Dept. of State Releases DV-2015 Results

The Department of State’s Kentucky Consular Center has registered and notified those selected in the DV-2015 diversity visa lottery. Approximately 125,514 applicants have been registered and notified, and may now apply for an immigrant visa. The Department said it is likely that not all of those registered will pursue their cases to visa issuance. Therefore, this larger figure should ensure that all DV-2015 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2015 (October 1, 2014, to September 30, 2015).

Applicants registered for the DV-2015 program were selected at random from 9,388,986 qualified entries (14,397,781 with derivatives) received during the 30-day application period that ran in late 2013. The visas have been apportioned among six geographic regions with a maximum of seven percent available to persons born in any single country. Cameroon received the most selections, at 5,000; followed by Ethiopia and Egypt, tied at 4,988; and Iran, at 4992.

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, the Department said.

Registrants living legally in the United States who wish to apply for adjustment of status must contact U.S. 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 2015 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2015, will derive no further benefit from their DV-2015 registrations. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2015 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2015.

Dates for the DV-2016 program registration period will be widely publicized in the coming months, the Department said.

The Department noted that 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.

See more: The DV-2015 results, including a country-by-country chart, are available in the Visa Bulletin for June 2014.