't believe they are an organisation at all.

To my own experience and that of my closest friends, www.usafis.org (.com doesn't exist) is just one more scam. In the beginning they posed as government-mandated or related, and now with time have evolved. Never known somebody who won with usafis. They don't tell "customers" CLEARLY who they are and what they provide. Actually they have chosen a .org suffix to seem more "government-related" than a .com. Also their name seems "government-related". Those who provide serious services are generally people whom you know personally in your town and who tell you clearly "give me this fee to provide this service of correctly filing on your behalf". I am a DV lottery winner who got once tricked by usafis.

[edit] removed usafis.com advertisement

see title. USAFIS listed its url in the paragraph and listed all their advantages. See http://www.usafis.org/

I think this should not be on wikipedia.

[edit] Contradiction in ineligible list

Poland is given as ineligible, however in subsection "Changes" it is said that in 2002 Poland was removed from the list of ineligible countries. Which information is right? MikeZ 15:50, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Poland was ineligible before 2002, but became eligible after immigration from Poland fell in the late 1990s. However, as immigration rose again, Poland was put back on the ineligible list for DV-2007. Somebody removed my stating that, so I fixed it again. BGManofID 17:43, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Criticism of the DV Lottery System Sources/References

No sources or references given to back up these claims. --IIIWitnessIII 13:21, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

That's the first time I've heard about the problem with rejecting people with the same name, and I doubt that's true. You would have to be really stupid to assume that two people can't have the same name and design a system with such a flaw (not to mention no one seemed to notice this before this Wikipedia guy). --pet5

[edit] Immigration Portal Website external link

"FREE Great Blog/Forum with very accurate and knowledgeable bloggers from all over the world to provide you with the answers for DV lottery questions. Mostly for Selected Win"

This is obviously not suitable for this article, but I don't know this particular site, would someone who does look over it and maybe remove the link? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.235.18.197 (talk) 19:55, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Floating Question

"All Asians together is 5% of the US population. By favoring the US Irish majority, what diversity is this program promoting?" As well written and intriguing as that sentence is, are questions acceptable in a source of information?

  • The US has an Irish majority? I don't think so. I believe that "diversity" in the program refers to the mix of the number of immigrants from each nation per year. Asian nations make up a far greater number of immigrants in recent years than those from Ireland or the other eligible European nations. Asian immigration will far exceed Irish immigration, don't worry about that. And if you're implying that Asian nations are shut out, see that Japan, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Mongolia, and more, are eligible for the program. --Bridgecross 17:00, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

hello people... i've been chosen for the dv visa of the year 2009 with the case no. 2009AS00013xxx what are my chances?75.172.159.75 (talk) 19:44, 12 May 2008 (UTC)