Over 6000 Ghanaians win US Visa Lottery

... As Fewer Foreigners Seek U.S. Visas
The first U.S. visa lottery since Sept. 11 was a "boon" for Ghana. With 6,333 winners, Ghana got more than any other country. However, this was a decline from the previous year

The lottery grants a chance at 55,000 visas for reasons other than business or family ties ? green cards that are often the key to a better life in a new land.

Lottery winners don't automatically get a visa ? they must first pass security checks, and still must wait up to a year for entry. The selections announced Wednesday can seek visas during fiscal 2003, which begins Oct. 1.

This year's lottery wasn't exactly a boon for America's new friends in the war on terrorism.

Only a few people from places like Afghanistan and Yemen can seek to move permanently to the United States. They were outnumbered by would-be immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Libya and Sudan, all on the U.S. government's list of terror-sponsoring states.

That's not because U.S. officials are trying to exclude certain people. Fewer overall applied to come.

Overall, 6.2 million applicants qualified for the 2002 lottery, out of 8.7 million who sent in applications, the State Department said Wednesday in announcing the annual lottery's results. That's a stark decline from last year, when 10 million qualified for inclusion in the lottery out of 13 million who sent in applications.

The department did not disclose how many applicants from each country were deemed eligible to participate in this year's lottery.

But the decline in the number of applicants indicates a chill has set in since the Sept. 11 attacks.

The 30-day application period began Oct. 1, 2001 ? as the United States launched the military campaign in Afghanistan and found anthrax in the mail. Worry was still high because of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and anti-Muslim sentiment was evident.

"The climate of concern about attitudes in the United States to people from Muslim and Arab countries certainly would have been very different at that time than it would be now," said Jack Martin, special projects director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

Plus, Martin said, "People applying for the lottery in Arab and Muslim countries are likely to recognize that since Sept. 11, their applications will receive a much more rigorous scrutiny."

As it is, background checks for last year's lottery winners have taken longer, particularly for those from Islamic countries. The number of visas granted to Muslims under the 2001 lottery was down considerably; 14,074 were approved, compared with 16,308 the year before.

Now, it seems some looked at that and gave up on the process before it began.

Although no numbers were released on how many applicants from each country qualified for the lottery, the number of winners gives a hint.

In Afghanistan, for example, only 45 visa applicants were chosen in this year's lottery, compared with 208 for last year.

Numbers for other Islamic countries also declined. Egypt had 1,551 lottery winners, down from 2,046; Saudi Arabia had 38, down from 50; Yemen ? which recently detained 85 people with suspected ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network ? went from 223 to 44.

Syria fell from 67 to 62 and Iran from 1,703 to 768. Iraq, which had 117 lottery winners in 2001, had 71 this year. Sudan fell off from 1,820 to 1,297. Only one person came up a winner in tiny Qatar, where four people were tapped last year.

The lottery, conducted at random, had some winners as well.

Libya, with its history of encouraging terrorism, saw 61 lottery winners this year, up from 26 the year before. The number of visa slots going to Morocco increased by more than 1,000, to 3,083. And Bulgaria had 2,843 winners, up from 2,489.

The largest numbers went to Ghana, with 6,333 lottery winners, and Nigeria, 5,989. Both, however, experienced a decline from the previous year

Following is the announcement:

The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky, has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2003 diversity lottery. The diversity lottery was conducted under the terms of Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This Act makes available 50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Approximately 87,000 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, registration of a larger number of applicants is intended to ensure that all available DV-2003 numbers will be used during Fiscal Year 2003 (October 1, 2002 until September 30, 2003).

Applicants registered for the DV-2003 program were selected at random from the approximately 6.2 million qualified entries received during the one-month application period that ran from Noon on October 1, 2001 through Noon on October 31, 2001. An additional 2.5 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 one of the following: 1) a high school education or its equivalent, or 2) two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience.

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 Immigration and Naturalization Service for information on the requirements and procedures. Once the total 50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2003 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2003 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2003 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2003 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2003.

Only participants in the DV-2003 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-2004 lottery if they wish.

The dates for the mail-in period for the DV-2004 lottery are scheduled from Noon, Monday, October 7, 2002 until Noon, Wednesday, November 6, 2002.

Instructions on entering the DV-2004 program will be widely publicized in late July or early August 2002.

The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NCARA) 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 NCARA 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-2003 program:

ALGERIA 834,  
 ERITREA 252, 
 NAMIBIA 6, 
 ANGOLA 29, 
 ETHIOPIA 5,562, 
 NIGER 34, 
 BENIN 134, 
 GABON 20, 
 NIGERIA 5,989,
 BOTSWANA 4, 
 THE GAMBIA 32,
 RWANDA 21, 
 BURKINA FASO 28, 
 GHANA 6,333, 
 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 0, 
 BURUNDI 21, 
 GUINEA 157, 
 SENEGAL 199, 
 CAMEROON 675, 
 GUINEA-BISSAU 1, 
 SEYCHELLES 0, 
 CAPE VERDE 1, 
 KENYA 3,194, 
 SIERRA LEONE 3,096, 
 CENTRAL AFRICAN REP. 8, 
 LESOTHO 2, 
 SOMALIA 748, 
 CHAD 45, 
 LIBERIA 1,067, 
 SOUTH AFRICA 617, 
 COMOROS 2, 
 LIBYA 61, 
 SUDAN 1,297, 
 CONGO 41, 
 MADAGASCAR 25, 
 SWAZILAND 5, 
 MALAWI 31, 
 TANZANIA 349, 
 DEMOCRATIC REP. OF THE CONGO 619,
 MALI 46,
 TOGO 1,994, 
 COTE D'IVOIRE 298, 
 MAURITANIA 14, 
 TUNISIA 114, 
 DJIBOUTI 24, 
 MAURITIUS 25, 
 UGANDA 195, 
 EGYPT 1,551,
 MOROCCO 3,083, 
 ZAMBIA 109, 
 EQUATORIAL GUINEA 8,
 MOZAMBIQUE 5, 
 ZIMBABWE 133.