DV Lottery Entry with ESTA riskd

[Golden Me 2]

Hello everyone,

 

Is there a risk of entering the Diversity visa lottery and then flying to the US on ESTA? I read conflicting things online which scare me. 

 

I read somewhere that cbp officers have access to all systems and that includes Homeland security so upon checks they can see if I've applied for the diversity visa lottery and that would send me to secondary inspection. Does entering the diversity visa lottery show immigrant intent? If I get sent to secondary inspection I'd have to answer yes if I asked if I entered it. 

 

Also I read on the cbp official website and I quote "Although CBP does use information from various systems and specific techniques for selecting passengers for targeted examinations, a component of our risk management practices is the use of a completely random referral for a percentage of travelers." 

 

So that means that the computers of cbp officers randomly target people after a certain percentage? For no reason? 

 

I'll be going to the US for the first time next year. I'm a University student studying through distance learning. I'm unemployed. On my ESTA I want to put student under the employment section. Has anyone on here ever been sent to secondary inspection because they entered the diversity visa lottery and travelled on ESTA? 

 

Has anyone ever been sent to secondary inspection because they put unemployed on ESTA? 

 

Especially for people in their 20s, have you ever had issues with cbp because you were travelling alone? 

 

I read that young people travelling alone are particularly targeted. 

 

I'm in my 20s and will go to visit a friend. I'll have cash money with me and $2,000-3,000 on my credit card with me. I'm very short so that also makes me think they could target me coupled with my age they might see me as wanting to stay. 

 

I'd appreciate if anyone could share their experiences about this. 

 

 

 

[arken 4,197]

 Participating in DV lottery is no different that having a nice dream of roaming US cities with GC in hand and waking up to find your dog licking your face.

 

No impact on ESTA or any other visa applications.

 

Only if one is selected and is processing NVC steps, then it may impact.

Edited March 10, 2020 by arken

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

Seen a few scare stories about this, never once seen an actual report of anyone denied entry to the US because they entered the lottery. To be clear, entering the lottery is not immigrant intent - it’s just entering a lottery. Even being selected for the lottery doesn’t matter, immigrant intent is only signaled when you submit the visa forms after being selected  (and even at that point many people, myself included, have visited the US on tourist status without a problem).
Indeed, being unemployed will likely be a bigger problem than having entered the lottery - can’t say if it will actually be an issue - if your “friend” is more than just a friend that may also be an issue. And yes, random is random. My daughter who was 15 or 16 at the time and traveling with me, totally low risk, got randomly picked for extra security checks once.  That’s what random means, no reason, I'm not aware of any relationship between height and perceived immigrant intent. But all that’s a discussion for the tourist forum, not this one. 

So go ahead and enjoy your holiday (remember for ESTA you need to have a return ticket), and good luck for the lottery draw. 

[SalishSea 18,079]

20 hours ago, Golden Me said:

I'm very short so that also makes me think they could target me coupled with my age they might see me as wanting to stay. 

Short people want to overstay more than tall people?

[Golden Me 2]

5 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

Short people want to overstay more than tall people?

I was talking about myself, not people in general. 

[Golden Me 2]

I appreciate the answers