Diversity Visa Lottery 2008 (DV-2008) Results
The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2008 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 96,000 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-2008 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2008 (October 1, 2007 until September 30, 2008).
Applicants registered for the DV-2008 program were selected at random from over 6.4 million qualified entries received during the 60-day application period that ran from 12:00 AM on October 4, 2006, until midnight, December 3, 2006. 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 2008 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2008 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2008 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2008 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2008.
Only participants in the DV-2008 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-2009 lottery if they wish. The dates for the registration period for the DV-2009 lottery program will be widely publicized during August 2007.
* 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-2008 program:
AFRICA
ALGERIA
1,926
ERITREA
878
ANGOLA
27
ETHIOPIA
5,241
BENIN
438
GABON
37
BOTSWANA
22
GAMBIA, THE
57
BURKINA FASO
186
GHANA
5,914
BURUNDI
39
GUINEA
463
CAMEROON
3,152
GUINEA-BISSAU
4
CAPE VERDE
13
KENYA
4,547
CENTRAL AFRICAN REP.
8
LESOTHO
4
CHAD
47
LIBERIA
2,148
COMOROS
5
LIBYA
88
CONGO
1,206
MADAGASCAR
43
CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE
111
MALAWI
53
COTE D’IVOIRE
614
MALI
171
DJIBOUTI
20
MAURITANIA
27
EGYPT
4,392
MAURITIUS
62
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
7
MOROCCO
5,017
NAMIBIA
12
MOZAMBIQUE
8
NIGER
165
SOUTH AFRICA
713
NIGERIA
8,773
SUDAN
1,147
RWANDA
138
SWAZILAND
4
SENEGAL
917
TANZANIA
218
SIERRA LEONE
1,137
TOGO
1,509
SOMALIA
214
TUNISIA
150
UGANDA
370
WESTERN SAHARA
1
ZAMBIA
214
ZIMBABWE
167
ASIA
AFGHANISTAN
57
LEBANON
190
BAHRAIN
11
MALAYSIA
87
BANGLADESH
5,983
MALDIVES
0
BHUTAN
10
MONGOLIA
259
BRUNEI
2
NEPAL
2,562
BURMA
653
NORTH KOREA
4
CAMBODIA
187
OMAN
5
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMIN. REGION
69
QATAR
6
INDONESIA
266
SAUDI ARABIA
61
IRAN
1,435
SINGAPORE
70
IRAQ
164
SRI LANKA
675
ISRAEL
150
SYRIA
94
JAPAN
382
TAIWAN
446
JORDAN
56
THAILAND
108
KUWAIT
46
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
27
LAOS
7
YEMEN
70
EUROPE
ALBANIA
2,862
GEORGIA
516
ANDORRA
1
GERMANY
1,469
ARMENIA
1,130
GREECE
77
AUSTRIA
70
GUADELOUPE
4
AZERBAIJAN
271
HUNGARY
182
BELARUS
1,072
ICELAND
13
BELGIUM
89
IRELAND
162
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA
73
ITALY
363
BULGARIA
1,567
KAZAKHSTAN
304
CROATIA
41
KYRGYZSTAN
180
CYPRUS
16
LATVIA
75
CZECH REPUBLIC
158
LIECHTENSTEIN
0
DENMARK
58
LITHUANIA
334
ESTONIA
37
LUXEMBOURG
12
FINLAND
59
MACEDONIA, FORMER YUGOSLAV REP. OF
343
FRANCE
603
MALTA
5
FRENCH GUIANA
6
MOLDOVA
474
FRENCH POLYNESIA
6
MONACO
4
FRENCH SOUTHERN AND ANTARCTIC LANDS
0
MONTENEGRO
22
MACAU
19
NETHERLANDS
123
MARTINIQUE
4
SERBIA
557
NETHERLANDS ANTILLES
18
SLOVENIA
12
NETHERLANDS ARUBA
8
SPAIN
135
NEW CALEDONIA
0
SWEDEN
118
NORTHERN IRELAND
34
SWITZERLAND
132
NORWAY
43
TAJIKISTAN
126
PORTUGAL
48
TURKEY
2,188
REUNION
0
TURKMENISTAN
124
ROMANIA
1,526
UKRAINE
5,018
SAN MARINO
0
UZBEKISTAN
3,101
SLOVAKIA
157
WESTERN SAHARA
0
NORTH AMERICA
BAHAMAS, THE
17
OCEANIA
AUSTRALIA
649
COOK ISLANDS
0
CHRISTMAS ISLANDS
0
NAURU
1
FIJI
630
NEW ZEALAND
260
KIRIBATI
9
NIUE
5
MARSHALL ISLANDS
0
PALAU
7
MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF
0
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
4
SAMOA
27
TUVALU
0
SOLOMON ISLAND
2
VANUATU
0
TONGA
120
SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
1
DOMINICA
9
ARGENTINA
106
ECUADOR
217
BARBADOS
17
GRENADA
1
BELIZE
14
GUATEMALA
74
BOLIVIA
148
GUYANA
24
BRAZIL
0
HONDURAS
42
CHILE
26
NICARAGUA
39
COSTA RICA
22
PANAMA
17
CUBA
691
PARAGUAY
26
PERU
0
SURINAME
3
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS
1
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
82
SAINT LUCIA
5
URUGUAY
23
SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
1
VENEZUELA
256
Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2008: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born, excluding Hong Kong S.A.R. and Taiwan), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Korea, the United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.
