No Handover of Lottery Details 

By Georgina Brennan

THE U.S. government has assured applicants taking part in the new diversity visa lottery that their details will not be submitted or handed over to the immigration department once the entry period closes at the end of this year.

In an official statement to the Irish Voice, Chris Bently at the Department of Homeland Security said the information will not go to immigration officials once the program is finished. 

“The diversity visa program is run by the State Department. They are not sending the information to us. It is not a tool to identify people in the U.S. who are out of status,” he said.

This year, for the first time, applications can only be made online. This is expected to help countries like Ireland win a higher number of visas because of the computer access issue. Many Third World countries which win a majority of the 50,000 visas available each year will be at a distinct disadvantage because they will have difficulty gaining access to a computer.

However, Irish immigration centers are reporting a low initial interest in the visa lottery round for 2005, which got underway on Saturday, November 1.

“Out of 10 scheduled appointments we received two applicants last weekend when the entry time opened,” said Siobhan Dennehy of the Emerald Isle Immigration Center in Queens. 

Complicated requirements and paranoia that undocumented people will be giving themselves up to Homeland Security if they enter all their information online are some of the reasons a low take up is attributed to. 

“This is the year to apply because the numbers are with you if you are computer literate and in status, either by being resident in Ireland or by being on a non-permanent visa in the United States,” says Dennehy. 

However, she is cautious. “Although I’m no great computer whiz, I recently got a lesson in database merging and it doesn’t take that much to make a correlation in information when all the information is the same, such as name and date and other things that are on a passport,” she said.

Immigration attorney Deirdre O’Brien disagrees. “This lottery is designed to bring a diverse group of new immigrants to the United States. I think bringing it to an electronic level was a way to get ahead of the posse, not to expose all undocumented people,” she said. 

Although everyone is encouraged to first apply and worry later about completing the process if they are selected for a visa, undocumented people who take part in the lottery may encounter a problem when they are leaving the U.S., as all airlines are required by law to enter the information of non-citizens without status to the Department of Homeland Security. 

O’Brien says it is all a question of balance. “If you have a lot to lose this is not the way to go. It is better to wait a new administration and a less hostile environment for immigrants. If you are going to take a risk, this is probably the year to do it. However, this visa is a diversity visa and is not intended for undocumented people to benefit from it,” she says.

Immigration expert and New York attorney Jim O’Malley stated that on balance, Irish in the U.S. of whatever status should apply for the lottery. 

“A Congressman could just write into law a line that said the three and 10 year bans do not apply to diversity visa applicants and you would be home free. The law changes all the time. Apply if you are in or out of status, and if you get called consult a lawyer,” he told the Irish Voice. 

The diversity immigrant visa program is administered on an annual basis by the State Department. It makes available 50,000 green cards to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the U.S. Applicants for diversity visas are chosen by a computer-generated, random lottery drawing. 

Entries for the lottery must be submitted electronically between Saturday, November 1, 2003 and Tuesday, December 30, 2003. Applicants may access the electronic diversity visa entry form at www.dvlottery.state.gov during the 60-day registration period.

This year, paper entries will not be accepted. The complications with the entries arise because applicants now have to send digital photographs. The requirements are complicated and the advice is to consult an immigration center, immigration attorney or computer expert who can with the detail. 

One positive aspect of the new application rules is that if the photograph is not acceptable, the system will automatically reject the entry form and notify the sender, who can then resend.