| Jennifer Hopkins | September 13, 2005 |
On September 9, 2005, the House Judiciary Subcommittee, voted by a voice vote to approve a bill which proposes to eliminate the diversity visa lottery. For more details about the diversity visa lottery (DV lottery), itself, please see below.
Bill number H.R. 1219 was introduced by Representative Bob Goodlatte from Virginia on March 10, 2005. The bill has 40 co-sponsors from 22 different states (AL, AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IA, KY, LA, MD, MI, MN, MO, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, and VA). A similar bill proposed by Goodlatte last year was approved by the House Judiciary Committee, but the full House did not vote on the measure. The current bill is being forwarded to the full House Judiciary Committee for a vote. At this time, this is only a proposed bill. For additional information regarding the summary, text, and status of the bill - as well as information regarding any other pending legislation - search for the Bill Number on the Library of Congress Thomas Legislative Information on the Internet at http://thomas.loc.gov/.
What is the DV Lottery?
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), each year, the Diversity Lottery (DV) Program makes 55,000 immigrant visas
available through a lottery to people who come from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Of such
visas, 5,000 are allocated for use under NACARA (the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act) beginning with DV
99. The State Department (DOS) holds the lottery every year, and randomly selects approximately 110,000 applicants from all
qualified entries. The reason that DOS selects so many applications is that many will not complete the visa process.
Each year, 50,000 immigrant visas are made available through a lottery to people who come from countries with low rates of
immigration to the United States. None of these visas are available for people who come from countries that have sent more
than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the past five years. This is determined each year and posted with the filing
instructions.
Anyone who is selected under this lottery will be given the opportunity to apply for permanent residence. If permanent residence is granted, then the individual will be authorized to live and work permanently in the United States. The recipient is also allowed to bring his/her spouse and any unmarried children under the age of 21 to the United States.
Who has gotten these Diversity Visa Lottery visas?
The Department of State website has posted the results of the DV 2005 Diversity Visa Lottery, including the numbers of visas
issued to nationals from each country. If you are interested, you can find them at: http://travel.state.go v/visa/immigrants_types_diversity2.html.
Who is eligible for the DV Lottery? The State Department website states that to be eligible for the DV Lottery, you must:
- Be a native of a country whose natives qualify, AND
- Meet the educational or training requirements. Qualifying occupations listed on the State Department website: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants_types_diversity4.html.
Again, if you wish to follow the progress of this bill - H.R. 1219 - (or any other pending legislation) you can search for the Bill Number on the Library of Congress Thomas Legislative Information on the Internet at http://thomas.loc.gov/.