Rab’s World

USA Travel.State.Gov DV-2010 Lottery

The DV-2010 Lottery online entry begins today at Noon EDT/1600hrs GMT on October 2, 2008, and ends at Noon EST/1700hrs GMT on December 1, 2008. The English version of the DV-2010 Lottery Instructions is available in PDF format for your convenience.

The Diversity Immigrant Visa program is a United States congressionally mandated lottery program for receiving a United States Permanent Resident Card.

In the mid 1990s; Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) was amended 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. The reduction of the limit of available visas to 50,000 began with DV-2000. It used to be 55,000.

Here is the link to the US gov. official Press release

I personally know many people who have entered the USA as a Permanent Resident through this exact lottery.

Some things to NOTE:

• Additional Languages

• The English language version of the DV-2010 Lottery Instructions is the only official version.
• Some unofficial translations in additional languages will be published and will be added to the US State Department Travel/Visa page as they become available.

Since many countries have high rates of immigration to the USA; each year, nationals from a round of countries are excluded from participating in the lottery.

This is the list for 2010 (meaning applying in 2008) for natives of the following countries. They are ineligible to apply because the countries sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the previous five years:

BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, PERU, POLAND, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM

**No African nations are on this exception list. So apply immediately!

• You can only apply on the Internet.

• The application process is absolutely FREE! Do not pay anyone to do this for you unless it’s a close relative and you are incapable of doing this yourself!

• Instructions for photo submission and format are here. DV Lottery photos

Which African nations won the greatest number of visas for Permanent residence in the previous years?

TOP FIVE:

DV-2009 - Ghana (7,322); Nigeria (6,041); Ethiopia (5,200); Kenya (4,307); Egypt (4,831); Cameroon (3,659) • See complete world list here! 2009

DV-2008 - Nigeria (8,773); Ghana (5,914); Ethiopia (5,241); Morocco (5,017); Kenya (4,547); • See complete world list here! 2008

DV-2007 - Nigeria (9,849); Egypt (7,229); Ethiopia (6,871); Morocco (4,922); Ghana (3,088) • See complete world list here! 2007

Now, one must note that these were the chosen winners. This does not guarantee permanent resident status in the USA. Many are disqualified upon their interview because they do NOT meet the strict requirements for residence listed in the instructions above. In order to allow for those who do not pursue immigrant visas, more ‘winners’ are selected in the lottery than there are visas available (50,000).

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.

Spread the word to relatives and close friends; even if they are not from an African nation. If you know someone who applied last year around this time; then contact them to see if they won. The winners should have been contacted in May and June of this year. Those selected will need to act on their immigrant visa applications quickly. Applicants should follow the instructions in their notification letter and must fully complete the information requested. Address is important! So re-visit those post office boxes! Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2009 (not ‘08!) will derive no further benefit from their DV-2009 registration.

* 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 (post). This is a considerable drawback in the procedures in countries where surface mail may be censored by authorities.

However, starting with DV 2010 the applicant receives a confirmation number after a successful application is submitted which can be used to check the application status online between July 2009 and June 2010. This was a long awaited feature since many postal services in developing or politically unstable countries are either not effective or not trustworthy. (Boy.. do we know about this in Africa)!

Bonne chance! Good Luck!