Visa Lottery Continues to Open Opportunities to Many

Since 1995, the US Immigrant Visa Lottery has provided over half a million foreign nationals the opportunity to work and live in the United States. In 2009, the next Diversity Immigrant Visa Program will be holding the next visa lottery, and the applications can be submitted online. As per the announcement of the State Department, the deadline for online applications is December 2, 2007.

In the early 90’s the idea for the visa lottery stemmed from the desire of the US government in wanting to attract more foreigners to come into the United States. The US government wanted to create diversity among the people by inviting foreign nationals to the country. At present, the visa lottery has attached controversies to it, along with comments of analysts who do not believe that this is entirely a good idea. As presented by the data from the State Department, the 2006 visa lottery actually had more than 6.4 million entries. A large number of these visa lottery entries were from residents of Asian and African countries.

In order for one to be eligible for the visa lottery, he or she should have at least a high school diploma, including two years of experience in a field of work that involves about two years of training at the minimum. To be able to control the number of applicants, there is a list of 20 nations which are not allowed to join the 2009 visa lottery. Some of these countries are Russia, China, India, and Mexico. Analysts further stress how susceptible the visa lottery is to fraud, and the minimum requirements may make it easier for a lot of people to falsify their documents.

At present, the US House of Representatives is creating bills that are to stop the funds for the 2009 Diversity Visa lottery, possibly for reasons concerning national security, among others. There was even a 2005 bill which hoped to totally abolish the visa lottery, however it was not passed by the Senate, though the House did. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) diversity visas that are obtained through the lottery make up only 3.5% of over 1 million green cards that are issued in the year 2006.

Aside from joining the diversity visa lottery, many foreign nationals have obtained permanent residency status in the United States by means of employment petitions, refugee status, or from family members such as parents and spouses.