Guidelines for Diversity Visa Lottery 2001 announced (08/29/99)

Guidelines for Diversity Visa Lottery 2001 announced

WASHINGTON - The Immigration Act of 1990 makes available 55,000 permanent resident immigrant visas each year by random selection through a Diversity Visa Lottery, this year DV-2001. The DV-2001 registration mail-in period will be held from noon on Monday, October 4, through noon on Wednesday, November 3. The basic requirements for participants and the countries that are eligible remain unchanged from last year.

The visas will be apportioned among six geographic regions. No visas may be issued to countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States during the previous five years. No one country can receive more than seven percent of the available diversity visas in any one year.

To qualify an entrant must be a native of a qualifying country. In addition, an entrant must have either a high school education or its equivalent, or within the past five years have two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience.

There is no initial application fee or special application form to enter.

Only one entry for each applicant may be submitted during the registration period. Any entry sent by express or priority mail, fax, hand, messenger, or any means requiring receipts or special handling will not be processed. Duplicate or multiple entries will disqualify an individual from registration for this program. An entry received before or after the specified registration dates regardless of when it is postmarked and an entry sent to an address other than one of those indicated below is void. All mail received during the registration period will be individually numbered and successful entrants will be selected at random by computer regardless of time of receipt during the specified mail-in period.

The National Visa Center typically receives between 6 to 8 million qualified entries during the registration mail-in period.

It is not necessary to use an outside attorney or consultant for the purpose of filing an entry.

The decision to hire an attorney or consultant is entirely up to the applicant. Procedures for entering the Diversity Visa Lottery can be completed without assistance following simple instructions. However, if applicants prefer to use outside assistance, that is their choice. There are many legitimate attorneys and immigration consultants assisting applicants for reasonable fees, or in some cases for free. Selection of winners is made at random and no outside service can improve an applicant's chances of being chosen or guarantee an entry will win. Any service that claims it can improve an applicant's odds of winning the visa lottery is promising something it cannot deliver.

Successful registrants will be notified by mail at the address listed on the entry. The notifications will be sent between April and July 2000, along with instructions on how to apply for an immigrant visa, including a requirement for a special Diversity Visa processing fee of $75 payable by only those individuals whose applications are selected and processed for DV-2001 visas. Applicants must meet all eligibility requirements under U.S. law to be issued a visa. Persons not selected will not be notified.

Being selected in the DV Lottery does not automatically guarantee being issued a visa because the number of applicants selected is greater than the number of immigrant visas available. Those selected will therefore need to act quickly on their immigrant visa applications. Once all available visas have been issued, the DV Program for fiscal year 2001 will end. In any event, all DV-2001 visas, by law, must be issued by September 30, 2001.

For further information, call (202) 331-7199 to hear the various means to obtain further details on entering the DV-2001 program. Applicants overseas may contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate for instructions on the DV Lottery. DV information is also available in the "Visa Bulletin" on the Internet at http://travel.state.gov/. To receive a detailed set of instructions and explanations by fax, call the State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs automated fax at (202) 647-3000 and request document code 1103. Calls to the automated fax service must be made from a fax machine using the receiver or voice option of the caller's fax equipment. The document is 12 pages long.

APPLICANT ENTRY INSTRUCTIONS

The entry must be typed, or clearly printed, in English.
On a plain sheet of paper include the following information:
(Failure to provide required information will disqualify the applicant.)

APPLICANT'S FULL NAME, with the last (surname/family) name underlined
Example: Public, Sara Jane (or) Lopez, Juan Antonio
APPLICANT'S DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH

Day/Month/Year
Example: 15 November 1961

City, Town District/County/Province, Country*
Example: Munich, Bavaria, Germany

* The name of the country should be that which is currently in use for the place where the applicant was born (Slovenia, rather than Yugoslavia; Ukraine rather than Soviet Union, for example).

THE APPLICANT'S NATIVE COUNTRY (ONLY IF DIFFERENT FROM COUNTRY OF BIRTH)

If the applicant is claiming nativity in a country other than his/her place of birth, this must be indicated here. Since there is a requirement that the applicant list his/her native country in the upper left-hand corner of the mailing envelope, the information, if any, written here must match the information that is listed on the upper-left corner of the entry envelope.

NAME, DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH OF THE APPLICANT'S SPOUSE AND ANY MINOR, UNMARRIED CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 21

All minor children must be listed on the principal appliant's entry regardles of whether or not they wish to immigrate. Failure to provide all of this information will disqualify the applicant.

FULL MAILING ADDRESS TO WHICH FUTURE CORRESPONDENCE
CAN BE SENT, AND, IF POSSIBLE, A TELEPHONE NUMBER

Address must be clear and complete, as any communications will be sent there.
A telephone number is optional, but useful.

APPLICANT'S PHOTOGRAPH

Attach a recent, preferably less than six-month-old photograph of the applicant, 1.5 inches (37 mm) x 1.5 inches (37 mm) in size, with the applicant's name printed on the back. The photograph (not a photocopy) should be attached to the entry with clear tape - DO NOT use staples or paper clips, which can jam mail processing equipment.

APPLICANT'S SIGNATURE

The applicant must sign the entry, regardless of wheather or not the entry was prepared and/or submitted by someone other than the applicant. Only the principal applicant, not the spouse or children, need to submit a signature. Failure to personally sign the entry will disqualify the applicant.

MAILING INSTRUCTIONS

The entry information must be sent by regular mail or airmail to the address in Portsmouth, New Hampshire using one of six Zip Codes. Applicants must use the correct postal Zip Code designated for the region that includes applicant's native country.

The entry must be mailed in a standard letter- or business-size envelope with the applicant's native country, full name, and complete mailing address typed or clearly printed in English in the upper left-hand corner of the envelope. Postcards are not acceptable.

The mailing address is: DV-2001 Program; National Visa Center; Portsmouth, N.H; Zip Code (see list of Zip Codes below); U.S.A.

The Zip Codes are as follows: Asia: 00210; South America/Central America/Caribbean: 00211; Europe: 00212; Africa: 00213; Oceania: 00214; and North America: 00215.

Applicants listing Ukraine as their native country must use Zip Code 00212.

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