Fewer entries to US visa green card lottery
November 18 2011 by Helen Johnson
The latest figures indicate that fewer people have entered the US Green Card Lottery this year.
Reports from the State Department show only eight million entries were received for the lottery this year, compared with over 15 million applications received last year. In 2010 there were some 7.6 million applications from Bangladesh, which topped the list of countries for green card lottery applications. The story has changed this year, however, with Nigeria topping the list with only 1.36 million applications.
The figures have changed so dramatically because Bangladesh was removed from the list of eligible countries, according to a spokesperson for the State Department. It was removed from the list as it is no longer classed as being a ‘low immigration country’ to the US.
The Green Card Lottery is also known as the diversity visa lottery as it is partly intended to allow people from a diverse range of countries to gain the opportunity to work and live in the US. Each year some 50,000 US visas and work visas are handed out through the lottery scheme.
A plan to charge a fee to enter the draw has recently been introduced, which could further decrease the number of applications
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