UKRAINE IS AMONG THE LEADERS IN 2005 VISA LOTTERY RESULTS

More than 5,300 of the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery registrants for 2005 come from Ukraine, the third year in a row in which Ukraine finds itself among the countries that lead the world in the number of people registered in this program. This year Ukrainian DV registrants represent 5.3 percent of all registrants worldwide, making Ukraine the sixth largest participating country - following Bangladesh, Nigeria, Poland, Ethiopia and Egypt.

Each year the Diversity Visa Lottery is conducted under the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available 50,000 permanent resident visas to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the U.S. In the latest round, about 111,000 applicants were notified this summer that they may apply for an immigrant visa starting October 1, 2004, the beginning of fiscal year 2005. The Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky, selects more than twice as many winners as there are slots, because it's likely that some of the first 50,000 persons won't pursue their cases to the end, or will be disqualified. This process insures that all the slots are eventually filled.

5, 361 of the registrants for 2005 come from Ukraine. The European country with the highest number is Poland with 6, 211 winners. Lottery visas for both Ukrainians and Poles are processed at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, Poland (www.usinfo.pl).

Applicants registered for the 2005 program were selected at random from the approximately 6.5 million qualified entries received between November 1 and December 30, 2003. For the first time, all entries were submitted electronically, thereby virtually eliminating the possibility of multiple entries, a problem frequently seen in prior years. During the visa interview, applicants must provide proof of a high school education or its equivalent, or show two years of recent work experience in certain, specified occupations. Those selected will need to act on their immigrant visa applications quickly. Applicants and their dependents must receive their visas within the fiscal year - by September 30, 2005.

Only participants in the 2005 program who were selected for further processing have been notified. Those who have not received notification were not selected. They may try for the upcoming 2006 Visa Lottery if they wish. Further information on the rules for DV 2006 will be available on the Embassy's web page in September: http://kyiv.usembassy.gov.

Additional information about this year's program, including the number of visa lottery winners for each country, is available at the U.S. Embassy website. Those who were selected for DV 2005 should follow the instructions mailed to them, or write to the following e-mail address: KCCDV@state.gov.