15 million applications for US green card lottery

United States, 23rd November: As per a media report, a record number of 15 million applications have been received from the world over for this year US green card lottery.

The immigration scheme of US green card lottery offers a quick route to become permanent and legal resident of the US to a total of 50,000 immigrants annually.

The report maintains that the US green card diversity visa scheme, entries for which were closed on 3rd November 2010, attracted around 25 percent higher entries over the last year.

From Bangladesh, a record number of 7.67 million people applied to the US green card lottery program. Bangladesh was followed by Nigeria, Ukraine, Ethiopia and Egypt from which 1.47 million, 760,000, 580,000 and 340,000 people respectively applied under this US visa program.

Such a huge response to the US green card lottery program is an evidence that the US dream of having better life still allures many especially from the Middle East.

The selection of the potential immigrants in this US green card lottery scheme is done on the basis of a lucky draw.

People from all nations of the world can apply under such US visa scheme with the only exception being the nations from where a large number of their nationals have migrated to the US including countries like India, China, the Philippines and Mexico.

The US green card lottery program does not require any special skills for qualifying under this scheme. Even a high-school diploma is deemed to be sufficient for applying for such a US visa. The winners become qualified for gaining US citizenship.

The scheme which was established by the US Congress in the year 1990 is becoming the envy of a few US lawmakers who want an end to this lottery system at the earliest.

It’s being argued that the US visa lottery scheme is a threat to the national security, an unfair governing of US immigration laws and provides an opportunity for the fraudulent US visa seekers to come to the country. As the entries are selected from a lucky draw, it can render the US vulnerable to potential terrorism threats.