The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2006 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. Approximately 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-2006 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2006 (October 1, 2005 until September 30, 2006).

Applicants registered for the DV-2005 program were selected at random from over 6.3 million qualified entries received during the 60-day application period that ran from 12:00 AM on November 5, 2004, until midnight, January 7, 2005. The visas have been apportioned among six geographic regions with a maximum of seven percent 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 Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services for information on the requirements and procedures. Once the total *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2006 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2006 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2006 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2006 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2006.

Only participants in the DV-2006 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 DV-2007 lottery if they wish. The dates for the registration period for the DV-2007 lottery program will be widely publicized during August 2005.

* The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) passed by Congress in November 1997 stipulated that up to 5,000 of the 55,000 annually-allocated diversity visas be made available for use under the NACARA program. The reduction of the limit of available visas to 50,000 began with DV-2000.

The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign-state chargeability of those registered for the DV-2006 program:

AFRICA

ALGERIA 1,377
ERITREA 672
ANGOLA 21
ETHIOPIA 6,995
BENIN 328
GABON 26
BOTSWANA 11
GAMBIA, THE 127
BURKINA FASO 164
GHANA 3,880
BURUNDI 60
GUINEA 249
CAMEROON 1,639
GUINEA-BISSAU 3
CAPE VERDE 2
KENYA 2,827
CENTRAL AFRICAN REP. 10
LESOTHO 0
CHAD 30
LIBERIA 695
COMOROS 3
LIBYA 51
CONGO 149
MADAGASCAR 22
CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE 665
MALAWI 27
COTE D’IVOIRE 374
MALI 99
DJIBOUTI 12
MAURITANIA 31
EGYPT 6,439
MAURITIUS 8
EQUATORIAL GUINEA 5
MOROCCO 5,980
NAMIBIA 5
MOZAMBIQUE 6
NIGER 62
SOUTH AFRICA 311
NIGERIA 6,191
SUDAN 805
RWANDA 26
SWAZILAND 9
SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 2
TANZANIA 251
SENEGAL 280
TOGO 2,138
SEYCHELLES 4
TUNISIA 122
SIERRA LEONE 555
UGANDA 190
SOMALIA 221
ZAMBIA 99
ZIMBABWE 157

ASIA
AFGHANISTAN 52
MALAYSIA 55
BAHRAIN 0
MALDIVES 0
BANGLADESH 5,456
MONGOLIA 141
BHUTAN 3
NEPAL 1,934
BRUNEI 1
NORTH KOREA 0
BURMA 659
OMAN 3
CAMBODIA 107
QATAR 7
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMIN. REGION 83
SAUDI ARABIA 55
INDONESIA 263
SINGAPORE 40
IRAN 934
SRI LANKA 387
IRAQ 84
SYRIA 47
ISRAEL 116
THAILAND 76
JAPAN 336
TAIWAN 353
JORDAN 81
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 30
KUWAIT 15
YEMEN 47
LAOS 0
LEBANON 108

 

EUROPE

ALBANIA 2,504
GEORGIA 331
ANDORRA 0
GERMANY 998
ARMENIA 757
GREECE 68
AUSTRIA 62
HUNGARY 152
AZERBAIJAN 196
ICELAND 13
BELARUS 698
IRELAND 145
BELGIUM 28
ITALY 210
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 70
KAZAKHSTAN 244
BULGARIA 2,131
KYRGYZSTAN 132
CROATIA 42
LATVIA 97
CYPRUS 18
LIECHTENSTEIN 0
CZECH REPUBLIC 104
LITHUANIA 488
DENMARK 43
LUXEMBOURG 0
ESTONIA 44
MACEDONIA, FORMER YUGOSLAV REP. OF 202
FINLAND 61
MALTA 7
FRANCE 340
MOLDOVA 285
FRENCH POLYNESIA 1
MONACO 1
MARTINIQUE 1
NETHERLANDS 105
REUNION 1
SLOVENIA 5
NETHERLANDS ANTILLES 8
SPAIN 61
NORTHERN IRELAND 63
SWEDEN 110
NORWAY 30
SWITZERLAND 139
POLAND 3,416
TAJIKISTAN 42
PORTUGAL 28
TURKEY 1,357
MACAU 5
TURKMENISTAN 76
ROMANIA 1,716
UKRAINE 5,269
SAN MARINO 0
UZBEKISTAN 1,346
SERBIA & MONTENEGRO 507
VATICAN CITY 0
SLOVAKIA 223

AMERIQUE DU NORD
BAHAMAS, THE 12

OCEANIA

AUSTRALIA 837
NAURU 7
CHRISTMAS ISLANDS 4
NEW ZEALAND 292
FIJI 757
COOK ISLANDS 0
KIRIBATI 5
NIUE 5
MARSHALL ISLAND 0
PALAU 1
MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF 7
PAPUA NEW GUINEA 10
SAMOA 11
TUVALU 8
SOLOMON ISLAND 0
VANUATU 0
TONGA 171

SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA 1
DOMINICA 3
ARGENTINA 134
ECUADOR 285
BARBADOS 5
GRENADA 2
BELIZE 8
GUATEMALA 28
BOLIVIA 205
GUYANA 36
BRAZIL 377
HONDURAS 29
CHILE 35
NICARAGUA 32
COSTA RICA 34
PANAMA 24
CUBA 584
PARAGUAY 6
PERU 2,197
SURINAME 4
SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS 3
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 120
SAINT LUCIA 2
URUGUAY 15
SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES 3
VENEZUELA 266

Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2006: Canada, China (mainland-born, excluding Hong Kong S.A.R., and Taiwan), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.