Tentun

hi everyone

i've been looking at the govt website trying to find out more information about the diversity lottery and am not finding the answers that i am seeking.

for example:
when do you usually apply for diversity lottery?

how long does it take to get picked (if you're the lucky few)?

if picked, how long do you have to enter the US?

are there any costs involved? I can see none to apply but surely you must have to pay something for the visa if selected?

what are the chances? yes, i know - how long is a piece of string? but just wondered if anyone knew rough odds. and if you don't get picked first time can you apply again, and again, and again . .

thanks for the help.

Duncan Roberts

firstly you have to see if you are eligible to apply. Where were you born? Secondly, what site were you looking at? The government site about it has all the info you could possibly need. The application for the '10 lottery is over, the instructions for '11 will be posted when needed.

Tentun

yes, thanks, that is the website i have been looking at however, it is unclear to me (as a newcomer to US immigration) and I can't find most of the answers that I am looking for (unless i'm not looking in the right spot, but i've opened most of the links on the page.

do they hold the lottery only once a year?
when will the instructions come out for 2011? (what time of year do they typically post instructions etc).

i am south african born

Ozzidoc

Annually. Applications usually open in October and close at the beginning of December. From memory.

Ray

More info here

http://travel.state.gov/pdf/T1026V-D...ulletin(3).pdf

starky

I got my GC through the DV. I can answer any questions you may have.

> do they hold the lottery only once a year?
Yes, opens for about two months from October till December, winners notified from April till July the following year.
> when will the instructions come out for 2011?
Some time in the summer, July/Aug time frame

As you are south African born you will be applying in the AF region, as I went though the EU region I am not as familiar with the particular statistics for that region. The year that I got my winning notification, November 2007 (for DV 2008) there was about 1.2 million EU applicants and around 30,000 people selected for further processing. So the odds of selection were roughly about 1 in 40/50. Typically there are many millions of applicants from the AF region, specificity Nigeria, this tends to push the odds of selection in that particular region way out. I think in DV 2008 there were 2 or 3 million applicants from the AF region maybe 50-60,000 people selected.

To be honest the hard part is getting “pulled out of the hat” as soon as you are the rest of the process is painless, a few forms, visa fees, background criminal checks, medical, interview at your local consulate and bingo, DV-1 visa stamped in your passport. :-)

Noorah101

Yes, if you do not get chosen, you can keep applying again every year.

Rene

hixton

Anyone any idea when the UK will be allowed in the hat again?
I see Russia is allowed again.

Ray

Probably never ...too many Brits enter by other means

starky

Maybe when all the BE members stop advising all the UK people to get married to USC! :-)
Seriously though the legislation for the DV states that any country that sends more then 50,000 people to the US in the proceeding five years is not eligible. The means that the UK would have to be sending less then 10,000 people every year. The reality is that the scale of people coming to the US from the UK though various routes means that is unlikely to happen any time soon. I guess if some one pulls the information on how many people from the UK have emigrated on permanent resident visas over the last five years then you may have a realistic idea of how soon the UK may be eligible for the DV again. Those statistics can be found on one of the US governments sites somewhere.

crg

They should allow the UK to participate or eliminate the program. The UK shouldn't be penalized for sending so many people over lawfully. Some of the countries that can participate send a significant number of people over unlawfully. There have also been several high profile murders committed by some individuals who have gained status through the DV process. I don't see why they would use a random lottery to decide who gets to live in the US.

starky

If the last comprehensive immigration reform bill had gone though in 2007 the DV program would now be a thing of the past.
Termination of the scheme is always included in various bills that never quite seem to make it though. The DV days are most definitely numbered.

I am extremely grateful for an opportunity to move here as a LPR though the scheme, however I tend to agree with you in the sense that its seems crazy that the US makes it next to impossible to get a GC though most channels, while at the same gives away 50,000 GC's every year to randomly selected people.
From what I can remember part of the CIR back in 2007 was going to cancel the DV, and use the allocation of visas as part of a merit based system, which would seem to make way more sense. That said its hard to point out any part of the current US immigration system that makes any sense. Of course the issue of how to deal with undocumented people ultimately tore the CIR apart as none of the politicians could reach a general consensus on how to deal with the controversial issue.

Immigration reform will be put on the back burner now for a number of years, until the US/Global economy improves so the DV will be here for a little while longer, but its shelf life is rapidly depleting.

fatbrit

Lies, damn lies and statistics? I really don't buy the argument that several people who came over on it committed murder so it should go. Are the proportion of murderers significantly higher than with other visas or the overall population? Without that knowledge, the claim is nonsensical.

On the reasons for the diversity visa, the main one is that it is the only one that draws on the historical basis of America as a nation of immigrants.

crg

The fact that murderers have used it is just a tip of the iceburg and not the main reason for eliminating the scheme.

America shouldn't select people at random. It is an outrage that an LPR must wait 4 or 5 years to bring a spouse to the US while they pass out green cards at random. A US citizen with a sibling in the Philippines can wait 20 years for the green card, but someone else in the world can just win one in a lot less time.

The "nation of immigrants" as the reason for the DV lottery is all a scam. Have you seen a diversity problem in the US lately? We have the child of a Kenyan as president.

The DV scheme was a result of Ted Kennedy implementing a mechanism to grant lawful status to illegal Irish in Boston. It was a backdoor Irish amnesty.

Since IRAIRA in 1996, the ability for someone to adjust from being illegal to a DV winner was severely curtailed. The purpose for which the DV was created is now obsolete.

There are too many splintered families and obscene visa bulletins to be sprinkling green cards to random people around the world.

fatbrit

I think I'd call it an unsubstantiated red herring rather than the tip of an iceberg!

As I say again, look at the history! We could pick on many visa categories. Why do we have an allocation for siblings? Why do we have an H1b other than to cut the cost of labor when we should be able with 300 million people to produce our own code monkeys?

I think I've found your problem with it here. If Ted Kennedy introduced the bill, it must be bad!

The small allocation is a drop in the ocean.