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By Sanwar Ali:
Recently the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs has published its Visa Bulletin for September 2020 with the green card lottery results for fiscal year 2021. The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, grants 55,000 permanent resident visas each year. The likelihood of success is low. However, for the lucky few this is an excellent way of gaining a permanent immigrant visa for the US.
Donald Trump has in the past criticised the green card lottery program and says that he favours a scheme that will allow more employment based immigrant visas. Extensive changes to the US immigration system are very difficult. You need the agreement of both Houses of Congress. There have not been extensive changes to the US visa system for many years.
The actual number of green card lottery applicants this year during the enrolment period last year was far lower than the previous year’s DV-2020 diversity lottery. There were 6,741,128 qualified entries from around the world instead of more than 14 million for the previous year. The new system means that only those with an unexpired passport could apply, so reducing the number of applicants. This requirement was introduced for the first time.
List of Countries with the most successful applicants:
- Iran — 6,001
- Russia — 6,001
- Algeria — 6,001
- Sudan — 6,001
- Ukraine — 5,604
- Uzbekistan — 5,319
- Democratic Republic of Congo — 4,503
- Morocco — 4,458
- Albania — 3,962
- Ethiopia — 3,957
- Nepal — 3,801
- Cameroon — 3,686
- Ghana — 3,284
- Turkey — 2,874
Applicants can check their status in the entrant status check page:
You can check your status on the Government page. You will need to have the following.
1. Confirmation Number:
You will need to have the confirmation number when you applied for the lottery. You may be able to obtain this again if you have forgotten the number.
2. Last/Family Name:
Provide the Last/Family Name that was used on the Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form, including punctuation.
3. Year of Birth:
Provide the year of birth for the primary entrant.
Winners can apply for a Green Card using the DS-260 form
The winner must be able to show one of the following:
High school diploma or equivalent
Or
Two years’ work experience over the past five years in an eligible occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience.
After the DS-260 form is processed the main visa applicant and relatives can then find out how to scan and upload supporting documents for the application.
Workpermit.com can help with US employment-based visas
If you would like to apply for a US work visa – including L1 visas, E2 visas, O1 visas and H1B visas - Workpermit.com can help.
Workpermit.com is a specialist visa services firm with over thirty years of experience dealing with visa applications. We can help with a wide range of visa applications to your country of choice. Contact us for further details. You can also telephone 0344 991 9222.
