Green Card & Visa News » Diversity Lottery

DV-2012 Diversity Visa Lottery Results

Tushar Mathur — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:30:00 +0000

The Kentucky Consular Center of the State Department has once again released the results of the DV-2012 diversity lottery. The winners have been registered and notified by mail. They may apply for an immigrant visa or adjustment of status (if they are in the U.S.) between the months of October 2011 and September 2012.

This year there were a total of 14,768,658 applicants (19,672,268 if dependents are counted) who entered the lottery drawing during the 30-day application window of October 5, 2010 – November 3, 2010.

Applicants should note that only the selected applicants (“winners”) were notified by mail. If you have not been notified by the State Department, it means that you have not been selected. Be warned of many scams out there who would send you false winning notifications and demand fees and payments from applicants.

The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign-state chargeability of those registered for the DV-2012 program:

AFRICA
ALGERIA 1,799 ANGOLA 42 BENIN 511 BOTSWANA 7 BURKINA FASO 226 BURUNDI 56 CAMEROON 3,374 CAPE VERDE 9 CENTRAL AFRICAN REP. 3 CHAD 33 COMOROS 9 CONGO 105 CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE 3,445 COTE D’IVOIRE 553 DJIBOUTI 38 EGYPT 4,664 EQUATORIAL GUINEA 4 ERITREA 670	ETHIOPIA 4,902 GABON 48 GAMBIA, THE 113 GHANA 5,832 GUINEA 899 GUINEA-BISSAU 3 KENYA 4,720 LESOTHO 8 LIBERIA 2,101 LIBYA 136 MADAGASCAR 17 MALAWI 16 MALI 76 MAURITANIA 29 MAURITIUS 59 MOROCCO 1,890 MOZAMBIQUE 13 NAMIBIA 10 NIGER 32	NIGERIA 6,024 RWANDA 333 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 0 SENEGAL 270 SEYCHELLES 6 SIERRA LEONE 3,397 SOMALIA 175 SOUTH AFRICA 833 SUDAN 757 SWAZILAND 0 TANZANIA 175 TOGO 845 TUNISIA 113 UGANDA 418 ZAMBIA 79 ZIMBABWE 123

ASIA
AFGHANISTAN 109 BAHRAIN 29 BANGLADESH 2,373 BHUTAN 5 BRUNEI 0 BURMA 370 CAMBODIA 596 HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMIN. REGION 54 INDONESIA 256 IRAN 4,453	IRAQ 153 ISRAEL 175 JAPAN 435 JORDAN 152 NORTH KOREA 0 KUWAIT 108 LAOS 1 LEBANON 274 MALAYSIA 118 MALDIVES 0 MONGOLIA 209	NEPAL 3,258 OMAN 11 QATAR 19 SAUDI ARABIA 217 SINGAPORE 45 SRI LANKA 708 SYRIA 160 TAIWAN 391 THAILAND 73 TIMOR-LESTE 9 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 92 YEMEN 149

EUROPE
ALBANIA 1,508 ANDORRA 1 ARMENIA 998 AUSTRIA 130 AZERBAIJAN 304 BELARUS 493 BELGIUM 105 BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 83 BULGARIA 883 CROATIA 107 CYPRUS 26 CZECH REPUBLIC 104 DENMARK 73 ESTONIA 49 FINLAND 91 FRANCE 574 French Polynesia 7 New Caledonia 1 GEORGIA 620 GERMANY 1,709 GREECE 105	HUNGARY 325 ICELAND 56 IRELAND 213 ITALY 529 KAZAKHSTAN 434 KOSOVO 137 KYRGYZSTAN 321 LATVIA 83 LIECHTENSTEIN 0 LITHUANIA 258 LUXEMBOURG 8 MACEDONIA 160 MALTA 20 MOLDOVA 1,238 MONACO 3 MONTENEGRO 18 NETHERLANDS 149 Aruba 4 Curacao 19 St. Maarten 2 NORTHERN IRELAND 59	NORWAY 84 PORTUGAL 66 Macau 19 ROMANIA 1,327 RUSSIA 2,353 SAN MARINO 1 SERBIA 298 SLOVAKIA 80 SLOVENIA 16 SPAIN 232 SWEDEN 200 SWITZERLAND 229 TAJIKISTAN 270 TURKEY 3,077 TURKMENISTAN 143 UKRAINE 5,799 UZBEKISTAN 4,800 VATICAN CITY 0

NORTH AMERICA
BAHAMAS, THE 15

OCEANIA
AUSTRALIA 900 Christmas Islands 3 Cocos Islands 1 FIJI 628 KIRIBATI 14 MARSHALL ISLANDS 4 MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF 2	NAURU 5 NEW ZEALAND 309 Cook Islands 6 Niue 14 PALAU 5 PAPUA NEW GUINEA 0 SAMOA 0 SOLOMON ISLANDS 0	TONGA 93 TUVALU 0 VANUATU 8 WESTERN SAMOA 9

SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 9 ARGENTINA 101 BARBADOS 25 BELIZE 9 BOLIVIA 84 CHILE 43 COSTA RICA 43 CUBA 292	DOMINICA 18 GRENADA 24 GUYANA 26 HONDURAS 80 NICARAGUA 49 PANAMA 21 PARAGUAY 17 SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS 7	SAINT LUCIA 4 SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 16 SURINAME 15 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 175 URUGUAY 19 VENEZUELA 925

Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2012: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born, excluding Hong Kong S.A.R. and Taiwan), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.
(Source: U.S. State Department Visa Bulletin – September 2011)

Diversity Visa ("Visa Lottery) still available for most countries; deadline is 09/31/2011

Tushar Mathur — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:09:00 +0000

The Diversity Visa Program runs on a fiscal year schedule. For DV-2011, September will be the last month for selected applicants to apply for their immigrant visa or adjustment of status. Diversity visas will not be issued to applicants after September 30, 2011. The Department of State reports that visa numbers are still available for most countries. Please see table below.

Region	All DV Chargeability Areas Except Those Listed Separately
AFRICA	CURRENT	Except: Ethiopia 32,700
ASIA	CURRENT
EUROPE	CURRENT	Except: Uzbekistan UNAVAILABLE
NORTH AMERICA (BAHAMAS)	CURRENT
OCEANIA	CURRENT
SOUTH AMERICA, and the CARIBBEAN	CURRENT

Seattle Immigration Lawyer | Forcing DHS to Act, a Brief Look at Mandamus Actions

Tushar Mathur — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 18:51:00 +0000

In general, a “mandamus” is a written order issued by a court commanding a lower court or government officer to perform mandatory or purely ministerial duties correctly. In the immigration context, a person may file a mandamus petition in federal district court to force a DHS officer or other agency officer to perform a nondiscretionary duty, such as ordering USCIS to adjudicate an application or petition that has been unreasonably delayed (28 U.S.C. §1361).

In one mandamus action that was granted, the court ordered the INS to adjust a diversity lottery applicant prior to the end of the fiscal year. In another mandamus action, the court denied the USCIS’s motion to dismiss a mandamus petition that was brought to compel adjudication of an adjustment of status application, and the court rejected the government’s claim that the time that USCIS and the FBI take to complete the name check is per se reasonable. In an example of a case where mandamus was denied, one court held that a 3-year delay in an adjustment of status was not so extraordinary that it required court intervention.

In a mandamus action, the petitioner must show:

(1) a clear and certain claim;

(2) that the duty owed is ministerial and so plainly described as to be free from doubt; and,

(3) that no other adequate remedy is available.

(Belegradek v. Gonzales, 523 F.Supp.2d 1364 (N.D. Ga. 2007)).

According to the nonprofit advocacy group, the American Immigration Council,* the following tips should be considered when bringing a mandamus action:

(i) Request that the court order USCIS to adjudicate the application within a certain time frame, such as 30 or 60 days (otherwise the court may not impose any deadline!);

(ii) Request that the court maintain jurisdiction over the action after granting mandamus relief (so that, if necessary, you can return to the same court to seek enforcement of its order without having to bring a new action), or alternatively, request that the court require USCIS to provide the court with periodic progress updates; and,

(iii) If you know or suspect that security checks are causing the delay, name the FBI as well as USCIS in the petition so that the court has jurisdiction over both agencies.

If you think that your immigration application is taking too long, it is worth asking an experienced immigration attorney about the possibility of bringing a mandamus action in federal court. Sometimes your only option is to sue an agency in order to force it to do its job.

*I have paraphrased the three suggestions above from the American Immigration Council. See http://www.legalactioncenter.org/clearinghouse/litigation-issue-pages/mandamus. I have no affiliation with this nonprofit.

Diversity Visa Lottery- things you must know

Tushar Mathur — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:31:14 +0000

There are nearly fifty five thousand individual who applies for permanent residency in United States. There is no guarantee that winning the Diversity Visa Lottery will give you the permanent residence visa. You are required to full fill certain requirements and pass screening test taken by authorities overseeing lottery for green card or Diversity visa lottery.

Diversity visa lottery is also popularly known as Green card Lottery that puts certain requirement before an individual applicant before his/her permanent residency is approved. One such requirement is that person winning the Diversity visa lottery should be able to present his/her confirmation page information. The information required by winner for Green card lottery can be easily obtained from websites. The only constrained is that information available is up to June 30, 2010.

All winning candidate of the diversity visa lottery received notifications and results through individual mails at their mailing address. Normally the winner receives mails between the period of May and June. All notification is done through official government letters and emails are no way used for such notifications. Official government letters holds seal of U.S Department of state Kentucky consular centre. This letter contains the necessary details and direction that helps in supplementing other requirements. Applicants are informed about the other important forms or documents and fees of immigrant application that has to be handed over.

Between the months of October to September, winners of Lottery for green card are issued Visas. It is very important for applicants to obtain their diversity visa or modify status before the end of current fiscal year.

All those who were not lucky enough to qualify for the green cards would not be given any sort of regret notification. For all those unlucky applicants, the E-DV website is now available which helps them in assessing their status online.

So, who all are interested for lottery for Green card, the application process will open on October, 2010. Get ready with your document because you never know you may be the lucky one out of fifty five thousand.

American Green Card Lottery

Admin — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 20:33:45 +0000

The United States government runs a diversity program called the Diversity Lottery (DV) Program, that enable 50,000 people from all over the globe to come and settle in the United States. Like any other citizen of the country. They would be allowed to work earn and have equal rights there by law, and the best part is that it’s permanent and not time bound.

There are a couple of eligibility criteria for the program. These primarily circles around the education and previous work experience of the individual. About Education – The applicants would be required to have completed 12 years of education primary and secondary combined. And 2 years of work experience which should not be in more than the last five years. In some field it would need at least two years of training or experience to perform.

The application would happen online from the State Department’s website. An electronic application would be required to be filled in for the Diversity program visas. No mails or otherwise would be entertained.

There are some silent features of this online lottery that happens for the American green card lottery. First all the participants are placed on the same platform and there are absolutely no chances of partiality or favoritism to happen in this lottery.

Secondly there are no charges associated with this lottery from the US State Department website though. But there is some amount of nominal charges, which is applicable if tried to apply through the USAFIS organization website.

Free airline tickets would be provided to the winners of the program, to travel to the United States and stay there. Also the participants would be allowed to send their photos through normal mail. But the point to be noted here are, this feature is not available from if applied through the US State Department website. This is just a feature of the USAFIS organization website. But that does not mean that there would be discrimination done while choosing the winners.

In case you are from a country which does not appear in the list of eligible countries, then you can apply after acquiring a citizenship of a different country that is a part of the list.