[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 62 (Thursday, March 31, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-7578]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: March 31, 1994]


DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Bureau of Consular Affairs
[Public Notice 1974]

 

Registration for the Diversity Immigrant (DV-1) Visa Program

ACTION: Notice of registration for the first year of the Diversity 
Immigrant Visa Program.

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    This public notice provides information on the application 
procedures for the 55,000 immigrant visas to be made available in the 
DV-1 category during Fiscal Year 1995. This notice is issued pursuant 
to 22 CFR 42.33 which implements sections 201(a)(3), 201(e), 203(c) and 
204(a)(1)(G) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, (8 
U.S.C. 1151, 1153, and 1154). Final regulations related to this notice 
are being published simultaneously with this notice elsewhere in this 
issue of the Federal Register.

Information on the Application Procedures for the 55,000 Immigrant 
Visas To Be Made Available in the DV-1 Category During Fiscal Year 1995

    Sections 201(a)(3), 201(e), 203(c) and 204(a)(1)(G) of the 
Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, taken together establish, 
effective for Fiscal Year 1995 and thereafter, an annual numerical 
limitation of 55,000 for diversity immigrants. Aliens who are natives 
of countries determined by the Attorney General according to a 
mathematical formula specified by the law will be able to compete for 
immigration under this limitation. This program is identified by the 
visa symbol DV-1 and is informally known as the ``visa lottery.'' The 
law specifies that there must be a separate registration for each 
year's DV-1 visas. This information concerns the application period 
during 1994 for visas to be issued during fiscal year 1995.

Qualifying Countries and Areas Under the DV-1 Program

    The law apportions immigrant visa issuance among six geographic 
regions (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America--other than Mexico, 
Oceania, and South America including Mexico, Central America, and the 
Caribbean) according to a formula based on total immigrant admissions 
over the most recent five-year period. The formula identifies both high 
and low admission regions and high admission foreign states. A greater 
share of the available visa numbers go to low admission regions than to 
high admission regions. High admission states are excluded entirely 
from the program. No single country may receive more than 7 percent 
(3,850) of the world-wide total of visa numbers.
    The U.S. Attorney General determines and publishes separately the 
countries whose natives (as that term is explained in question 1) are 
entitled to apply for DV-1 visas during Fiscal Year 1995. According to 
the law, countries are grouped by region (see list at the end of this 
notice). The allotment of visa numbers for each region is shown in 
parenthesis below:

Africa: (20,200)--All countries.
Asia: (6,837)--All countries except the following: China--mainland born 
and Taiwan born, India, Philippines, Vietnam, and South Korea. (Hong 
Kong is eligible).
Europe: (24,549)--All countries except the following: United Kingdom 
and its dependent territories. (Northern Ireland is eligible).
North America: (8)--Canada is not eligible. The Bahamas is the ONLY 
eligible country included in the North American region.
South America: (2,589)--All countries except Mexico, Jamaica, El 
Salvador and the Dominican Republic.
Oceania: (817)--All Countries.

How and When To Apply for DV-1 Status

    The application period for registration for the visas to be issued 
during Fiscal Year 1995 (i.e. from October 1994 through September 1995) 
will begin at 12:01 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Wednesday, June 1, 1994, and 
will end at midnight on Thursday, June 30, 1994. Applications must be 
typed or clearly printed and mailed to one of the six following 
addresses, depending upon the region of the applicant's native country:

Note Carefully the Importance of Using the Correct Postal Zip Code for 
Each Region

Asia: DV-1 Program, National Visa Center, Portsmouth, NH 00210, U.S.A.
South America: DV-1 Program, National Visa Center, Portsmouth, NH 
00211, U.S.A.
Europe: DV-1 Program, National Visa Center, Portsmouth, NH 00212, 
U.S.A.
Africa: DV-1 Program, National Visa Center, Portsmouth, NH 00213, 
U.S.A.
Oceania: DV-1 Program, National Visa Center, Portsmouth, NH 00214, 
U.S.A.
North America: DV-1 Program, National Visa Center, Portsmouth, NH 
00215, U.S.A.

    Typed or clearly printed in the Roman alphabet in the upper left 
hand corner of the front of the envelope must be the country or area of 
which the applicant is a native. Typed or clearly printed below the 
country must be the same name and mailing address of the applicant as 
are shown on the application form contained therein. Failure to include 
this information will disqualify the application.
    Example: Pakistan, George Q. Public, 1234 Any Street, Apt. 5, 
Center City, CA 90001.
    Only one application may be submitted by or for each applicant 
during this registration period. (Submission of more than one 
application will disqualify the person from registration.) Applications 
for registration will be grouped by region and will be selected 
strictly in a random order from among all those received during the 
application period. Every application received will have an equal 
chance of being selected.
    Applications must be sent to the addresses above by regular mail or 
air mail only, and may be mailed from within the United States or 
abroad. The information required on the envelope must be typed or 
clearly printed. Any applications submitted by hand, telegram, FAX, or 
by any means requiring any form of special handling or acknowledgement 
of receipt, such as registered mail, express mail, or certified mail 
will not be eligible for the visa lottery.
    Applications received at the post office either before or after the 
application period, or delivered to any other address will not be 
processed for registration. Only one application may be included in 
each envelope.

Size of Envelope

    The envelope in which each application is mailed must be Between 6 
inches and 10 inches (15 cm to 25 cm) in Length, and Between 3 inches 
and 4 inches (9 cm to 11 cm) in Width. This is necessary to assist the 
automated processing of the mail.

Information Which Must Be Included With Application for Registration

    There is no application fee or special application form. The 
request for registration in the lottery must furnish the following 
information on a plain sheet of paper. All answers must be typed or 
clearly printed in the Roman alphabet.
    Each application must be in the following format:

1. Applicant's full name

Last Name, First Name and Middle Name
(Underline Last Name/Surname/Family name)
    Example: Public, George Quincy.

2. Applicant's date and place of birth

Date of birth: Day, Month, Year.
    Example: 15 November 1961.
Place of birth: City/Town, District/County/Province, Country.
    Example: Munich, Bavaria, Germany.

3. Name, date and place of birth of applicant's spouse and children, if 
any

    The spouse and child(ren) of an applicant who is registered for DV-
1 status are automatically entitled to the same status. To obtain a 
visa on the basis of this derivative status, a child must be under 21 
years of age and unmarried. NOTE: Do NOT list parents as they are not 
entitled to derivative status.

4. Applicant's mailing address

    The mailing address must be clear and complete, since it will be to 
that address that the notification letter for the persons who are 
registered will be sent. A telephone number is optional.

5. Applicant's native country if different from country of birth

    See the answer to Question 1 in this notice regarding the meaning 
of ``native'' for the purposes of the DV-1 program.

Frequently Asked Questions About DV-1 Registration

1. How is the term ``native'' defined? Are there any bases upon which 
persons who have not been born in a qualifying country may qualify for 
registration?

    Native means BOTH someone born within one of the qualifying 
countries AND someone entitled to be ``charged'' to such country under 
the provisions of section 202(b) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act. Applicants for DV-1 registration may be charged to the country of 
birth of a spouse; a minor dependent child can be charged to the 
country of birth of a parent; and an applicant born in a country of 
which neither parent was a native or a resident at the time of his/her 
birth may be charged to the country of birth of either parent. An 
applicant who claims the benefit of alternate chargeability must 
include a statement to that effect on the application for registration, 
and must show the country of chargeability on the upper left hand 
corner of the envelope in which the registration request is mailed.

2. May persons who are in the U.S. apply for registration?

    Yes, an applicant may be in the U.S. or in another country, and the 
application may be mailed in the U.S. or abroad.

3. Is each applicant limited to only one application during this DV-1 
registration period?

    Yes, the law allows only one application by or for each person; 
Submission of more than one application will disqualify the person from 
registration. Note: More than 400,000 applications were DISQUALIFIED 
during the 1993 and 1994 visa lotteries due to multiple applications. 
Applicants may be disqualified at time of registration or at the time 
of the visa interview if more than one entry is detected.

4. May a husband and a wife each submit a separate application?

    Yes, if otherwise qualified, a husband and a wife may each submit 
one application for registration; if either is registered, the other 
would be entitled to derivative status.

5. Must each applicant submit his/her own request, or may someone act 
on behalf of an applicant?

    Applicants may prepare and submit their own request for 
registration, or have someone act on their behalf. Regardless of 
whether an application is submitted by the applicant directly, or is 
assisted by an attorney, friend, relative, etc., only one application 
may be submitted in the name of each person. Only one notification 
letter will be sent for each case registered, to the address provided 
on the application.

6. What are the requirements for education or work experience?

    The law and regulations require that every applicant must have at 
least a high school education or its equivalent or, within the past 
five years, have two years of work experience in an occupation 
requiring at least two years training or experience. A ``high school 
education or equivalent'' is defined as successful completion of a 
twelve-year course of elementary and secondary education comparable to 
that of a high school degree in the United States. Qualifying work 
experience shall be based upon the most recent edition of the 
Dictionary of Occupational Titles published by the Employment and 
Training Administration of the United States Department of Labor.
    Documentary proof of education or work experience should NOT be 
submitted with the application, but must be presented to the consular 
officer at the time of formal immigrant visa application.

7. How will cases be registered?

    At the National Visa Center all mail received will be separated 
into one of six geographic regions and individually numbered. After the 
end of the application period, a computer will randomly select cases 
from among all the mail received for each geographic region. Within 
each region, the first letter randomly selected will be the first case 
registered, the second letter selected the second registration, etc. It 
makes no difference whether an application is received early or late in 
the application period; all applications received within the mail-in 
period will have an equal chance of being selected within each region. 
When a case has been registered, the applicant will immediately be sent 
a notification letter, which will provide appropriate visa application 
instructions. The National Visa Center will continue to process the 
case until those who are registered are instructed to make formal 
application at a U.S. consular office or at an INS office in the United 
States in the case of those who are entitled to apply for change of 
status. The National Visa Center will provide additional instructions 
on what steps to take to pursue their applications for DV-1 visas.

8. May applicants adjust their status with the ins?

    Yes, provided you are otherwise eligible to adjust status, if you 
are physically present in the United States you may apply to the 
Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) for adjustment. Applicants 
who adjust, however, must first mail completed forms OF-230, Part I, 
and DSP-122 to the National Visa Center. Applicants should ensure that 
INS can complete action on their cases before September 30, 1995, since 
on that date registrations in the Fiscal Year 1995 DV-1 program 
terminate.

9. Will applicants who are not registered be informed?

    No, applicants who are not registered will receive no response to 
their registration request. Only those who are registered will be 
informed. All notification letters are expected to be sent within about 
three months of the end of the application period. Anyone who does NOT 
receive a letter will know that his/her application has not been 
registered.

10. How many applicants will be registered?

    A total of about 90,000 persons, both principal applicants and 
their spouses and children, will be registered. Since it is likely that 
some of the first 55,000 persons who are registered will not pursue 
their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure should ensure use of 
all DV-1 numbers, but it also risks some registrants' being left out. 
All applicants who are registered will be informed promptly of their 
place on the list. Each month visas will be issued, according to 
registration lottery rank order, to those applicants who are ready for 
visa issuance during that month. Once all of the fiscal year 1995 visas 
have been issued, the program for the year will end. Registered 
applicants who wish to receive visas must be prepared to ACT PROMPTLY 
on their cases.

11. Is there a minimum age for applicants for registration under the 
DV-1 program?

    There is no minimum age for submission of an application for 
registration, but the requirement of a high school education or work 
experience for each principal applicant at the time of visa issuance 
will effectively disqualify most persons who are under age 18.

12. Will there be any special fee for registration in the DV-1 
category?

    There is no fee for submitting a request for registration, and no 
fee should be included with the letter sent to the post office box 
indicated above. Furthermore, there is no fee for applicants who come 
to be registered through the lottery.

13. Are DV-1 applicants specially entitled to apply for a waiver of any 
of the grounds of visa ineligibility?

    No. Applicants are subject to all grounds of ineligibility 
specified in the Immigration and Nationality Act and there is no 
special provision for the waiver of any grounds of visa ineligibility 
other than those provided for in the Act.

14. May applicants who are already registered for an immigrant visa in 
another category apply in this registration for the DV-1 category?

    Yes, such persons may seek DV-1 status through this registration as 
well.

15. How long do applicants who are registered on the basis of this 
application period remain entitled to apply for visas in the DV-1 
category?

    Under the law, persons registered following this DV-1 application 
period are entitled to apply for visa issuance only during fiscal year 
1995, i.e., from October 1994 through September 1995. There is no 
carry-over of benefit into another year for persons who are registered 
but who do not obtain visas during FY-1995. There is absolutely no 
advantage to mailing early, or mailing from any particular locale. 
Every application received during the mail-in period will have an equal 
chance of being selected at random within its region. However more than 
one application per person will disqualify the person from 
registration. Also, failure to include the applicant's native country 
and full name and address on the envelope will disqualify the 
application.

Countries of the world divided into the six regions defined in section 
203(c)(1)(F) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990

(1) Africa
    Algeria
    Angola
    Benin
    Botswana
    Burkina
    Burundi
    Cameroon
    Cape Verde
    Central African Republic
    Chad
    Comoros
    Congo
    Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
    Djibouti
    Egypt
    Equatorial Guinea
    Eritrea
    Ethiopia
    Gabon
    Gambia, The
    Ghana
    Guinea
    Guinea-Bissau
    Kenya
    Lesotho
    Liberia
    Libya
    Madagascar
    Malawi
    Mali
    Mauritania
    Mauritius
    Morocco
    Mozambique
    Namibia
    Niger
    Nigeria
    Rwanda
    Sao Tome and Principe
    Senegal
    Seychelles
    Sierra Leone
    Somalia
    South Africa
    Sudan
    Swaziland
    Tanzania
    Togo
    Tunisia
    Uganda
    Zaire
    Zambia
    Zimbabwe
(2) Asia
    Afghanistan
    Bahrain
    Bangladesh
    Bhutan
    Brunei
    Burma
    Cambodia
    China-mainland
    China-Taiwan (a ``state'' within the meaning of the Act)
    Hong Kong (a ``state'' within the meaning of the Act)
    India
    Indonesia
    Iran
    Iraq
    Israel
    Japan
    Jordan
    Korea, North
    Korea, South
    Kuwait
    Laos
    Lebanon
    Malaysia
    Maldives
    Mongolia
    Nepal
    Oman
    Pakistan
    Philippines
    Qatar
    Saudi Arabia
    Singapore
    Sri Lanka
    Syria
    Thailand
    United Arab Emirates
    Vietnam
    Yemen
(3) Europe
    Albania
    Andorra
    Armenia
    Austria
    Azerbaijan
    Belarus
    Belgium
    Bosnia and Herzegovina
    Bulgaria
    Croatia
    Cyprus
    Czech Republic
    Denmark
    Estonia
    Finland
    France
    Georgia
    Germany
    Greece
    Hungary
    Iceland
    Ireland
    Italy
    Kazakhstan
    Kyrgyzstan
    Latvia
    Liechtenstein
    Lithuania
    Luxembourg
    Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of
    Malta
    Moldova
    Monaco
    Montenegro (a ``state'' for purposes of the Act; Serbia and 
Montenegro have proclaimed the formation of a joint independent state, 
but this entity has not been formally recognized as a state by the 
United States.)
    Netherlands
    Northern Ireland (a ``state'' within the meaning of the Act)
    Norway
    Poland
    Portugal
    Romania
    Russia
    San Marino
    Serbia (a ``state'' for purposes of the Act; Serbia and Montenegro 
have proclaimed the formation of a joint independent state, but this 
entity has not been formally recognized as a state by the United 
States.)
    Slovakia
    Slovenia
    Spain
    Sweden
    Switzerland
    Tajikistan
    Turkmenistan
    Turkey
    Ukraine
    United Kingdom
    Uzbekistan
    Vatican City (an independent city under the jurisdiction of the 
Holy See)
(4) North America
    Bahamas, The
    Canada
    United States
(5) Oceania
    Australia
    Fiji
    Kiribati
    Marshall Islands
    Micronesia, Federated States of
    Nauru
    New Zealand
    Palau
    Papua New Guinea
    Solomon Islands
    Tonga
    Tuvalu
    Vanuatu
    Western Samoa
(6) South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean
    Antigua and Barbuda
    Argentina
    Barbados
    Belize
    Bolivia
    Brazil
    Chile
    Colombia
    Costa Rica
    Cuba
    Dominica
    Dominican Republic
    Ecuador
    El Salvador
    Grenada
    Guatemala
    Guyana
    Haiti
    Honduras
    Jamaica
    Mexico
    Nicaragua
    Panama
    Paraguay
    Peru
    St. Kitts and Nevis
    St. Lucia
    St. Vincent and the Grenadines
    Suriname
    Trinidad and Tobago
    Uruguay
    Venezuela

    As indicated above, the regulations pertaining to this notice are 
being published in this issue of the Federal Register, and contain 
detailed information regarding the DV-1 program.

    Dated: March 25, 1994.
Mary A. Ryan,
Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs.
[FR Doc. 94-7578 Filed 3-30-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4710-06-P