MEDIA NOTE
Diversity Visa Lottery 2004 (DV-2004) Results

The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky, has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2004 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 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.

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 2004 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2004, will derive no further benefit from their DV-2004 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2004 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2004.

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 if they wish. The dates for the mail-in period for the DV-2005 lottery program will be widely publicized during August 2003.

* 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-2004 program:

AFRICA

ALGERIA 1,285
ANGOLA 17
BENIN 209
BOTSWANA 8
BURKINA FASO 34
BURUNDI 27
CAMEROON 1,531
CAPE VERDE 4
CENTRAL AFRICAN REP. 10
CHAD 41
COMOROS 0
CONGO 31
CONGO, DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF THE 455
COTE D’IVOIRE 268
DJIBOUTI 24
EGYPT 4,189
EQUATORIAL GUINEA 1
ERITREA 373
ETHIOPIA 6,353
GABON 14
GAMBIA, THE 65
GHANA 7,040
GUINEA 22
GUINEA-BISSAU 6
KENYA 5,721
LESOTHO 0
LIBERIA 1,570
LIBYA 24
MADAGASCAR 27
MALAWI 32
MALI 51
MAURITANIA 25
MAURITIUS 44
MOROCCO 5,069
MOZAMBIQUE 5
NAMIBIA 10
NIGER 35
NIGERIA 7,145
RWANDA 87
SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 0
SENEGAL 269
SEYCHELLES 1
SIERRA LEONE 2,149
SOMALIA 566
SOUTH AFRICA 413
SUDAN 1,183
SWAZILAND 2
TANZANIA 329
TOGO 2,819
TUNISIA 115
UGANDA 351
ZAMBIA 124
ZIMBABWE 168

ASIA

AFGHANISTAN 46
BAHRAIN 15
BANGLADESH 5,126
BHUTAN 9
BRUNEI 7
BURMA 906
CAMBODIA 237
HONG KONG SPECIAL
ADMIN. REGION 293
INDONESIA 844
IRAN 1,431
IRAQ 174
ISRAEL 465
JAPAN 1,291
JORDAN 125
KUWAIT 45
LAOS 10
LEBANON 105
MALAYSIA 222
MALDIVES 0
MONGOLIA 65
NEPAL 4,259
NORTH KOREA 4
OMAN 3
QATAR 8
SAUDI ARABIA 54
SINGAPORE 137
SRI LANKA 1,418
SYRIA 64
TAIWAN 1,833
THAILAND 297
YEMEN 106
 

EUROPE

ALBANIA 3,071
ANDORRA 1
ARMENIA 836
AUSTRIA 64
AZERBAIJAN 338
BELARUS 966
BELGIUM 46
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 128
BULGARIA 3,482
CROATIA 73
CYPRUS 11
CZECH REPUBLIC 172
DENMARK 39
ESTONIA 71
FINLAND 44
FRANCE 313
French Guiana 1
French Polynesia 3
Guadeloupe 5
Reunion 2
Aruba 1
GEORGIA 479
GERMANY 1,227
GREECE 66
HUNGARY 139
ICELAND 17
IRELAND 305
ITALY 165
KAZAKHSTAN 451
KYRGYZSTAN 206
LATVIA 172
LIECHTENSTEIN 1
LITHUANIA 2,059
LUXEMBOURG 4
MACEDONIA, FORMER YUGOSLAV REP. OF 166
MALTA 10
MOLDOVA 574
MONACO 1
NETHERLANDS 94
Netherlands Antilles 6
NORTHERN IRELAND 51
NORWAY 19
POLAND 5,467
PORTUGAL 46
Macau 0
ROMANIA 1,845
RUSSIA 2,600
SAN MARINO 0
SERBIA & MONTENEGRO 448
SLOVAKIA 392
SLOVENIA 8
SPAIN 62
SWEDEN 82
SWITZERLAND 183
TAJIKISTAN 105
TURKEY 2,343
TURKMENISTAN 95
UKRAINE 4,494
UZBEKISTAN 1,819
VATICAN CITY 0
 

NORTH AMERICA

BAHAMAS, THE 12

OCEANIA

AUSTRALIA 362
FIJI 738
KIRIBATI 0
Cook Islands 0
MARSHALL ISLANDS 0
MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF 0
NAURU 0
NEW ZEALAND 155
PALAU 0
PAPUA NEW GUINEA 3
SAMOA 8
SOLOMON ISLANDS 2
TONGA 43
TUVALU 0
VANUATU 1

SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 6
ARGENTINA 194
BARBADOS 3
BELIZE 4
BOLIVIA 62
BRAZIL 28
CHILE 23
COSTA RICA 12
CUBA 674
DOMINICA 12
ECUADOR 746
GRENADA 6
GUATEMALA 26
GUYANA 22
HONDURAS 25
NICARAGUA 27
PANAMA 13
PARAGUAY 31
PERU 1,298
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS 2
SAINT LUCIA 5
SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 5
SURINAME 1
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 71
URUGUAY 41
VENEZUELA 194

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.