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January 7, 2004 Green Card Lottery News Update BILL TO ABOLISH THE GREEN CARD LOTTERY PASSES U.S. HOUSE - GOES TO SENATE FOR DEBATE Washington D.C. On December 16, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping anti-immigration bill known as the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005. As its title implies, the purpose of the bill ostensibly is to protect U.S. borders against infiltration by terrorists and prevent immigrants from entering the country illegally. But the legislation goes much further toward curbing both legal and illegal immigration to America. It aims to punish millions of undocumented workers who entered the U.S. long before the "War on Terrorism" began, and stem the flow of legal immigrants by eliminating the U.S. Diversity Program, better known as the "Green Card Lottery". Currently, the Green Card Lottery offers the only ray of hope for many people to immigrate to America, especially those from countries with historically low numbers of immigrants or who are either not skilled professionals or college graduates. Understandably, many who have relied on the National Visa Service for entry in this program have expressed concern that the Lottery has or will come to an end. The program has not ended and will continue until and unless the U.S. Senate passes the measure and the President signs it into law. (For those unfamiliar with America's legislative process, a law must be passed by both branches of congress, the House of Representatives AND the U.S. Senate - before it can become effective. If one passes it, and not the other, the legislation will die. Then the President must sign it. If the President does not sign it, or if he vetoes it, it will not become law.) This bill, with its provision to abolish the lottery, has thus far only passed the lower branch of congress. The Senate is scheduled to begin debating it in February. National Visa Service will be monitoring its progress on this website. For But for now, the Green Card Lottery is on. Entries for 2005 have been submitted and according to precedent more than 50,000 winners will be drawn beginning in March. National Visa Service is currently accepting new entries and re-entries for the next drawing. To be sure you are entered in time for next year's drawing, apply today! July 20, 2005 DV-2006 FINAL RESULTS 90,000 WINNERS SELECTED FOR 50,000 GREEN CARDS The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2006 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 90,000 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 insures that all DV-2006 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2006 (October 1, 2005 until September 30, 2006). Applicants registered for the DV-2005 program were selected at random from over 6.3 million qualified entries received during the 60-day application period that ran from 12:00 AM on November 5, 2004, until midnight, January 7, 2005. 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 2006 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2006 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2006 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2006 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2006. Only participants in the DV-2006 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-2007 lottery if they wish. The dates for the registration period for the DV-2007 lottery program will be widely publicized during August 2005. * 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-2006 program:
Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2006: Canada, China (mainland-born, excluding Hong Kong S.A.R., and Taiwan), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. H1-B Cap Increased by 20,000 Visas Washington D.C., The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service is preparing to open the gate to an additional 20,000 H1B visas, which allow U.S. companies to bring in university-educated foreigners to fill jobs requiring specialized skills and knowledge. For the new program, applicants must be graduates of U.S. educational institutions with a master's degree or higher. "We're reviewing the guidelines and want to get this out as soon as we can" said immigration service spokesman Christopher Bentley. The new allotment, which Congress approved as part of the H1B Visa Reform Act of 2004, will be on top of the current annual H1B quota of 65,000 visas. The program will bring particular relief to companies in the science and engineering fields, who often cannot find enough qualified U.S. citizens and residents to meet their burgeoning demand. Many U.S. Employers would like to see the number increased to 50,000 because of their need for foreign workers. CIS will start accepting applications for the new visas after the program's rules are published in the U.S. Federal Register. Mr. Bendtly said he expected that to occur shortly. Demand for H1Bs has been high since 2003, when Congress slashed the annual quota from 195,000 to 65,000 - the programs original level dating from the 1980s. Now, the annual quota of visas is issued months before the year expires. The process has also become much more rigorous, with increased background checks instituted after Sept. 11. January 7, 2005 DV-2006 Entry Is Closed - Early Entry In DV-2007 Recommended With Double Money Back Offer. At 12:00PM EST, the U.S. State Department website officially stopped accepting entries for the DV-2006 green card lottery. Winners will be drawn between March and July. Those who win will be notified by mail (or by email, phone or fax if entered through National Visa Service). Only winners are notified. The surest way to be entered in the next drawing is to submit your application early through National Visa Service. National Visa Service will double your money back if you win DV-2006 after entering for DV-2007. If you missed the opportunity to enter DV-2006 or if you entered and want to insure your next entry or get double your money back if you win - click here. August 1, 2004 OFFICIAL U.S.A. GREEN CARD LOTTERY RESULTS FOR 2004 (DV-2005) Washington D.C. The official results of U.S.A. Green Card Lottery and winners drawn from entries submitted in 2003 have been released by the U.S. Government. The drawing took place between March and July of 2004. Applications are now being accepted for entry in the next drawing. Click here for guaranteed entry in the next Green Card Lottery DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY 2005 (DV-2005) RESULTS (Re printed from the U.S. State Department's August 2004, Visa Bulletin, Number 72, Volume VIII) The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2005 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 100,000 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-2005 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2005 (October 1, 2004 until September 30, 2005). Applicants registered for the DV-2005 program were selected at random from over 9.5 million qualified entries received during the 60-day application period that ran from 12:00 AM on November 1, 2003, until midnight, December 30, 2003. 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 2005 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2005 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2005 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2005 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2005. Only participants in the DV-2005 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-2006 lottery if they wish. The dates for the registration period for the DV-2006 lottery program will be widely publicized during August 2004. * 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-2005 program: AFRICA
ASIA
EUROPE
NORTH AMERICA Bahamas, The 14 OCEANIA
SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN
Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2005: Canada, China (mainland-born, excluding Hong Kong S.A.R., and Taiwan), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. April 30, 2004 U.S. Visa Lottery Called A Threat The U.S. Green Card Lottery has come under attack by certain government officials and organizations that would like to see the program ended. The following article by Stephen Dinan appeared recently in THE WASHINGTON TIMES: The State Department's deputy inspector general said recently that despite new fraud protections, the diversity visa-lottery program, which issues 55,000 green cards to foreign nationals annually, is a prime opportunity for criminals and enemies of the United States to enter the nation. "The bottom line is it's a program that can be taken advantage of by hostile intelligence officers or terrorists," said Anne W. Patterson, deputy inspector general for the State Department, before the immigration subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee. The lottery's goal is to broaden the nation's pool of immigrants. Millions of people apply each year, from which about 110,000 names were selected in the 2004 lottery. Those selected then must apply and go through the visa process. In the end, 50,000 green cards are issued by a general formula and 5,000 are issued for those who qualify through the Nicaragua Adjustment and Central American Relief Act. With legal immigration topping 1 million people per year, the program accounts for a small fraction. But in the wake of the September 11 attacks, it has been criticized widely as a good way for terrorists to win entry to the United States and, once here, operate with few restrictions. "This program remains a serious security threat," said Rep. Robert W. Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, who is sponsoring a bill to end the diversity lottery. Nationals from some countries - those that already have high rates of immigration to the United States — are barred from taking part in the lottery, including Canada, Mexico, Haiti, Great Britain, Russia, mainland China, India, Pakistan, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines. Yet those from nations on the State Department's list of states that sponsor terrorism, who generally are barred from applying for temporary visas, still are allowed to apply for the permanent visas through the lottery. Fraud threatens the program, with some people filing multiple applications under different names to increase their chances of being selected. If they are selected under one of the false names, they then obtain fraudulent documents to attempt to back up their application. Ms. Patterson said in 2002, 85 percent of winners from Bangladesh were rejected, indicating both a high level of fraud but a heightened awareness at that particular post. Representatives of The Center for Immigration Studies, an organization that favors restricting all U.S. Immigration and that has called for the elimination of the Green Card Lottery, have claimed the visa lottery is the perfect means of immigration for a terrorist lucky enough to be selected. Those that win don't necessarily have any allegiance or ties to the United States, they say, because the lottery relies entirely on luck, rather than on the relationships with a family member or employer that are used in the rest of the legal immigration system. Also, a green card allows many more privileges than some temporary visas, such as the ability to enter and leave the United States at will. Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, Texas Democrat, criticized the witnesses who wanted to shut down the program, saying they want "to topple the Statue of Liberty." She said she and the program's critics agree on one thing - "the immigration policies of the United States are in shambles." But she said piecemeal bills like Mr. Goodlatte's only serve to complicate things. Ms. Jackson-Lee called for a broader immigration overhaul that would include legal status for some immigrants here illegally and would allow for easier unification of families. One witness at the hearing, Charles Nyaga, a native of Kenya who applied in 1997 for the lottery and won, said he thinks the program does some good. "I work two jobs. I pay my taxes," he said. "I believe the majority of the immigrants who are coming here are coming for a better life." Still, he said, the program needs reform. He faces deportation because, although his name was selected, he said his application was lost by the defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), so it wasn't approved within a year and his chance has expired. The State Department has made some improvements in the program in recent months, Ms. Patterson said. She said the department now takes applications for the lottery online, and she said using digitally scanned fingerprints, a system that will be in place by October, will reduce fraud. She said the processing center in Kentucky, where applications are reviewed, has created an antifraud officer position and is trying to fill it. Ms. Patterson also said she supports rejecting applications that come from states that sponsor terrorism. But Jan Ting, a law professor at Temple University who was assistant commissioner of the INS from 1990 to 1993, said the program discriminates against large Asian nations, for example, and it should be scrapped. "How can it make sense to give out 50,000 immigrant visas each year in a discriminatory lottery, when admissible spouses and minor children of [legal permanent residents] are kept out of the United States, making family reunification impossible?" Mr. Ting said. Ms. Jackson-Lee pointed to D.C. United soccer player Freddy Adu, whose mother was selected in a visa lottery in the late 1990s from Ghana, as a success story from the program. But subcommittee Chairman John Hostettler, Indiana Republican, said he didn't think that outweighed the case of Hesham Mohammed Hedayet, who killed two persons at the El Al ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport on July 4, 2002. The Egyptian-born man was in the United States because his wife was selected in the diversity lottery. Thus far, congress has not responded to calls to end the Diversity Program, but the U.S. State Department, who administrates the Green Card Lottery, has placed more restrictions and obstacles in the way of those who wish to enter as well as those who win. With entry becoming more restricted, and the lottery itself threatened, it is more important than ever to apply through a professional service that can guarantee your entry is correct and submitted at exactly the right time to qualify you for the drawing. Only one service meets these criteria. National Visa Service, the most trusted name in U.S. Immigration. Every year, for over 10 years, National Visa Service has entered more winners in the Green Card Lottery than all other lottery services combined. The Green Card Lottery remains the best hope -- often the only hope -- for most people to come to America. If you dream of living in the U.S.A. one day, the importance of entering the Green Card Lottery, every year, cannot be overstated. Now is the time to renew your entry for the coming year. Click here to enter today! March 23, 2004 DV-2005 WINNERS Notices were mailed to the first winners drawn in the DV-2005 Green Card Lottery today. National Visa Service received notices for a large number of winners drawn from the region of Oceana, a departure from years past when winners from Africa were selected first. Last year the selection process extended through August and it is likely to take as long this year as well. Only those who are selected will be notified. Please do not call the National Visa Service office to see if you have won. We will contact you directly by e-mail, fax, regular mail and/or phone if you are selected. In addition, new winners will be posted daily on the National Visa Service winners page. It is not too late to GUARANTEE YOUR ENTRY IN DV-2006 AND GET DOUBLE YOUR MONEY BACK if you win DV-2005. If you register for the next lottery before being selected as a winner from your last entry - you will get a DOUBLE REFUND of your entry fee. This is a great way to guarantee you are in the next drawing while insuring that you will get DOUBLE YOUR MONEY BACK if you are lucky enough to be selected in the current drawing. This offer is only good if you have re-entered before your name is drawn. Submit your entry in the next lottery today! January 7, 2004 Bush Proposes Easy Access to U.S. Work Permits! Millions May Obtain Permits To Work In The USA Under New Proposal. January 7, 2004. Washington D.C. President Bush today proposed a major change to U.S. Immigration law, which if passed by congress, will radically change the way foreign workers are treated. Under the new proposal, anyone with a job or a job offer in the U.S.A. will become eligible for a renewable 3 year work permit and may apply for permanent residency. Even unskilled workers and those who have been in the U.S.A. illegally can qualify. Under current laws, only highly skilled workers in specialized fields can obtain work permits. The new proposal could open the door to millions of unskilled and even undereducated immigrants. It is important to remember that this is only a proposal at this time, requiring passage by the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Passage is not assured and there may be many changes made in the proposal before it becomes law. However, it is an encouraging development that National Visa Service is proud to endorse. In the meantime, the Green Card Lottery is, and will remain, the best chance for legal immigration to America for most people. NVS continues to encourage everyone interested in coming to America to enter the lottery each year while pursuing this or any other form of legal immigration. To enter the Green Card Lottery today, click here. December 30, 2003 DV-2005 entry is closed - early entry in DV-2006 recommended with double money back offer. At 12:00AM EST, the U.S. State Department website officially stopped accepting entries for the DV-2005 green card lottery. Those attempting to use the website know that it was effectively down more than 48 hours before that due to massive overload caused by last minute submissions. More than 300,000 entrants successfully got through on December 29th but millions of others who waited until the last minute to enter were unable to do so due to the website overload. All but a handful of National Visa Service applications received before the deadline were successfully submitted. Winners will be drawn between March and July. Those who win will be notified by mail (or by email, phone or fax if entered through National Visa Service). Only winners are notified. The surest way to be entered in the next drawing is to submit your application early through National Visa Service. National Visa Service will double your money back if you win DV-2005 after entering DV-2006. So if you missed the opportunity to enter DV-2005 or if you entered and want to insure your next entry or get double your money back if you win - To enter DV-2006 now click here. August 19, 2003 The U.S. Department of State announced major changes for entering the Green Card Lottery, effective immediately. All entries must now be submitted electronically over the internet using digital technology for photograph of the applicant and each member of the applicant's immediate family. The entry period has been postponed and extended to accommodate this change to start in November instead of October, 2003. National Visa Service has anticipated such a change for some time and is already utilizing the latest technology to scan images and preserve data in digital format for persons applying through their service so that Guaranteed Entry through National Visa Service will not be interrupted or affected by these rule changes in any way. If you have already submitted your application to National Visa Service, you need do nothing further. We will submit your application on time in digital format in compliance with the new rules, guaranteed. If you have not yet entered, it is extremely important that you do so now following these important rule changes. Since National Visa Service has already adapted its procedures and processing technology to comply, you can safely submit your application on any National Visa Service official form without the need of doing anything differently. YOUR ENTRY IS GUARANTEED WITH NATIONAL VISA SERVICE. To take advantage of the new technology for entering the Green Card Lottery on-line now, Click Here. June 24, 2003 FINAL RESULTS OF DV-2004. 111,000 WINNERS PICKED FROM OVER 10 MILLION WHO ENTERED IN 2002. APPROXIMATELY 1 IN 3 DISQUALIFIED. Kentucky Consular Center, June 24, 2003: Approximately 111,000 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-2004 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2004 (October 1, 2003 until September 30, 2004). Applicants registered for the DV-2004 program were selected at random from the approximately 7.3 million qualified entries received during the one-month application period that ran from Noon on October 7, 2002 through Noon on November 6, 2002. An additional 2.9 million applications were either received outside of the mail-in period or were disqualified for failing to properly follow directions. 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. Only participants in the DV-2004 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-2005 lottery. To enter DV-2005 now click here. The following is the statistical breakdown of winners of the DV-2004 program:
Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2004: Canada, China (mainland-born, excluding Hong Kong S.A.R., and Taiwan), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. May 19, 2003 VISITORS TO THE U.S. WILL BE SUBJECTED TO INCREASED SCRUTINY UNDER NEW "US VISIT" PROGRAM Washington, D.C. - Visitors to the United States, whether for business or pleasure, will soon be introduced to a new system designed to keep careful track of the time they spend in America and collect information about them for future reference. The new system for processing visitors entering and leaving the country has been named US VISIT. It was described in a March 19 press release from the Department of Homeland Security as follows: Pursuant to the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of the Department of State, is responsible for establishing an automated entry/exit system. The Department of Homeland Security has made the US-VISIT (United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology) program one of its top priorities. US-VISIT, the Department's automated entry/exit system, will expedite legitimate travelers, while making it more difficult for those intending to do harm to enter the United States. Specifically, the system will be designed to: (1) Collect, maintain, and share information, including biometric identifiers, through a dynamic system, on foreign nationals to determine whether the individual: - Should be prohibited from entering the U.S.; - Can receive, extend, change, or adjust immigration status; - Has overstayed their visa; and/or - Needs special protection/attention (i.e., refugees); and (2) Enhance traffic flow for individuals entering or exiting the U.S. for legitimate purpose by: - Facilitating travel and commerce; - Respecting the environment; - Strengthening international cooperation; and Respecting privacy laws and policies Here are some excerpts from a Statement released today by Under Secretary of Homeland Security, ASA HUTCHINSON, concerning the imminent launch of the U.S. - VISIT program: Under US VISIT, we will eventually have information on our visitors -- collected at our consular officers far from our borders -- that will confirm identity, measure security risks and assess the legitimacy of travel of visitors to the U.S. We will also encourage Visa Waiver countries to use tamper-proof passports that include biometric identifiers as soon as possible -- and to consider security needs first when issuing them. Visa Waiver countries are required to use biometrics by October 26, 2004 - under Congressional mandate. As a result, we'll be able to require proof of identification from foreign national visitors to the U.S. We'll do so through a minimum of two biometric identifiers - initially, fingerprints and photographs; later, as the technology is perfected, additional forms such as facial recognition or iris scans may be used as well. When a visitor departs, we will verify his or her identity and capture their departure information. This tells the Department of Homeland Security if that person entered legally or may have stayed illegally as the 9/11 terrorists did. Currently, there is no way to know when or even if our visitors leave - but under US VISIT, that will change. (editorial emphasis) All of this information will become part of a foreign visitor's ongoing travel record, so their correct information can follow them wherever they go. Information will be merged from another Government tracking system currently being implemented to monitor foreign studends attending school in the U.S. The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, which was designed to let university officials electronically update the government on changes in the status of their international students. Homeland Security officals have invited experts from science and academia to help them speed up the visa approval process for foreign scholars and teachers who clearly pose no threat. We welcome students, visitors and business travelers. May 16, 2002 Department of State to Interview Millions More Non Immigrant Visa Applicants; Lengthy Delays Expected for the Indefinite Future. Washington D.C. A Department of State cable, which states that it is implementing regulatory and FAM revisions with respect to waivers of Non Immigrant Visa interviews, is expected to now require interviews of millions of visa applicants who previously would have had their interviews waived. Months-long backlogs are anticipated at some posts for the indefinite future. Media reports indicate that interviews now will be required for some 90 percent of the applicants from countries in the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. The changes do not affect Canadian citizens or visa waiver situations. The new regulations are to be implemented as soon as possible, and no later than August 1, 2003. April 25, 2003 BREAKING NEWS: FIRST WINNERS OF U.S. GREEN CARD LOTTERY ANNOUNCED! The first winners of DV-2004 were released by the U.S. State Department today. Hundreds of those went to National Visa Service entries. Over the next few months, more than 55,000 winners will be drawn. Those who entered through National Visa Service will be notified first and by the fastest means available: telephone, fax, email or air-mail. Winners who entered through National Visa Service are also posted on our website immediately as they are received. Check the winners page regularly to see if you have won. TIME IS RUNNING OUT ON OUR SPECIAL OFFER TO WIN DV-2004 AND GET DOUBLE YOUR MONEY BACK IF YOU ARE ENTERED IN DV-2005! If you entered the lottery through National Visa Service last year, and enter again this year - you will get double your money back if your entry from last year is picked. This offer remains good as long as your new entry is received before your winning entry from last year is announced. So hurry, enter the next lottery now before all of the winners from last year are announced. More Green Card winners enter through National Visa Service than all other immigration services combined! That is why National Visa Service is #1 in U.S. Immigration. Your best chance to come to the U.S.A. is through National Visa Service, the Gateway to America! To enter the next U.S. Green Card Lottery right now, click here. April 24, 2003 DHS TO CREATE NEW 'US VISIT SYSTEM' BY 2004 Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announces the launch of a new U.S. VISIT system. In a speech in Washington, the Secretary outlined the Department's plan to create a new entry-exit system backed by 21st century technology. The U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indication Technology system (U.S. VISIT) is designed to make entering the U.S. easier for legitimate tourists, students and business travelers, while making it more difficult to enter the U.S. illegally through the implementation of biometrically authenticated documents. Drawing heavily on developing technologies and scientific capabilities, the system will utilize a minimum of two biometric identifiers, such as photographs, fingerprints or iris scans, to build an electronic check in/check out system for people coming to the U.S. to work, study or visit. The U.S. VISIT system will replace the currently existing NSEERS program, integrate the SEVIS program, and encompass the Congressional requirements of the automated entry exit system. The U.S. VISIT System is a critical new border security and enforcement tool that will capture point of entry and exit information on visitors. The system will be in its first phase of operation at international air and sea ports of entry by the end of 2003. March 1, 2003 DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY TAKES OVER U.S. IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE FUNCTIONS. Services Remain in Place. On March 1, all Immigration and Naturalization enforcement and service functions and responsibilities transitioned into the Department of Homeland Security. INS customers. Immigration services have been retained through this transition. Service and benefit features of the main INS Website are available on this Website. In addition, all INS general information will be accessible from this as well as the BCIS and main DHS Websites. November 25, 2002 How Will Homeland Security Affect Your Chances Of Coming To America? November 25, 2002, Washington D.C. President Bush has signed sweeping new legislation to create a U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The U.S. State Department, and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service - which now handle all U.S. Visa and Immigration applications - are destined to be merged into Homeland Security, as are several other U.S. Agencies. All of these agencies will become one huge bureaucracy responsible for the security of the United States of America. The impact this will have for anyone interested in coming to America cannot be overstated. Homeland Security will affect almost everything about U.S. Immigration and the way that U.S. Visas are issued. Many visa programs will be changed, restricted or eliminated, although it may take years for these changes to go into effect. If you are interested in coming to America, it is very important to be aware of these changes as they happen. National Visa Service will continue to keep you informed of all important U.S. Immigration news and changes. It is equally important to take advantage of the immigration opportunities that exist now because they might not be available in the future. The easiest, least expensive and by far the most popular program for gaining permanent residency in the U.S.A. continues to be the Diversity Program, or Green Card Lottery. 55,000 permanent resident visas have been awarded under this program each year since 1994. Security issues, changes in immigration policy, and negative press have placed this program in jeopardy, but it is assured to continue at least through 2005. The time to enter the DV-2005 lottery is NOW. To guarantee your entry today click here. No matter what changes occur with Homeland Security, you can rely on National Visa Service to keep you informed and to assist you in making your dream of coming to America come true. To get National Visa Service News and information emailed to you, click here. November 6, 2002 THE 2002 GREEN CARD LOTTERY ENTRY DEADLINE IS PASSED. APPLICATIONS FOR 2003 NOW BEING ACCEPTED. Williamsburg, Kentucky: The U.S. Green Card Lottery entry period for 2002 is now closed. Applications received at the U.S. State Department Kentucky Consular Center after noon on November 6, 2002, will be discarded without notice to the applicant unless you entered through National Visa Service. All applications for the DV-2004 program submitted through NVS were delivered on time and your entry is GUARANTEED thanks to around the clock processing and hand delivery of all qualifying applications by the National Visa Service. Entries received after November 6th by National Visa Service are guaranteed to be entered in the next available lottery program. National Visa Service is now accepting entries for the 2003 Green Card Lottery entry period. Do not miss the next deadline. To guarantee your entry in the next lottery today and get a FREE BOOK or 20% off, just click on this link! Offer is limited, apply now. October 21, 2002 With the deadline for entry for this year only two weeks away, National Visa Service has received official notification from the U.S. State Department of several more winners from last year! This is the third time since June, when it was announced there would be no more winners drawn from the 2001 entries, that the State Department has sent National Visa Service MORE WINNERS!!! A Kentucky Consular Center representative said that the State Department was forced to draw more winners to fill the 55,000 Green Card allotment because there were so many disqualifications of winners who submitted multiple entries. We are proud to say no such disqualifications have ever occurred among the hundreds of thousands who have entered through National Visa Service. It simply cannot happen, even by mistake, because of proprietary safeguards programmed into National Visa Service software. As a result, the National Visa Service list of winners continues to grow longer, with more winners - who stay winners - than all other services combined! This is a message of hope to all those who entered the lottery through National Visa Service in 2001. Look on our Winner's page again by clicking here. If you see your name posted in red, contact National Visa Service immediately! We do not know how many more winners might still be selected from those who entered in 2001, but we do know that another 55,000 winners will be drawn soon from those who enter in 2002 before the deadline at the end of this month. Don't be left out! For guaranteed entry in the next drawing click on this link now! October 7, 2002 DV-2004 Green Card Lottery Entry Period Opens - Future of Program In Doubt. The entry period for the next U.S. Green Card Lottery, DV-2004, will officially begin today amidst controversy in America over whether the program should continue despite worries over terrorism. Below is a reprint of a Los Angeles Times article from September 22nd which expresses some of the current concerns in the United States about immigration and the Green Card Lottery. There is no doubt that the Green Card Lottery will continue at least through DV-2004, but the future of the program after that is in question. For this reason, it is more important than ever for anyone hoping to come to America, to be entered this year. The State Department will only accept entries during the next 30 days. National Visa Service guarantees entry of all applications received by October 30th. Those who have not already entered cannot afford to wait any longer. To enter on-line immediately, click here. Annual Visa Lottery Comes Amid Fears Over Terrorism Immigration: Millions vie for 50,000 permanent residency slots. Many in U.S. question whether it's wise for the program to continue. By JONATHAN PETERSON, TIMES STAFF WRITER WASHINGTON -- The annual visa lottery--perhaps the strangest ritual in all of U.S. immigration policy--will begin next month, sparking millions of entries from foreigners who will buck long odds for a chance to start life anew in America. Its very existence is a reminder that, even after the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States keeps its door open to newcomers more than do most other nations, and that the dream of life here continues to stir people from all over the world. But since the terrorist attacks, the unusual sweepstakes has been beset by heightened security fears. In just the last few months, three lottery winners from the Middle East have gained notoriety for crimes and allegations that go to the heart of America's anxieties in the war against terrorism. Ahmed Hannan and Karim Koubriti, indicted Aug. 28 as members of an alleged terrorist "sleeper" cell in Michigan planning attacks here and abroad, came to this country in 2000 after winning the lottery in Morocco, according to State Department officials and court records. And in July, an Egyptian who became a legal U.S. resident after his wife won the visa lottery went on a shooting rampage at Los Angeles International Airport, killing two people. The next visa lottery, scheduled to open for entries on Oct. 7, "is simply not in the interest of our national security," said Rep. George W. Gekas (R-Pa.), chairman of the House subcommittee on immigration, pointing to the Michigan indictments to make his case. By all reckonings, it is an event of interest around the world, a sweepstakes that has stirred riots in Sierra Leone and stampedes in Cuba. But in the United States, despite Sept. 11, the lottery remains a routine event, reflecting the official view that legal immigration can be a positive force and that America benefits from the energy and enterprise of its newest residents. Congress enacted the first version of the lottery in the 1980s when Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and other legislators sought to broaden the stream of immigrants, which was dominated by Latin Americans and Asians who were allowed entry either as political refugees or because they were sponsored by close relatives or employers already in the United States. Undocumented Irish immigrants in Kennedy's home state were an early concern, and the first contests set aside winning slots for the Irish. The current version of the lottery provides up to 50,000 permanent residence visas each year to individuals lacking the family or job sponsors that most legal immigrants rely on. Winners are chosen in a computerized drawing. Preferences for the Irish have long since expired. From 1998 to 2000, 46% of the winners came from Europe, 22% from the Middle East and 22% from sub-Sahara Africa, according to estimates by the Center for Immigration Studies, which seeks to limit immigration. In 2000, participants mailed 13 million applications to the State Department. Last year, following the Sept. 11 attacks, the number slipped to 9.5 million. Entries this year must be received between Oct. 7 and Nov. 6, and winners will be notified in 2003. Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Los Angeles), who championed the visa lottery in a simpler era of immigration policy, reflects the shifting attitudes toward the lottery. In July, one of Berman's constituents was shot to death by Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, a limousine driver from Egypt, at the El Al Israel airlines ticket counter at LAX. Berman said he continues to support immigration for such goals as reuniting families, providing political asylum and supplying qualified workers to American employers. But, alluding to the LAX shootings, he said he worries that a lottery may pose "a certain randomness and lack of institutional safeguards ... that maybe creates a higher risk of this kind of thing happening." "The visa lottery program, I have greater questions about that now, whether it's a sensible policy," Berman said. Security Flaws Are Cited Supporters maintain that the program continues to fill a useful role for deserving immigrants and assert that the concerns voiced by Berman underscore the need for providing more efficient security, not for eliminating the lottery. "Individuals who are otherwise eligible under our laws should be allowed to immigrate to the United States," Kennedy said in a statement. Security risks, he added, are not the fault of the lottery itself but rather "result from inadequate screening and the lack of intelligence information shared among government agencies." Others applaud the lottery's basic goal. "It adds to the richness of the American experience by bringing different peoples into the country," said Kevin Appleby, director of migration and refugee policy for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "With the proper security measures, we don't see why it should not continue." Not everyone agrees. "It doesn't unite families," asserted Steven A. Camarota, the Center for Immigration Studies' research director. "It doesn't serve special business needs. What is the point of it?" He noted that some individuals who use the lottery come from nations on the State Department's list of countries that sponsor terrorism. Last year's winners included 1,297 from Sudan, 768 from Iran, 529 from Cuba, 71 from Iraq, 62 from Syria, 61 from Libya and four from North Korea . Other observers, who may be far more sympathetic to immigration, nonetheless argue that the value of diversity should not outweigh the wishes of today's immigrants to be united more quickly with family members from the old country. "I think it's one of the stupidest ideas ever created in immigration law ... ," said Carl Shusterman, an immigration lawyer in Los Angeles. "To me it's just like someone cutting in line." Still others question whether the very strategy of reaching out to nations that supply few immigrants is fair to countries such as Mexico, which are purposely excluded from the program. "Why diversify the immigration pool?" asked Jose Pertierra, a Washington immigration lawyer. "What's the matter with the ones that we've got?" Gekas recently demanded that the State Department stop shredding the losing lottery entries, which include limited personal information such as name, date and place of birth and a photograph. Reviewing such entries might tip off government officials that terrorists already on government watch lists "may be attempting to enter the United States through the diversity visa program," Gekas wrote Secretary of State Colin L. Powell in August. Shredding to Stop Earlier this month, State Department officials replied that they would stop shredding the applications, "so that unsuccessful entries will be shared with law enforcement and intelligence agencies if they decide they are useful." At the same time, the State Department, which is in charge of visas, maintains that the lottery poses no special national security risks. Overall, background checking for all would-be immigrants has become more efficient as a result of reforms imposed since the terrorist attacks last year, an official said. Lottery winners "are subject to exactly the same security checks as any other visa applicant," said Kelly Shannon, a State Department spokeswoman. The view is widely shared by defenders of the unusual contest. Whatever questions the lottery may raise, America's immigration system still needs some way of letting in people who may lack family or job connections but wish to become productive members of U.S. society, said Jeanne Butterfield, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Assn. She added: "I'm not prepared to say eliminate the lottery." Times staff writer Terril Yue Jones in Ann Arbor, Mich., contributed to this report. This article is re-printed from the Los Angeles Times, September 22, 2002. August 21, 2002 DV-2004 RULES ISSUED BY STATE DEPARTMENT THIS COULD BE YOUR LAST BEST CHANCE TO WIN A U.S. GREEN CARD On August 21st, the U.S. State Department issued the rules for entry in this year's Green Card Lottery, DV-2004, insuring that the program will continue for now without any significant changes. This was welcome news in light of the many restrictions that have been imposed in U.S. policy, laws and other Immigration programs following 9/11. The Green Card Lottery, in particular, has come under attack after an immigrant who was here on a permanent resident visa he obtained through the lottery, shot and killed two people at Los Angeles International Airport in July. Many Americans are calling for an end to all U.S. Immigration. We do not think that happen, but it is a fact that U.S. Immigration laws and policies are changing, making entry into the U.S.A. increasingly difficult. The U.S. Green Card Lottery could be in jeopardy. As your opportunities for coming to America in the future shrink, it becomes more important than ever to make sure you are entered! Winning the Green Card Lottery is the least expensive, fastest and easiest way to immigrate to America. More people have won who entered through National Visa than any other service. We urge you to apply now before this opportunity disappears forever. For GUARANTEED ENTRY THIS YEAR, click here! July 1, 2002 DV-2003 ENDS WITH MORE NVS WINNERS THAN EVER! All the winners from last year's entries in the U.S. Green Card Lottery have now been drawn - over 50,000! More winners entered through National Visa Service than ever before - more by far than any other U.S. Immigration Service! If you are a winner, you will have received your notification by now or seen your name on our web site at WINNERS! We have also added several new winners to our Photo-Album - see what it is like to win at PHOTO ALBULM! If you have not received a notice, or your name is not on the website, then NOW IS THE TIME TO RE-ENTER - the deadline for the next drawing will soon be here! To enter DV-2004 now, click here! April 9, 2002 INS Sharply Cuts Length of Tourist, Student Visa Stays Policy: In response to the terrorist attacks, many passes would be limited to 30 days. The Immigration and Naturalization Service, seeking to close gaps exploited by the Sept. 11 hijackers, said Monday it will sharply reduce the length of time many foreign students and millions of other travelers may spend in the United States. INS Commissioner James W. Ziglar said his agency was seeking "the appropriate balance" between enforcing the law and welcoming legitimate visitors. "While we recognize the overwhelming majority who come to us as visitors are honest and law-abiding," he said, "the events of Sept. 11 remind us there will always be those who seek to cause us harm." Immigration officials said many tourist visas would be slashed from the current six months to 30 days or less, based on what INS inspectors say is "fair and reasonable." In addition, the INS would immediately prohibit foreign visitors from enrolling in U.S. schools unless they had obtained student visas. Until now, foreign students have been allowed to begin classes in America if their student visa applications were pending. INS officials plan to seek public comment on the revisions immediately, and they expect the new rules affecting nonstudents to take effect this summer. No congressional action is necessary. Under the revisions, the INS would: The INS pledged flexibility for cases that did not involve national security, such as foreign retirees who own vacation homes inside the United States. The great majority of foreign visitors come from Canada, western European nations and other countries whose citizens may enter without visas. Two of the Sept. 11 hijackers, Mohamed Atta of Egypt and Marwan Al-Shehhi of the United Arab Emirates, came to the United States on visitor visas. They enrolled in a Florida flight school in July 2000, more than a year before the INS approved their student visas. Such enrollments would be prohibited under the new rules. Another hijacker, Hani Hanjour, who helped crash another hijacked jet into the Pentagon, had a student visa for a Bay Area English-language school but never showed up for classes. Victor Johnson, public policy director at NAFSA, an association of international educators, maintained that the nation's 550,000 foreign students represented just 2% of temporary visa holders and that the majority had gotten approval to study in the United States before enrolling in school. It appeared that the change in student rules might have a significant effect on certain types of programs, notably the intensive English training that is often sought by foreign visitors to the United States. Some educators expressed concern that new rules could result in a sharp decline in the estimated 200,000 foreign students who annually enroll in English-language programs at U.S.-based academies, colleges and universities. Condensed from an article by JONATHAN PETERSON and PATRICK J. McDONNELL, Los Angeles Times For more information on U.S. visas, including student and tourist visas, click here. February 22, 2002 U.S. VISA-WAIVER PROGRAM IN JEOPORDY ARGENTINA IS FIRST COUNTRY TO BE EXCLUDED The U.S. has banned Argentines from coming to the United States without a visa because of worries about a growing exodus of visitors seeking to flee their economically ravaged nation and find a permanent - if illegal - home in North America. The emergency order by the Justice Department marks the first time the United States has thrown any country out of its visa waiver program, which allows nearly 17 million business travelers and tourists a year from 28 other nations to by pass the normal U.S. visa process. The United States is examining the visa waiver status of five other countries - Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Uruguay - because of concerns about potential abuses. Those reviews were planned before Sept. 11, but the terrorist attacks sped the process as authorities pushed for wide scale reforms to plug cracks in the immigration system. The Justice Department's decision could also intensify debate about the future of the visa waiver program as a whole. Out of about 30 million short term entries a year by foreigners into the United States, more than half are from the visa-waiver countries, which include France, Germany and Britain, along with several smaller countries. To qualify for the waiver program, countries are supposed to meet several criteria, including political and economic stability, passport security and a low refusal rate by U.S. officials of their visa requests. Argentine visitors, numbering more than 400,000 a year under the visa waiver program, now will have to go through the time and paperwork of getting a visa before they leave Argentina. The decision is not intended as a "punishment", said Christopher Lamora, a spokesman for the State Department's bureau of consular affairs. "The decision is in order to make sure that the U.S. government can effectively enforce U.S. immigration laws. The Immigration and Naturalization Service said the change is a step toward preventing illegal overstays. However, the Justice Department's decision could also intensify debate about the future of the visa waiver program as a whole. Out of about 30 million short term entries a year by foreigners into the United States, more than half are from the visa-waiver countries, which include France, Germany and Britain, and several smaller countries. For more information about the Visa Waiver program and alternatives for obtaining a U.S. Visa, click here to visit the National Visa Service Legal Department. January 10, 2002 Generous U.S. Immigration Policy Survives Sept. 11 The most significant development in the national immigration debate is what hasn't happened: No lawmaker of influence has moved to reverse the country's generous immigration policy, which for more than three decades has facilitated the largest sustained wave of immigration in U.S. history. Proposals to restrict a system that welcomed more than 9 million legal immigrants during the 1990s were not even accorded a formal hearing on Capitol Hill and experts agree that major changes to the core system of legal immigration are not on the political radar screen. "This reflects a sort of wise and grown-up attitude on the part of Americans about what immigration is vis-a-vis what [the Sept. 11 terrorism] was," said former immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner. The immigrant lobby today is more than an inchoate conglomeration of liberals, civil libertarians and ethnic special-interest groups. Corporate America, which increasingly relies on the brawn and brains of immigrant workers, is now firmly aboard. Organized labor and all major religious groups are pillars of a loose pro-immigrant coalition- as are many Republicans. Instead, the administration has painstakingly gone out of its way to separate the issue of immigrants and immigration form the 19 middle Easterners who hijacked four U.S. airlines on Sept. 11. Immigration and Naturalization Commissioner James W. Ziglar has repeatedly voiced the operative mantra: "These weren't immigrants", he has said of the hijackers, all of whom arrived on legal visitor's visas. "They were terrorists." Lawmakers often laud the nation's immigrant heritage. Congress acted in 1965 to impose a more equitable process and largely eliminated geographic biases in favor of family unification and job skills. The reforms opened the door to immigration from Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, regions long shut out of the process. Immigration from those areas created a natural multiplier effect: New arrivals promptly petitioned on behalf of loved ones still abroad. Since the attacks, the major pro-immigrant organizations have embraced the White House strategy of publicly separating immigrants from terrorists. The Bush administration is even proposing the restoration of food stamp eligibility to more than 300.000 legal immigrants who lost access as part of the 1996 federal welfare overhaul. Since the September terrorist attacks, authorities have zeroed in on tightening rules governing so-called non-immigrant visitors, who outnumber actual immigrants by more than 20 to 1. Changes include fortifying border controls, giving federal authorities broad new powers to detail non citizens and to eavesdrop on their conversations with attorneys, and the creation of an additional layer of the State Department screening for visa applications from about two dozens nations with large Muslim populations. Further restrictions, such as greater scrutiny of foreign students and other visitors and even more enhanced visa screening, appear certain. The White House has launched a reorganization of the INS, separating its sometimes-conflicting enforcement and service functions. But none of this is likely to lower overall immigration levels. The debate is a fluid one and, as Sept. 11 demonstrated, unexpected events may jolt it in a new direction. Another serious terrorist strike could change everything. "If there is another attack -I'm talking a big attack- all bets are off," said Papademetriou, of the Migration Policy Institute. "I think you would likely see all this measuredness of our current response going out the window. I don't know if we're going to be as deliberate on anything if there's a next time." (From The Los Angeles Times, January 10, 2002) October 31, 2001 - 12:00 Noon THE DV-2003 LOTTERY ENTRY PERIOD IS NOW CLOSED. APPLICATIONS ARE NOW BEING ACCEPTED FOR DV-2004. APPLY NOW! The official entry period for the DV-2003, U.S. Diversity Program (Green Card Lottery), ended at noon today. Only those entries actually received at the U.S. Consular Center's mailing address in Kentucky between October 1st and noon today will be eligible for the drawing scheduled to take place between April and June of 2002. If your application was received by National Visa Service by October 29th with correct payment, photographs and signature, you are in the drawing and will receive a Certificate of Entry in the mail. Any late applications received by National Visa Service will automatically be entered in DV-2004. NOW IS THE TIME TO APPLY FOR DV 2004. You will rest assured that you will not be left out next time. IF YOU ENTERED DV-2003 AND WIN, WE WILL GIVE YOU DOUBLE YOUR MONEY BACK ON YOUR DV-2004 ENTRY! National Visa Service guarantees that your application will be correct and delivered at exactly the right time with a chance to win or your money back!. You will receive a signed Certificate of Entry to show that your application has been qualified and entered. This is one of the reasons National Visa Service has the highest number of winners of any U.S. Immigration service in the world. Click here to enter on-line. APPLY NOW! October 1, 2001 THE DV-2003 LOTTERY ENTRY PERIOD OPENS. APPLY NOW! The official entry period for this year's U.S. Diversity Program, Green Card Lottery, starts today. All entries must be received by the U.S. Consular Center in Kentucky within the next 30 days. The State Department will throw out any entry that does not arrive within this 30 day period or that fails to comply with any one of their many other strict rules. Every year, millions of applicants are disqualified without even knowing they had no chance to win. National Visa Service guarantees that every application it processes is correct and delivered at exactly the right time. You will receive a signed Certificate of Entry to show that your application has been qualified and entered. This is one of the reasons National Visa Service has the highest number of winners of any U.S. Immigration service in the world. National Visa Service will continue to process applications right up until the last minute, with daily deliveries to the U.S. State Department, Kentucky Consular Center. For Guaranteed entry in this year's lottery, make sure your application arrives at least 10 days before the October 31st deadline. If your application arrives after that we will continue to make every effort to get it in before the deadline. Otherwise you will be entered in the next program. Either way, you are guaranteed entry with a chance to win or your money back! Click here to enter on-line now. APPLY NOW! September 11, 2001
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