The National Visa Center at Portsmouth, New Hampshire has registered and notified the winners of the DV-99 diversity lottery. The diversity lottery was conducted under the terms of Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available *50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Almost 90,000 applicants have been registered and notified and may now make an application for an immigrant visa. Since it is likely that some of the first *50,000 persons registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure should insure that all DV-99 numbers will be used during fiscal year 1999 (October 1, 1998 until September 30, 1999).

The visas have been apportioned among six geographic regions with a maximum of 3,500 visas (7% of the *50,000 total) available to persons born in any single country. During the visa interview, principal applicants must provide proof of a high school education or its equivalent, or show two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience within the past five years.

Those selected will need to act on their immigrant visa applications quickly. Applicants should follow the instructions in their notification letter and must fully complete the information requested. Registrants living legally in the United States who wish to apply for adjustment of their status must contact the Immigration and Naturalization Service for information on the requirements and procedures. Once the total *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 1999 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 1999 will derive no further benefit from their DV-99 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-99 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative DV status until September 30, 1999.

*The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NCARA) passed by Congress in November 1997 stipulates that beginning with DV-99, and for as long as necessary, 5,000 of the 55,000 annually-allocated diversity visas will be made available for use under the NCARA program.

The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign state chargeability of those registered for the DV-99 program:

AFRICA , ASIA, EUROPE , NORTH AMERICA , OCEANIA , SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN