MEDIA NOTE
DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY 2005 (DV-2005) RESULTS

The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2005 diversity lottery. The diversity lottery was conducted under the terms of section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available *50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Approximately 100,000 applicants have been registered and notified and may now make an application for an immigrant visa. Since it is likely that some of the first *50,000 persons registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure should insure that all DV-2005 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2005 (October 1, 2004 until September 30, 2005).

Applicants registered for the DV-2005 program were selected at random from over 9.5 million qualified entries received during the 60-day application period that ran from 12:00 AM on November 1, 2003, until midnight, December 30, 2003. The visas have been apportioned among six geographic regions with a maximum of seven percent available to persons born in any single country. During the visa interview, principal applicants must provide proof of a high school education or its equivalent, or show two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience within the past five years. Those selected will need to act on their immigrant visa applications quickly. Applicants should follow the instructions in their notification letter and must fully complete the information requested.

Registrants living legally in the United States who wish to apply for adjustment of their status must contact the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services for information on the requirements and procedures. Once the total *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2005 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2005 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2005 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2005 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2005.

Only participants in the DV-2005 program who were selected for further processing have been notified. Those who have not received notification were not selected. They may try for the upcoming DV-2006 lottery if they wish. The dates for the registration period for the DV-2006 lottery program will be widely publicized during August 2004.

* The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) passed by Congress in November 1997 stipulated that up to 5,000 of the 55,000 annually-allocated diversity visas be made available for use under the NACARA program. The reduction of the limit of available visas to 50,000 began with DV-2000.

The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign-state chargeability of those registered for the DV-2005 program:

AFRICA

ALGERIA 1,489	ETHIOPIA 6,060	NIGER 53
ANGOLA 14	GABON 29	NIGERIA 6,725
BENIN 233	GAMBIA, THE 136	RWANDA 51
BOTSWANA 7	GHANA 3,974	SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 0
BURKINA FASO 76	GUINEA 268	SENEGAL 409
BURUNDI 34	GUINEA-BISSAU 3	SEYCHELLES 4
CAMEROON 1,540	KENYA 3,618	SIERRA LEONE 594
CAPE VERDE 6	LESOTHO 0	SOMALIA 364
CENTRAL AFRICAN REP. 4	LIBERIA 714	SOUTH AFRICA 390
CHAD 22	LIBYA 35	SUDAN 1,015
COMOROS 3	MADAGASCAR 28	SWAZILAND 6
CONGO 47	MALAWI 44	TANZANIA 356
CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REP 844	MALI 124	TOGO 2,857
COTE D'IVOIRE 321	MAURITANIA 25	TUNISIA 134
DJIBOUTI 12	MAURITIUS 23	UGANDA 244
EGYPT 6,070	MOROCCO 5,298	ZAMBIA 118
EQUATORIAL GUINEA 2	MOZAMBIQUE 12	ZIMBABWE 141
ERITREA 556	NAMIBIA 11

 

ASIA

AFGHANISTAN 22	ISRAEL 116	OMAN 0
BAHRAIN 1	JAPAN 373	QATAR 1
BANGLADESH 7,404	JORDAN 44	SAUDI ARABIA 30
BHUTAN 1	NORTH KOREA 1	SINGAPORE 35
BRUNEI 1	KUWAIT 16	SRI LANKA 386
BURMA 531	LAOS 4	SYRIA 26
CAMBODIA 164	LEBANON 83	THAILAND 102
HONG KONG SP ADMIN. REGION 77	MALAYSIA 87	TAIWAN 367
INDONESIA 258	MALDIVES 0	UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 13
IRAN 820	MONGOLIA 55	YEMEN 40
IRAQ 48	NEPAL 2,698

 

EUROPE

ALBANIA 3,380	GERMANY 1,275	POLAND 6,211
ANDORRA 1	GREECE 78	PORTUGAL 51
ARMENIA 1,004	HUNGARY 181	MACAU 12
AUSTRIA 91	ICELAND 5	ROMANIA 2,521
AZERBAIJAN 235	IRELAND 205	SAN MARINO 0
BELARUS 925	ITALY 202	SERBIA & MONTENEGRO 425
BELGIUM 81	KAZAKHSTAN 296	SLOVAKIA 398
BOSNIA & HERZ 103	KYRGYZSTAN 206	SLOVENIA 6
BULGARIA 4,068	LATVIA 158	SPAIN 134
CROATIA 69	LIECHTENSTEIN 1	SWEDEN 115
CYPRUS 14	LITHUANIA 1,114	SWITZERLAND 136
CZECH REPUBLIC 169	LUXEMBOURG 2	TAJIKISTAN 83
DENMARK 42	MACEDONIA YUGOSLAV REP 306	TURKEY 1,803
ESTONIA 64	MALTA 0	TURKMENISTAN 78
FINLAND 59	MOLDOVA 383	UKRAINE 5,361
FRANCE 384	MONACO 0	UZBEKISTAN 1,551
FRENCH S & ANTARCTIC LANDS 1	NETHERLANDS 130	VATICAN CITY 0
MARTINIQUE 2	NETHERLANDS ANTILLES 10
NEW CALEDONIA 1	ARUBA 2
REUNION 3	NORTHERN IRELAND 75
GEORGIA 375	NORWAY 25

 

NORTH AMERICA

BAHAMAS, The 14

 

OCEANIA

AUSTRALIA 787	NAURU 0	SAMOA 6
COCOS ISLANDS 2	NEW ZEALAND 290	SOLOMON ISLANDS 1
FIJI 530	COOK ISLANDS 0	TONGA 96
KIRIBATI 0	NIUE 1	TUVALU 0
MARSHALL ISLANDS 0	PALAU 2	VANUATU 0
MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF 0	PAPUA NEW GUINEA 5

 

SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 4	DOMINICA 8	PERU 2,514
ARGENTINA 221	ECUADOR 308	SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS 3
BARBADOS 12	GRENADA 7	SAINT LUCIA 4
BELIZE 3	GUATEMALA 25	SAINT VINCENT AND
BOLIVIA 108	GUYANA 27	THE GRENADINES 14
BRAZIL 592	HONDURAS 35	SURINAME 3
CHILE 43	NICARAGUA 14	TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 96
COSTA RICA 24	PANAMA 17	URUGUAY 18

 

Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2005: Canada, China (mainland-born, excluding Hong Kong S.A.R., and Taiwan), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.

 

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