A. Purpose

As part of the Immigration Act of 1990, Congress established the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) Program.^[1] In doing so, Congress created a new immigrant visa category specifically for aliens from countries with lower rates of admission as immigrants to the United States.^[2]

B. Background

The DV Program allows aliens from countries with low immigration rates to the United States to submit an entry for a chance to apply for an immigrant visa in the next fiscal year. Congress established guidelines to distribute immigrant visas in the DV category based on the immigration rates of specific countries and regions to ensure a greater number of DVs are allocated to aliens from countries and regions with lower immigration rates to the United States.^[3]

C. Legal Authorities

1. INA 201(e) – Worldwide level of diversity immigrants
2. INA 203(c) – Diversity immigrants
3. INA 204(a) – Petitioning procedure
4. INA 245; 8 CFR 245 – Adjustment of status of nonimmigrant to that of person admitted for permanent residence
5. 22 CFR 42.33 – Diversity immigrants

Footnotes

[^ 1] See Immigration Act of 1990, Pub. L. 101-649 (PDF) (November 29, 1990). Before establishing the DV Program, Congress enacted more limited immigration programs, including the NP-5, OP-1, and AA-1 programs, for aliens from countries with lower rates of immigration to the United States. See Section 314 of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, Pub. L. 99-603 (PDF), 100 Stat. 3359, 3439 (November 6, 1986) and Immigration Amendments of 1988, Pub. L. 100-658 (PDF) (November 5, 1988).

[^ 2] See INA 203(c)(1)(E).

[^ 3] See INA 203(c).