2016 Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (DV-2016) lottery

DV-2016 lottery is open now.  All entries must be submitted electronically at www.dvlottery.gov between noon, EDT Wednesday, 10/01/2014 and noon, EDT Monday, 11/03/2014.  Do not wait until the last week of the registration period to enter as heavy demand is expected, resulting in website delays. 




Requirements:




Requirement 1:  Individuals born in countries whose natives qualify may be eligible to enter.
If you were not born in an eligible country, there are two other ways you might be able to qualify.



 (1)  Your spouse was born in a country whose natives are eligible, provided that both you and your spouse are named on the selected entry, are issued diversity visas, and enter the United States simultaneously.



(2) If you were born in a country whose natives are ineligible, but in which neither of your parents was born or legally resident at the time of your birth, and one of your parents was born in a country whose natives are eligible for the DV-2016 program.



Requirement 2: Each applicant must meet the education/work experience requirement of the DV program by having either:



(1) a high school education or its equivalent, defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of formal elementary and secondary education; or




(2) two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform.






For DV-2016 instruction, click here.

If you need any assistance in submitting your entry to DV-2016,

please contact us at (808)380-3075 or info@ailovisas.com

Approved H-1Bs with a 10/1/14 Start Date May File Visa Applications Now

The American Immigration Lawyers Association has issued an alert that
beneficiaries of approved H-1B petitions with an October 1, 2014 start date may now begin filing their visa applications at U.S. consular posts.

According to 9 FAM 41.53 N8.4(b), “Posts are authorized to accept H visa petitions and issue visas to qualified applicants up to 90 days in advance of applicants’ beginning of employment status. Post must inform applicants verbally and in writing that they can only use the visa to apply for admission to the United States starting ten days prior to the beginning of the approved status period. In addition, such visas must be annotated, “Not valid until (ten days prior to the petition validity date.)”


Source:  AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 14070740 (posted Jul. 7, 2014)

Starting June 1, USCIS will limit the validity period for all Forms I-693 to 1 year from the date of submission to USCIS.

In the email sent by USCIS earlier today (May 30, 2014), it was incorrectly stated that starting today, USCIS will limit the validity period for all Forms I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, to one year from the date of submission to USCIS.

The correct date is June 1, 2014.

Starting June 1, 2014, USCIS will limit the validity period for all Forms I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record, to one year from the date of submission to USCIS. Applicants must also submit Form I-693 to USCIS within one year of the immigration medical examination.

USCIS will also provide additional ways to submit Form I-693. As outlined in policy alert PA-2014-005, this updated policy applies to any Form I-693 supporting a benefit application that USCIS adjudicates on or after June 1, 2014.

USCIS will hold an engagement on June 12, 2014 to address questions about the new policy and provide guidance on filing Form I-693. The Form I-693 has been updated on their website.

For more information, please visit http://go.usa.gov/8y9d

Immigration Legislation: Deadline is this August??

According to Florida Rep., Mario Diaz-Balart, the deadline to pass immigration legislation is this August. Diaz-Balart is part of the effort to develop an immigration bill that could pass the House.


Diaz-Balart told CQ Roll Call at the Congressional Hispanic Leadership Institute's awards gala that "the legislative process in essence, frankly, has to work on deadlines.  There's a deadline.  And the deadline is that if we don't get it done by August, it doesn't happen."


"If Congress doesn't act by the August break, the president is going to do something.  And once that happens, two things happen... No. 1 is that the possibility of any further negotiations - of any - disintegrate" said Diaz-Balart.


Diaz-Balart feels optimistic that it will get done because he "thinks most people in the House understand that what we have is unacceptable" and "if we don't get it done by this August, it just doesn't get done."


He cautioned that an immigration overhaul still faces an uphill climb to pass the House.  However, "I wouldn't be working hard at it if I didn't think there was a legitimate chance of getting it done," he stated.

DV-2015 Winners Announced!

Diversity Immigrant 2015 (“DV-2015”) lottery winners have been notified.
Please check your result!

For DV-2015, approximately 125,514 applicants have been registered and notified. The winners may now make an application for an immigration visa.   50,000 resident visas will be given annually.  The larger figure should insure all DV-2015 numbers will be used since it is likely that some of the first 50,000 persons registered may not pursue their cases to visa issuance.  For the DV-2015, 9,388,986 qualified entries (14,397,781 with derivatives) were received during the 30-day application period.  

Dates for the DV-2016 program registration period will be publicized in the coming month.  Congratulations to the DV-2015 winners!

The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign-state chargeability of those registered for the DV-2015 program:

(source:  http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/law-and-policy/bulletin/2014/visa-bulletin-for-june-2014.html )

AFRICA
ALGERIA  3,076	ETHIOPIA  4,988	NIGER  334
ANGOLA  173	GABON  81	RWANDA  690
BENIN  1,758	GAMBIA, THE  110	SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE  0
BOTSWANA  12	GHANA  3,381	SENEGAL  620
BURKINA FASO  390	GUINEA  2,314	SEYCHELLES  9
BURUNDI  188	GUINEA-BISSAU  7	SIERRA LEONE  2,182
CABO VERDE  20	KENYA  3,534	SOMALIA  275
CAMEROON  5,000	LESOTHO  3	SOUTH AFRICA  924
CENTRAL AFRICAN REP.  33	LIBERIA  5,000	SOUTH SUDAN  21
CHAD  99	LIBYA  263	SUDAN  3,484
COMOROS  6	MADAGASCAR  62	SWAZILAND  5
CONGO  243	MALAWI  27	TANZANIA  231
CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE  4,943	MALI  123	TOGO  1,824
COTE D’IVOIRE  1,487	MAURITANIA  29	TUNISIA  221
DJIBOUTI  77	MAURITIUS  55	UGANDA  642
EGYPT  4,988	MOROCCO  2,844	ZAMBIA  116
EQUATORIAL GUINEA  14	MOZAMBIQUE  11	ZIMBABWE  249
ERITREA  815	NAMIBIA  19
ASIA
AFGHANISTAN  305	JAPAN  636	QATAR  51
BAHRAIN  12	JORDAN  374	SAUDI ARABIA  517
BHUTAN  45	NORTH KOREA  0	SINGAPORE  47
BRUNEI  0	KUWAIT  241	SRI LANKA  1,303
BURMA  453	LAOS  1	SYRIA  598
CAMBODIA  2,079	LEBANON  408	TAIWAN  498
HONG KONG SPECIAL	MALAYSIA  129	THAILAND  81
ADMIN. REGION  160
INDONESIA  288	MALDIVES  2	TIMOR-LESTE  0
IRAN  4,992	MONGOLIA  186	UNITED ARAB EMIRATES  195
IRAQ  289	NEPAL  4,991	YEMEN  875
ISRAEL  231	OMAN  15
EUROPE
ALBANIA  2,946	GREECE  147	NORTHERN IRELAND  41
ANDORRA  2	HUNGARY  329	NORWAY  49
ARMENIA  2,049	ICELAND  42	POLAND  961
AUSTRIA  134	IRELAND  157	PORTUGAL  82
AZERBAIJAN  454	ITALY  779	Macau  29
BELARUS  1,466	KAZAKHSTAN  772	ROMANIA  1,068
BELGIUM  107	KOSOVO  227	RUSSIA  4,103
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA  171	KYRGYZSTAN  403	SAN MARINO  0
BULGARIA  1,418	LATVIA  92	SERBIA  399
CROATIA  87	LIECHTENSTEIN  3	SLOVAKIA  110
CYPRUS  32	LITHUANIA  287	SLOVENIA  11
CZECH REPUBLIC  125	LUXEMBOURG  0	SPAIN  393
DENMARK  65	MACEDONIA  436	SWEDEN  217
ESTONIA  71	MALTA  16	SWITZERLAND  194
FINLAND  88	MOLDOVA  2,809	TAJIKISTAN  528
FRANCE  816	MONACO  1	TURKEY  3,688
French Polynesia  11	MONTENEGRO  16	TURKMENISTAN  191
Saint Martin  1	NETHERLANDS  151	UKRAINE  4,679
St. Pierre & Miquelon  2	Aruba  5	UZBEKISTAN  4,368
GEORGIA  804	Curacao  13	VATICAN CITY  0
GERMANY  1,354	Sint Maarten  1
NORTH AMERICA
BAHAMAS, THE  14
OCEANIA
AUSTRALIA  1,798	MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF  6	SAMOA  32
Christmas Island  1	NAURU  19	SOLOMON ISLANDS  3
Cocos Islands  1	NEW ZEALAND  589	TONGA  123
Norfolk Island  12	Cook Islands  14	TUVALU  1
FIJI  857	Niue  3	VANUATU  7
KIRIBATI  6	PALAU  6
MARSHALL ISLANDS  1	PAPUA NEW GUINEA  20
SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA  6	DOMINICA  5	SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS  7
ARGENTINA  109	GRENADA  8	SAINT LUCIA  18
BARBADOS  15	GUATEMALA  86	SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES  7
BELIZE  3	GUYANA  53	SURINAME  11
BOLIVIA  69	HONDURAS  165	TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO  193
CHILE  37	NICARAGUA  54	URUGUAY  20
COSTA RICA  72	PANAMA  19	VENEZUELA  1,556
CUBA  1,480	PARAGUAY  6