Visa Lottery 2022: The United States announces the winners

(CNN) – On Saturday, the US Department of State announced the winners of the 2022 Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, also known as «Visa lottery Green card (Green card) “.

The program benefits more than 55,000 people annually, allowing winners to apply for visas from countries with low levels of immigration to the United States.

This year’s program gained new meaning when President Joe Biden lifted restrictions imposed by former President Donald Trump. In 2017, Trump took a series of measures aimed at preventing people from Muslim-majority countries from reaching the United States. The law that finally went into effect, Presidential Proclamation 9645, imposed various levels of restrictions on foreigners from eight countries: Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Somalia, and Yemen.

On his first day as president, Biden issued a new presidential proclamation – “End Discriminatory Entry Ban to the United States” – that ended restrictions under Presidential Proclamation No. 9645.

“According to President Biden’s announcement, the State Department will conduct a review to ensure that applications for rejected immigrant visa applications can be reviewed based on the suspension and entry restrictions imposed under PP 9645 or 9983.” The office that deals with visas, On your website.

According to State Department data, tens of thousands of immigrant visa applicants, including diversity visa applicants, were denied visas in fiscal years 2017, 2018, and 2019 under Trump administration policy.

Visa lottery participants can check the status of their application on the visa lottery website. Consular Affairs Office From the section.

What is the diversity visa program?

The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program awards up to 55,000 people annually with visas to obtain a visa Green card Or the green card, which gives permanent residency in the United States and is a pathway to obtaining citizenship.

Immigration opponents complain that the program brings people to the United States to compete for jobs, and even immigration advocates acknowledge that the program does not tailor applicants according to U.S. needs.

Visas are granted by random selection in selected countries to eligible individuals in order to promote immigration from countries with low levels of immigration to the United States.

How it works?

People in countries that, according to some formula, have a sufficiently low level of immigration to the United States can apply for visas at certain times of the year. Most lottery recipients live outside the United States, but some are legally located in the country on other visas.

According to the formula set by law, countries to which more than 50,000 citizens immigrated to the United States in the past five years are not eligible.

Visas are further distributed by region: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America (excluding Mexico), Oceania, South America, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. The program is run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

While people are randomly selected for visas, they still have to meet the safety and eligibility requirements that all immigrants must pass in order to obtain their visas.

Specifically, diversity recipients must have at least a high school or its equivalent and must have at least two years of experience in a job requiring at least two years of training or experience within five years of the application date. It must also be acceptable to the United States – Categories of inadmissibility for the United States generally include links to terrorism.

The process also includes an in-person interview.

“For immigration, those selected for the Diversity Visa must be accepted into the United States,” the State Department’s Information Booklet for Applicants says. The DS-260, Alien Registration Online and Immigrant Visa Application, electronically, and the Consular Agent in person will ask you questions about your eligibility to immigrate under US law. These questions include criminal and security issues.

How did you start?

The program was founded in a bill passed in 1990 known as the Immigration Law. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who was then a Congressman in New York, was one of 31 sponsors of the House version of the bill, led by then-congressman Bruce Morrison, a Connecticut Democrat.

Schumer was credited with the concept of granting visas to countries with low admission rates to the United States, which he developed into a separate bill that he sponsored and incorporated into the broader law.

Morrison also promoted the bill as a way to legalize Irish immigrants, according to a 1990 report in the New York Times and analysis of the development of the NumbersUSA Group program, which calls for drastic cuts in immigration in all areas.

The Senate approved the final bill by 89 votes, 8 against, and the House of Representatives approved by 264 votes to 118 votes.

CNN’s Madeleine Stix, Jennifer Hansler and Mohamed Darwish contributed to this report. Tal Cuban also contributed to this report.