The United States Visa Lottery Arrived Again, But Not For Long
The 2014 United States Visa Lottery program (“DV-2014”) began this past Tuesday, October 2, 2012. Applications began to be received starting at noon and will only be accepted until Noon of next Saturday, November 3, 2012. It is imperative to indicate that the inscriptions are completely free. During this period, applicants must submit their applications on the website https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/, through the electronic registration system. Requests that are not sent electronically will not be accepted.
Due to the high volume of applicants, electronic networks could be saturated and cause long delays. That is why we encourage all applicants not to wait until the last minute to enroll.
The Visa Lottery program is administered annually by the United States Department of State and is governed by the regulations of Section 203 (c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act [“INA”]. The history of the Visa Lottery began in 1990 when through Section 131 of the 1990 Immigration Act, Section 203 (c) of the INA was amended creating a special category of immigrants called “diverse immigrants.” Through this legislation, Section 203 (c) of the INA offers a maximum quota of 55,000 visas, each fiscal year, for “diverse immigrants” through the Visa Lottery. These immigrant visas are only available to people from countries with low migration rates to the United States.
The annual Visa Lottery program grants the 55,000 visas available to people who can meet the simple, but strict, nationality, education, and / or work experience requirements. Once the registration window is closed, the computerized system of The Visa Lottery randomly selects thousands of applications for a pre-selection. Once these applications are reviewed, visas are distributed and divided to “diverse immigrants” among six geographic areas around the world, giving preference to geographic areas with low rates of migration to the United States. It is important to indicate that the Visa Lottery program did not grant any visa to nationals of countries that have had more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the last 5 years. Further,
It should be noted that this year Guatemala’s nationals are now ELIGIBLE to enroll in the program. However, nationals of the following countries are NOT ELIGIBLE to enroll this year, having exceeded the number of 50,000 immigrants in the United States during the past 5 years: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland), Colombia, Dominican Republic , Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, the United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland), and Vietnam.
The State Department implemented the electronic registration system in 2005, in order to make the Visa Lottery program more effective and safe. In addition, the State Department uses a highly advanced technological system to counter fraud and identity theft.
Beginning May 1, 2013, applicants will be able to use their assigned confirmation numbers and will be able to review, on the Visa Lottery website, whether they have been pre-selected. As in previous years, the State Department will implement an electronic process by which selected applicants will be notified of the steps to follow to complement their immigrant visas and that of their eligible family members. Finally, the confirmations on the interviews will also be made by this means.