The diversity visa is a program that was started after World War II. To understand immigration in the United States, it is important to look at the historical roots of immigration. Immigration is a political issue and up until the 1960s, immigration was set aside for white people from Europe. After World War II, it opened up in lots of different ways and resulted in people coming from a lot of non-European countries to the United States.
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The Diversity Visa Program was set up to allow people from underrepresented countries to come to the United States. Every year, there are 50,000 of these visas or green cards set aside for people from underrepresented countries. All someone has to show is that they are from one of the countries, have a passport from one of the countries, and have a high school degree or two years of work experience. The diversity visa is not available for people from the Top 20 countries. Whatever the Top 20 countries are in the United States, those people cannot participate in the Diversity Visa Program.
For everybody else, if they are in the United States or they are outside the United States, they can put their name and their spouse can put their name in every October. If they are picked, about a year and a half later they are going to be able to come to the United States and obtain a green card.
For some reason, congress views the number of visas as a capped number. When there is a lot of talk about immigration reform, this is some place where government officials go to limit the number of visas available. Often, Congress takes away visas from one category and allocates them for people who have high-tech jobs. It is not clear why they cannot have both. No one has ever explained that, but that is the discussion that is being had. The diversity visa is something that is under attack.
The diversity visa allows people from underrepresented countries to enter into the United States and compete with individuals who have more privilege and who are also attempting to enter the United States. If you are interested in applying for a visa through the diversity visa program, then please reach out to the Hacking Immigration Law, LLC to see what could be done for you.