Immigration: Beware Diversity Visa Lottery Winners Might be Barred from Immediate Legal Residency

February 13, 1997 -- In recent years, the Diversity Visa Lottery has provided undocumented immigrants the opportunity to legalize their status in the United States. The lucky winner who meets all other qualifications for permanent residency gets a "green card" and is legally authorized to work. This is an altogether different story under the new "Illegal Immigration and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996" signed by President Clinton. Winners of this year's visa lottery who have entered the United States without inspection or who have overstayed the limit of their non-immigrant visa might not be admissible for permanent residence in the U.S. for several years.

According to the new law, effective April 1, 1997, any illegal immigrant who entered the country without being processed through border inspections and receiving an I-94 Arrival/Departure card will no longer be eligible to adjust their status once in the United States. A person who has extended his or her stay in the United States for six months or a year beyond the expiration of his or her legal permission to stay will be banned from obtaining his/her legal residency for three years and ten years respectively. This means illegal immigrants who "win" the visa lottery and did not leave the country before September 27, 1997, when the 180 days will have expired will be barred for three years from receiving their legal residency. Any illegal immigrant who stays after the September 27 date will be barred from receiving the residency for 10 years. Once the notification is received, lottery winners are advised to leave the United States preferably before 9/27/97. Visa lottery winners are scheduled to be announced before October 1, 1997. According to the State Department, information from immigrants' applications who were not selected for the diversity visa lottery will not be forwarded to INS.

Rules to Apply for the Diversity Visa Lottery are as follows:

From noon on February 3 to noon on March 5, 1997, immigrants whether abroad or in the United States can apply for the lottery without any application fee that would enable them to receive the converted permanent resident "Green Card." 55,000 immigrant visas will be offered to all but some exempted countries including Canada, China (except Hong Kong), Columbia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and Vietnam.

To be eligible for the lottery, applicants must have the following: a high school education (or equivalent-not the GED) by the interview date, or two years experience in a U.S. Department of Labor approved occupation requiring two years of training, with that experience being attained within the past five years. The spouse and unmarried children, under age 21, of an applicant who is registered for DV-98 status are automatically entitled to the same status.