State Department Update on Diversity Visa Program
Posted Jan 31, 1999

From time to time, the Department of State issues guidance in the form of a cable message to Consular posts (U.S. Embassies and Consulates), and the Law Office of Sheela Murthy's Bulletin reports on some of those cables that may be of interest to our readers. We describe below an update on visa lottery processing for the 1999 fiscal year, known as the DV-99 program. The 1999 fiscal year began October 1, 1998.

The State Department has routinely disqualified certain entries which were missing key information or which were otherwise prepared incorrectly, for example failing to include photos or signatures. However, when instructions have been less than clear, applicants have sometimes been given the benefit of the doubt. For example, for DV-98 and earlier, the instructions did not clearly state that information on spouse and children was mandatory. Therefore, failure to include such information did not necessarily pose a problem. However, beginning with DV-99, if an applicant is chosen for the lottery and then indicates a spouse or child that was not mentioned before, that applicant will be disqualified. Instructions for the DV-99 (and DV-2000) program do state that information on spouse and/or children is mandatory. (Of course, exceptions are made if a person marries, or has a child, after having entered the lottery.) Several thousand entries were disqualified on the above basis, so an additional drawing was held, and 10,000 more winners were selected.

The letter to notify an applicant that he/she has been selected for the lottery, now incorporates certain security features as protection against fraud. It uses "secure" paper which fluoresces under a black light, and incorporates other anti-fraud features which make it difficult to alter or reproduce. The text of the letters also provides certain clues to authenticity, for example leaving out punctuation marks in certain places. Undoubtedly, there are many other security features to this letter that have not been announced to the public. Use of a more secure letter will protect legitimate winners from having their valuable immigration opportunity usurped by con artists, so the Law Office of Sheela Murthy applauds this effort.

In order to protect persons who may happen to lose their letters, there is also a procedure for issuance of a duplicate, which has a different appearance from the original. Applicants who present duplicates can expect to have the information verified before any immigrant visa is issued by a Consulate.

The State Department has also provided posts with a manual to assist in determining whether applicants have the equivalent of a high school education or experience in a skilled job. The cable also included a reminder that the proper Affidavit of Support form to use in lottery cases is the old form, the I-134, and not the new, longer I-864. (The I-864 is used in family based cases and in certain employment-based cases when the employer is related to the employee.)

The Law Office of Sheela Murthy reminds its subscribers that those born in India, China, Philippines, Mexico, Canada, and several other countries which comprise a high percentage of immigrants to the U.S., do not qualify for the DV Program.