EIIC

PRESS RELEASE – October 30, 2009

The diversity visa lottery application period is currently open again for those who are eligible and interested in applying for a green card. For the seventh year, applications will only be accepted online via the U.S. Department of State website at www.dvlottery.state.gov.  

Emerald Isle Immigration Center is once again appealing to potential applicants to plan early again this year! The DV Lottery website can get frozen the closer we get to the deadline of noon on Monday, November 30th. Regretfully we will be unable to accommodate last minute walk-ins during the final days of the DV Lottery. So please call either of our offices if you need assistance with your application.

Each year, 50,000 green cards are made available through a lottery system to individuals who come from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The State Department's National Visa Center holds the annual lottery and chooses winners randomly from about 8 to 13 million qualified entries. About 100,000 entries are notified and given the opportunity to apply for permanent residence. If permanent residence is granted, then the individual, their spouse and any unmarried children under the age of 21 will be authorized to live and work permanently in the United States.

Only natives of certain countries are eligible to apply for the green card lottery. Those born in the following countries are not eligible to apply for the DV-2011 lottery because a total of more than 50,000 immigrants came from these countries to the U.S. in the previous five years: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, South Korea, United Kingdom and its dependent territories (except Northern Ireland) and Vietnam. Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible. An applicant may, however, claim the country of birth of their spouse, if eligible, or of either parent if they were born in a country of which neither of their parents was a native or a resident at the time of their birth.

All applicants also must have a high school diploma or the equivalent, defined in the United States as the successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education or they must have two years of work experience within the last five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience to perform. Entries for the DV-2011 diversity visa lottery must be submitted electronically from noon on October 2, 2009 through noon on November 30, 2009. Applicants may access the electronic diversity visa entry form at www.dvlottery.state.gov only during the 60-day registration period beginning October 2nd. Paper entries will not be accepted. All entries by an applicant will be disqualified if more than one entry for the applicant is received, regardless of who submitted the entry. Applicants may prepare and submit their own entries, or have someone submit the entry for them. The Department of State will issue DV lottery entrants an electronic confirmation notice upon receipt of a correctly completed Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form.

Applicants must also attach separate digital photographs of themselves, their spouses and unmarried children less than 21 years of age (except children who are already permanent residents or U.S. citizens). The photographs must be in the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format and meet specific resolutions (600 pixels high by 600 pixels wide), color depths (24-bit color) and kilobytes (maximum 240 KB) requirements. If a photograph print is scanned, the print must be two inches square and be scanned at a resolution of 150 dots per inch and with specific color depths. If the digital image does not conform to the specifications, the application will be automatically disqualified.

Applicants will be selected at random by computer from among all qualified entries. Those selected will be notified only by mail between May and July 2010 and will be provided further instructions, including information on fees connected with immigration to the U.S. Persons not selected will NOT receive any notification. DV-2011 visas will be issued between October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011.

No fee is charged to enter the annual DV program. The U.S. Government employs no outside consultants or private services to operate the DV program. Any intermediaries or others who offer assistance to prepare submissions for applicants do so without the authority or consent of the U.S. Government. Use of any outside intermediary or assistance to prepare a DV entry is entirely at the applicant's discretion. A qualified entry submitted electronically directly by an applicant has an equal chance of being selected by the computer at the Kentucky Consular Center as does an entry submitted electronically through a paid intermediary who completes the entry for the applicant.

The new immigration laws carry heavy penalties for visa overstays.  Those who have overstayed their visa by 6 months, may face a 3 year bar upon their departure from the United States, if they have overstayed for one year or more, they may face a 10 year bar. Successful lottery applicants who are undocumented in the US must be processed for a visa at a US Consulate abroad under current laws. Departing the US will trigger the 3 or 10 year bars making them ineligible for a visa. Undocumented lottery winners with a relative petition or an employer labor certification pending before April 30, 2001, may be eligible to be interviewed in the United States under Section 245(i), provided they have not triggered the 3/10 year bars by leaving the US.

Inquiries may be made to the EIIC at their Woodside, Queens's office at (718) 478-5502 or at their Woodlawn, Bronx office at (718) 324-3039 or on the EIIC website www.eiic.org.  Both centers along with the Aisling Center on McLean Avenue (914) 237-5121 in Yonkers are currently scheduling DV applications.