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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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 DV-2011, natives of the following nations are ineligible: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam [1]. The entry period to apply for the DV-2011 was from October 2, 2009 to November 30, 2009.
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, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Nigeria are not on the ineligible list despite sending over 50,000 immigrants in the previous five years. [2]
Changes
The first program was DV-1995, and the following 13 countries were ineligible from the start: Canada, China (mainland), Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.
Changes to the list of countries over the years include the following:
- DV-1996: Colombia now ineligible.
- DV-1998: Poland now ineligible.
- DV-2002: Poland and Taiwan now eligible, Pakistan ineligible.
- DV-2004: East Timor added, eligible.
- DV-2005: Russia now ineligible.
- DV-2007: Poland again ineligible.
- DV-2008: Brazil and Peru now ineligible; Serbia and Montenegro listed separately, both eligible.
- DV-2009: Ecuador and Guatemala now ineligible.
- DV-2010: Russia now eligible; Kosovo added, eligible.
- DV-2011: No changes.
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. As immigration has increased, the number of ineligible countries has risen, from 13 for DV-1995 to 19 now. Taiwan is the only country which was ineligible in 1995 but eligible now due to decreasing immigration.
Russia fell below the ineligibility limit for DV-2010 [3] 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.
For DV-2012, Bangladesh will most likely be ineligible, although final USCIS statistics have not been released yet.
Distribution and lottery process
The visas are distributed on a regional basis, with each region 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.[4] In addition, no single country can receive more than 7% of the total number of visas (3,500).
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.
Winning chances
All applicants from the same region have the same chance of winning the lottery. Probability estimates can be made based on data released for DV-2008.[5][6]
| Region | Applicants (%) | Applicants (approximate) | Winners | Winning chance (estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Africa | 41% | 2,624,000 | 52,824 | 2.01% |
| Asia | 38% | 2,432,000 | 14,142 | 0.58% |
| Europe | 19% | 1,216,000 | 26,149 | 2.15% |
| North America | 17 | |||
| Oceania | 1,713 | |||
| South and Central America and the Caribbean | 2% | 128,000 | 1,845 | 1.44% |
| Total | 100% | 6,400,000 | 96,690 | 1.51% |
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 DV. 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. [7] 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. H.R. 2764
Several attempts have been made over the last several years to eliminate 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 the 111th Congress are related to DV:
Frauds and scams
There is no charge to enter the diversity visa lottery, and the only way to do so is by completing and sending the electronic form available at the U.S. Department of State's website during the registration period. However, there are numerous companies and websites that charge a fee in order to complete the form for the applicant. The Department of State and the Federal Trade Commission have warned that some of these businesses falsely claim to increase someone's chances of winning the lottery, or that they are affiliated with the U.S. government.[8][9]
Recent developments
Over 13.6 million applications for the 2008 Diversity Visa Lottery (DV-2010) were submitted — an increase of 4.5 million, or 50%, from the 9.1 million applications submitted in the 2007 Diversity Visa Lottery (DV-2009).[10]
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).
Criticism of the DV Lottery system
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Until DV-2010, there was no means by which an applicant could check the status of an application. Only those selected in the lottery were notified, by mail. However, starting with DV-2010 the applicant receives a confirmation number after a successful application is submitted. This number can be used to check the application status online between June and July. This was a long awaited feature since many postal services in developing or politically unstable countries are neither effective nor trustworthy.
Also, there have been arguments by long time temporary legal residents in the United States on the fairness of the DV program. A situation where high skilled (H1-B) workers remain on temporary visas in the US for years (in some cases, more than a decade) with no clear path to becoming permanent residents while 50,000 random people are picked around the world and handed permanent resident status questions the fairness of the US immigration system.
References
- ^ Instructions for the DV-2011, U.S. Department of State.
- ^ Immigration Statistics, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
- ^ U.S. Department of State
- ^ Charactristics of Diversity Legal Permanent Residents: 2004
- ^ 2008 Diversity Visa Lottery Registrations
- ^ DV 2008 Results
- ^ VOA News
- ^ Fraud Warning, U.S. Department of State.
- ^ Diversity Visa Lottery: Read the Rules, Avoid the Rip-Offs, U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
- ^ Visa Bulletin for August 2009
External links
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This article's external links may not follow Wikipedia's content policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links. (November 2009) |
- U.S. Department of State - DV-2011 program
- Electronic Diversity Visa Lottery
- Electronic Diversity Visa Lottery - Instructions for Photographs
- U.S. State Department - Warning on fraudulent diversity visa websites
- Representative Herseth - Amendment to eliminate visa lottery
- H.R.2764, The library of Congress, Thomas
- U.S. Embassy visa webchat regarding DV lottery Program, February 3, 2009
- Diversity Visa Lottery: How to Ensure Your Client Can Turn a Lottery Win Into Permanent Residence
- THE DIVERSITY LOTTERY – A DECEPTIVELY SIMPLE PROGRAM (An Update) By Bernard P. Wolfsdorf and Naveen Rahman
- 22 CFR 42.33 - Diversity Immigrants, 04/01/2009 Edition
- 9 FAM 42.33 Notes - Diversity Immigrants
- 9 FAM 42.33 Procedural Notes - Diversity Immigrants
- 9 FAM 42.12 Notes - Rules of Chargeability
- 9 FAM 42.12 Exhibit I - Country-by-country specifics of chargeability rules
- GAO Report to the Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security, House of Representatives Border Security Fraud Risks Complicate State’s Ability to Manage Diversity Visa Program
- Acceptance of DV-related I-485 Applications During 90-day Period Preceding Cut-Off Number in the Visa Bulletin Immigration and Naturalization Service Memorandum
- Questions and Answers. USCIS National Stakeholder Meeting Question 11. Current state of the 90-day memorandum
- USCIS – AILA Liaison Committee Agenda Issue 5. Current state of the 90-day memorandum]
- Reviews and ratings of ethical green card lottery services and warnings for scam sites.
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