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Diversity Visa Lottery 2004 (DV-2004) Results Annouced
Media Note
The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky, has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2004 diversity lottery. The diversity lottery was conducted under the terms of section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available *50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Approximately 111,000 applicants have been registered and notified and may now make an application for an immigrant visa. Since it is likely that some of the first *50,000 persons registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure should insure that all DV-2004 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2004 (October 1, 2003 until September 30, 2004). Applicants registered for the DV-2004 program were selected at random from the approximately 7.3 million qualified entries received during the one-month application period that ran from Noon on October 7, 2002 through Noon on November 6, 2002. An additional 2.9 million applications were either received outside of the mail-in period or were disqualified for failing to properly follow directions. The visas have been apportioned among six geographic regions, with a maximum of seven percent available to persons born in any single country. During the visa interview, principal applicants must provide proof of a high school education or its equivalent or show two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience within the past five years. Those selected will need to act on their immigrant visa applications quickly. Applicants should follow the instructions in their notification letter and must fully complete the information requested. Registrants living legally in the United States who wish to apply for adjustment of their status must contact the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services for information on the requirements and procedures. Once the total *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2004 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2004, will derive no further benefit from their DV-2004 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2004 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2004. Only participants in the DV-2004 program who were selected for further processing have been notified. Those who have not received notification were not selected. They may try for the upcoming DV-2005 lottery if they wish. The dates for the mail-in period for the DV-2005 lottery program will be widely publicized during August 2003.
The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign-state chargeability of those registered for the DV-2004 program: AFRICA ALGERIA 1,285 ERITREA 373 NAMIBIA 10
AFGHANISTAN 46 IRAQ 174 MONGOLIA 65 BAHRAIN 15 ISRAEL
465 NEPAL 4,259
ALBANIA 3,071 GERMANY 1,227 NORTHERN IRELAND 51 NORTH AMERICA BAHAMAS, THE 12
AUSTRALIA 362 NAURU 0 SOLOMON ISLANDS 2
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 6 DOMINICA 12 PERU 1,298 Natives of the following countries were not eligible to
participate in DV-2004: Canada, China (mainland-born, excluding Hong
Kong S.A.R., and Taiwan), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador,
Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea,
United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories,
and Vietnam Released on June 24, 2003 |
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