DV 2025: Ghanaian Lawyer Details Why An Entrant Might Be Denied Visa To US Despite Winning Lottery
- The US government opened registration for the 2025 Diversity Visa (DV) Programme from Wednesday, October 4, 2023, to Tuesday, November 7, 2023
- While the programme makes 50,000 visas (green cards) available annually in a lottery, millions worldwide apply for a chance to immigrate to the US
- YEN.com.gh spoke to Ghanaian-US immigration attorney AK Poku about why an entrant might be denied a visa despite winning the lottery
Millions worldwide applied for the 2025 Diversity Visa (DV) Programme, which began on Wednesday, October 4, 2023, to Tuesday, November 7, 2023
The DV Programme holds an annual lottery for 50,000 diversity visas (green cards) to allow people to pursue their American dream.
Source: Instagram
However, multiple factors could cause an entrant to be denied a visa despite winning the lottery.
YEN.com.gh spoke to Ghanaian-US immigration lawyer AK Poku about some of the reasons.
1. Eligibility criteria
An entrant must be from a qualifying country. The person must be born or be a native of an eligible country. Eighteen countries do not qualify for the DV 2025 programme. Ghana is an eligible country - so Ghanaians can partake. A person from an ineligible nation will be denied a visa.
2. Education and work requirements
The entrant must meet either the education requirement or work experience requirement. An entrant can fall back on the work requirement if they don't qualify under the educational requirement. The academic requirement states that you must have a high school education.
The rules have defined a high school education as completing a formal elementary and secondary education course. Usually, consular officials will interpret a fail in one of the elective or core courses as an unsuccessful completion of a high school education. Even if one has completed high school and has a couple of Fs, a consular officer could interpret it as an unsuccessful completion of a high school education.
3. Work experience requirement
If the entrant does not satisfy the education requirement, the person can use the work experience requirement. It means an applicant must have experience within the last five years or at least two years in a qualifying field. So, they must have two years of experience in a field or job that the US Department of Labour has qualified as having an SVP rating of 7.0 or higher. Visit the US Department of Labour website, which is Onet.online.org. Put in their occupation, scroll down, and go to job zone four/ five or have an SVP rating of 7.0 or higher.
The occupations that qualify are the occupations which require two years of training or experience; a lot of manual jobs do not qualify under the work requirement. So, understanding these preliminary rules will save a lot of people the headache. If you don't have the educational or work needs, don't apply even if you come from an eligible country because you'll be denied a visa.
4. Relationship or document fraud
An entrant may not be married when they apply for the visa lottery. When they win, an agent pairs them with a partner, so they pay an amount to fund their visa fees or ticket. It's a bad deal because when the primary entrant or lottery winner goes for the interview, the US consular will be required to investigate the bonafide of the marriage. The winner would have to prove the evolution of the marriage. There must be evidence of a relationship before the entrant applies for the visa lottery.
5. Rank/case number
Out of the millions of people, the randomised computer selection system chooses below 150,000 people. After the selection, a rank or case number is issued. So, the higher the case number, the lower an entrant's chance of being called. The lower the case number, the higher the likelihood of being called.
6. Passport picture rule
An entrant might win the lottery, but if their picture fails to meet the criteria, they'll be disqualified from getting a visa. Also, the odds of winning are very low because of the number of entrants.
Former visa officer appeals to parents not to conceal information about their kid when applying for DV Lottery
Previously, YEN.com.gh reported that a former visa officer, Lissa, admonished applicants, particularly parents who apply for the Diversity Visa lottery, popularly known as the American lottery, to be careful about the information they submit.
In a video sighted by YEN.com.gh on the TikTok page of @the_fred_effect, Lissa explained that many people get disqualified because they are unable to provide the correct answers to some tricky questions or they deliberately fail to make a full disclosure.
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Source: YEN.com.gh
