RP excluded from US immigrant visa lottery

[RandyandRina 2]

The Philippines has been excluded from the US government’s list of countries eligible for its Diversity Visa Lottery program for 2009.

The reason for the exclusion, according to the US State Department, was because of the fact that Filipinos are among the largest groups of immigrants in America.

The Diversity Visa Lottery program provides applicants an opportunity to obtain immigrant visa.

“These visas are available only to persons from eligible countries with low immigration rates to the United States, according to the rules of the DV program," the State Department explained in a statement.

Other countries not on the list are: Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.

They are not qualified for having sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the US in the last five years.

Persons born in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are eligible to apply for the DV program. Registration for 2009 visa lottery begins on Wednesday, Oct. 3 and will run until Dec. 2, 2007.

Interested persons are encouraged to register early in the two-month registration period to avoid long queues toward the deadline period. Registration is free.

Winners are selected through computerized random draw.

Applicants whose names are picked may qualify for one of 50,000 Diversity Immigrant Visas made available each year.

Persons seeking to join the lottery must register online through the designated Web site www.dvlottery.state.gov/. Digital photos must be submitted with the registration form. Paper entries are not accepted.

The Department of State Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky, will notify the lottery winners by regular mail and not through e-mail between May 2008 and July 2008.

Winners will be provided instructions on how to apply for DV-2009 visas between October 1, 2008, and September 30, 2009.

Lottery and visa applicants must meet certain education or work experience requirements to qualify for the immigrant visa, which are outlined in the DV-2009 instructions.

The DV-2009 lottery will mark the fifth year in which the registration process has been conducted entirely via the Internet.

The visas will be distributed among six geographic regions, with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration.

More than 6.4 million people submitted entries for the previous visa lottery during the two-month registration period in late 2006. - GMANews.TV

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/62656/RP-exclu...nt-visa-lottery

[Jasman0717 9]

Interesting decision. I have an English friend that wond the lottery and has been here over ten years. ARE there more Filipinos here than English?

[trailmix 77]

Interesting decision. I have an English friend that wond the lottery and has been here over ten years. ARE there more Filipinos here than English?

In the current list the UK is excluded from participating.

[RandyandRina 2]

Interesting decision. I have an English friend that wond the lottery and has been here over ten years. ARE there more Filipinos here than English?

In the current list the UK is excluded from participating.

Really? Wow

Edited October 2, 2007 by RandyandRina