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1997 Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery

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• In 1990 Congress amended the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide for a Diversity Immigrant Visa Program every year.

• The program gives foreign nationals a way to immigrate to the United States that does not require the sponsorship of an immediate family member or employer.

• The program is commonly referred to as the "Green Card Lottery" and is administered by the U.S. Department of State.

• The purpose of this letter is to advise you about the program in the event you or someone you know would like to take part.

• The lottery is designed to benefit natives of "low admission countries" from which immigration was lower than 50,000 over the preceding five years.

• The Immigration and Naturalization Service determines which countries are "low admission" and "high admission."

• To be eligible to participate in the lottery, an alien must not only be a native of a designated state, but must also have at least a high school education or its equivalent, or have worked at least two years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience.

• An alien is considered to be a native of the country in which he or she is born. Citizenship is not determinative.

• However, an alien ineligible solely due to his or her country of birth who is the spouse of an otherwise eligible alien may also register under the "cross-chargability" provisions of the program.

• Additionally, an alien's spouse and dependent children under the age of 21 are also included should the alien's application be selected.

• Children under age 18 without a high school education or equivalent should not register as they are precluded from obtaining an immigrant visa due to the educational requirements.

• The Immigration and Naturalization Service has determined that the following countries are "high admission" countries and its natives are therefore excluded from participation:

• Canada, Colombia, Dominican, Republic, El Salvador, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Philippines, The People's Republic of China, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, United Kingdom

• While natives of the United Kingdom and its dependent territories are ineligible, natives of Hong Kong and Northern Ireland are eligible to participate.

• Further, no country may receive more than seven percent (3,850) of the available visas.

• The registration period commences on 12:01 a.m. Monday, February 12, 1996, and closes at Midnight Tuesday, March 12, 1996.

• There is no advantage to applying early or late.

• All applications received within the filing window will be registered.

• Applications submitted outside the registration window will be rejected.

• Only one application may be submitted by each applicant during the registration period.

• The Department of State will disqualify anyone who submits more than one application.

• The Department reports that over 500,000 applications for the 1996 lottery were disqualified because of multiple applications.

• Once all eligible applications have been registered, a computer will randomly select approximately 100,000 persons (including registered aliens and their dependent family members).

• The Department of State has selected this number to ensure that all available visas are issued as they cannot be "carried forward" to the next fiscal year.

• Issuance of visas under this program will begin on or about October 1,1996.

• Prepared by JEFFREY A. DEVORE, Attorney at Law, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA.