[indoexpat-uk] [Fwd: Green Card Lottery USA (Diversity Visa)]
I. Frequently asked questions about the Green Card Lottery
The State Department ("DOS") recently issued rules on this year's Green
Card Lottery. The application period will begin on November 5, 2004 and
will end on January 7, 2005. Because the lottery is designed to increase
the diversity of the overall pool of immigrants coming to the US, not all
countries are eligible for the lottery. Among those countries excluded
are India, China, etc because these are countries that are proportionately
over-represented in the immigrant population. Individuals who meet all the
green card lottery requirements may compete whether they are in the United
States or in a foreign country.
Last year, there were several changes to the program. First, the
application period was 60 days, instead of the usual 30-day period. And
second, only electronic entries were allowed. The DOS would no longer
accept mail-in entries. This year, the application period is a little
bit longer than 60 days and, again, only electronic entries are allowed.
Q1: My wife and I are from India but my wife was born in Bangladesh.
Can we apply for the lottery as a resident of Bangladesh?
A1: You can still qualify for the green card lottery since your wife was
born within one of the qualifying countries. You will therefore be
"charged" to your wife's country of birth. The rules of being "charged"
to another country work this way:
According to the State Department, you must be a "native of a country
whose natives qualify" for entering the lottery. In most cases, this
means the country in which the applicant was born. However, if a person
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