The United States government has barred Nigerian citizens from participating in the US Visa Lottery for 2022, according to the list that was released.
This disclosure is contained in a document, ‘Instructions for the 2022 diversity immigrant visa program (dv-2022)’ obtained from the US Department of States website on Thursday, October 15, 2020.
The document states that Nigerian citizens are the only Africans that are not eligible to take part in this year’s Diversity Visa programme. This is because more than 50,000 natives of the country immigrated to the United States in the past 5 years.
Other countries who fall into this category and are barred from taking part include Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong SAR), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.
Part of the statement from the document reads, “For DV-2022, persons born in the following countries are not eligible to apply, because more than, 50,000 natives of these countries immigrated to the United States in the previous five years: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong SAR), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. Persons born in Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible.”
Although natives of other African countries are allowed to apply, the document explained that “persons born in the areas administered prior to June 1967 by Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt are chargeable, respectively, to Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt,”
“Persons born in the Gaza Strip are chargeable to Egypt; persons born in the West Bank are chargeable to Jordan; persons born in the Golan Heights are chargeable to Syria.”
It states that applicants who are selected in the programme must meet simple but strict eligibility requirements to qualify for a diversity visa.
It also states that the Department of State determines selectees through a randomized computer drawing and distributes diversity visas among six geographic regions. It notes that no single country may receive more than 7% of the available DVs in any one year.”
