Diversity Lottery 2004 "Winner" Letters Issued
Posted Jul 11, 2003

Persons who sought immigration relief via the annual Diversity Visa Lottery for 2004 (DV-2004) may have received good news in the mail recently. The Kentucky Consular Center has notified the "winners" selected for potential eligibility to immigrate through the lottery program. The lottery program makes 50,000 immigrant visa numbers available to those from selected countries. Countries are selected based upon having low rates of U.S. immigration. The winners are chosen at random, from approximately 7.3 million qualified entries. Persons not selected are not notified.

Follow Directions and Respond Promptly

Recipients of the notification letters should carefully follow all directions and act promptly. Simply receiving the notification letter does not guarantee permanent residence status. There are only 50,000 visas available and the notification letters are sent to approximately twice that number of applicants. The reason for this is that some people do not pursue the applications and others, ultimately, do not qualify. In order to assure that the full number of available visas will be granted, the number of notices exceeds the number of visas. The visa numbers are issued on a first-come / first-served basis. Eligibility requires proof of a high school education, or equivalent, or two years of qualifying work experience. For the work experience to qualify, the position must require at least two years of training or experience. Additionally, the two years of experience must be recent, occurring within the past five years.

Winners Must Complete Processing by September 30, 2004

The program is time-sensitive. The DV program ends each year on the last day of September. Accordingly, it is necessary to obtain final approval of permanent resident status through the program on or before September 30, 2004, or the opportunity will be lost. This is true of all family members seeking benefits under the program. Selected applicants may either adjust status in the U.S. or process for an immigrant visa at the consulate in their respective home countries. The procedures for these processes are slightly different for other types of cases. Lottery winners should read all instructions very carefully. Eligibility for benefits is based, in part, on the availability of visa numbers. These can be located in the monthly U.S. Department of State (DOS) Visa Bulletin, available on MurthyDotCom. The numbers for the DV-2004 lottery will be available October 1, 2004, when 2004 fiscal year begins. Individuals seeking adjustment of status or consular processing must be eligible for these procedures in all other respects.

Do Not Lose Hope

Persons not selected this year can always try again for the DV-2005 lottery. The DOS will announce the entry dates for the 2005 lottery in August 2003. A person, meanwhile, will need to maintain lawful status to live or work legally in the U.S., however. Since April 1, 1997 a person selected, who is out of status, is not permitted to obtain permanent resident status. This is because the law does not allow the I-485 to be approved for lottery winners who are out of status and those who travel abroad after being unlawfully present for over 180 days will be subject to the 3-year or 10-year bar.