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dv 2016

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CBDK said:
You've got to be in it to win it as they say...by entering you help make your own luck!
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That's true. I know that now, and I think it's only after retrospectively reading testimonies of people who were going through the DV lottery process that I realized that it was the real thing.

Before discovering this forum in October last year, I had never heard of ANY testimony from a DV lottery winner, I only heard testimonies from entrants who were not selected (2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015) and that really made me quite skeptical about the DV lottery.

So stories from REAL winners help you put a human face to luck.

And I also didn't know it was free until recently.

Today, less than 1% chances to be selected is worth pursuing, but a few months back, I was convinced it wasn't. We learn everyday, and I am happy I was proven wrong.
Having said that, I don't think I would try it again next year if I'm not selected this year. I would rather pursue other immigration avenues that require less "luck" factor, with the satisfaction that I tried the DV at least once.
 
Y
Velcan said:
That's true. I know that now, and I think it's only after retrospectively reading testimonies of people who were going through the DV lottery process that I realized that it was the real thing.

Before discovering this forum in October last year, I had never heard of ANY testimony from a DV lottery winner, I only heard testimonies from entrants who were not selected (2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015) and that really made me quite skeptical about the DV lottery.

So stories from REAL winners help you put a human face to luck.

And I also didn't know it was free until recently.

Today, less than 1% chances to be selected is worth pursuing, but a few months back, I was convinced it wasn't. We learn everyday, and I am happy I was proven wrong.
Having said that, I don't think I would try it again next year if I'm not selected this year. I would rather pursue other immigration avenues that require less "luck" factor, with the satisfaction that I tried the DV at least once.
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yeah, a lot of luck and very little control is what DV is all about. As a control freak myself I understand your point well! Best of luck anyway, everything happens for a reason :)
 
Hi again, Britsimon please help me with an info, i am not sure but i think i made a mistake at the registration, i think at the no. 6 question i've selected No, and selected the country later on.....is that wrong or not?
It is the same country as my birth country.
 
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mushu1984 said:
Hi again, Britsimon please help me with an info, i am not sure but i think i made a mistake at the registration, i think at the no. 6 question i've selected No, and selected the country later on.....is that wrong or not?
It is the same country as my birth country.
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I can't see the form right now - so you need to be more clear. What is question number 6.
 
Britsimon said:
I can't see the form right now - so you need to be more clear. What is question number 6.
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Sorry Britsimon!!!:
No.6 question is do you request eligibility of your country? yes or no: and lower in the same question: select your country for hum you request egilibility.
Sorry if my english is bad.
I'm not sure if i did this, is this question the thing that can take me out of the race?
 
mushu1984 said:
Sorry Britsimon!!!:
No.6 question is do you request eligibility of your country? yes or no: and lower in the same question: select your country for hum you request egilibility.
Sorry if my english is bad.
I'm not sure if i did this, is this question the thing that can take me out of the race?
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There are some cases where the country answers are different. For instance my entry was as a British person but charging to my wife's country - Spain. So I had to enter my birth country and then in Q6 click the no box and enter Spain.

Sounds like you selected no but entered the same country as your birth country. Whilst that is not strictly correct, it should not be an issue. But anyway - you have to get selected first....
 
Hi also from Zim - I have applied every year for at least 5 years now. I was pretty sure I would win last year. Fingers crossed this time.

Probably a dumb question but only a couple of hundred Zimbabweans ever win, I'm assuming only a few apply? Does that mean we have a higher chance or do we compete with all another African countries?
 
lauryn said:
Hi also from Zim - I have applied every year for at least 5 years now. I was pretty sure I would win last year. Fingers crossed this time.

Probably a dumb question but only a couple of hundred Zimbabweans ever win, I'm assuming only a few apply? Does that mean we have a higher chance or do we compete with all another African countries?
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You compete with all AF region. ..
 
lauryn said:
Hi also from Zim - I have applied every year for at least 5 years now. I was pretty sure I would win last year. Fingers crossed this time.

Probably a dumb question but only a couple of hundred Zimbabweans ever win, I'm assuming only a few apply? Does that mean we have a higher chance or do we compete with all another African countries?
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I have seen some countries with consistently 0 0r 1 winner from 2004 to 2013. I am not sure why that is, more experienced folks on this thread may have a better idea, but when I joined this thread there was a heated discussion about the amount of ACCURATE info that people get, and I think that amount varies a lot in many countries, for many reasons: some countries have better internet access than others (which the application process heavily depends on), some countries have wars or are affected by other large-scales crises like Ebola, but I also think that it depends on the history of immigration in certain countries, a strong history of immigration (even regional migrations) may create a certain circuit of information that makes immigration programs like the DV lottery better known in some countries or regions. In many African countries, this has been the way to spread information (from mouth to ear). For example, If the level of information and the concentration of success strories that are in this forum reached more people, I'm sure more people would apply. People tend to respond better and be more optimistic when they hear stories of people who went through the whole process and emerged successfully in the end. So if you are in a rural for example, with very little access to internet, you may not apply. On the other hand, people may be discouraged to apply (due to the very low chances of being selected) when they hear about stories of people who applied many times (Some even 13 times) and were not selected, or also the fact that, for example certain people in some countries, not only in Africa, may "fear" the interview process at the embassy (bank statement issues, etc) and decide that it may not be worth the hustle. I think trying to understand the dynamics on the ground in many countries is a multi-factorial endeavor.
All in all, for some reason, some countries have more applicants than others, and that translates into more chances of having a bigger number of selectees and ultimately more visas issued.
But I remain convinced that information is key!! The more you know about the DV lottery, the more you may be likely to apply at least once. The less you know, the less likely you may apply.
 
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lauryn said:
Hi also from Zim - I have applied every year for at least 5 years now. I was pretty sure I would win last year. Fingers crossed this time.

Probably a dumb question but only a couple of hundred Zimbabweans ever win, I'm assuming only a few apply? Does that mean we have a higher chance or do we compete with all another African countries?
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Hi Lauryn,this is our year.This is my 1st application and l'm hoping to get it.I think partly why they are a few zimbos applying for the lottery is because only a few people really know about it(l'm sure they have heard about it but not really eager to pursue it because of lack of info) and l bet the majority of applicants live outside Zim. Are you based in Zim?
 
I'm in Scandinavia now. I think you are right. Not many of my friends know about it and the few that do, don't apply because they don't know of anyone who has applied and won. I don't think they believe it's possible, not even my family members - I think they are sceptical.
Over the years I have seen the number of South Africans increase. They should select a certain % or number from each country. It's not very diverse if 9 people from one country are selected and 4000 from another.
I think it's even tougher competing with the huge number of Ethiopians, Ghanians etc We have two applications in our family and only need just one of them to be selected. Good Luck everyone I hope this is the year.
 
lauryn said:
I'm in Scandinavia now. I think you are right. Not many of my friends know about it and the few that do, don't apply because they don't know of anyone who has applied and won. I don't think they believe it's possible, not even my family members - I think they are sceptical.
Over the years I have seen the number of South Africans increase. They should select a certain % or number from each country. It's not very diverse if 9 people from one country are selected and 4000 from another.
I think it's even tougher competing with the huge number of Ethiopians, Ghanians etc We have two applications in our family and only need just one of them to be selected. Good Luck everyone I hope this is the year.
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You raise a good point. Is it really diverse if there's such disproportion in numbers?
What I find interesting in the lack of information (even in big cities with Internet access and all) is that many people just don't believe the DV lottery is real (and straight forward). If you ask people why they don't apply, you get different answers: some people are convinced you need to have some crazy money on your bank account to "survive" an embassy interview (read previous bad experiences with Non-immigrant visa applications interviews) or they tell you they don't know anybody in the US and thus don't see how they could possibly survive there.

On your argument about "diversity" I don't think countries will ever have the same number applicants or selectees-as I said earlier-because some countries like South Africa and Ethiopia have a more informed and connected population (information from various sources including huge diaspora communities) and hence will always have more applicants. The fact that so many eligible applicants don't know about the program or remain skeptical may be difficult to understand for somebody from a place like SandtonJoburg/SA or Addis Ababa, because there the information about the DV lottery is all over the place and it's easy to be informed an apply.

Should the DV lottery be allowed to continue, I suspect in the long run, after many countries become ineligle, like Nigeria did in DV2015, the "competition" with countries with big numbers of selectees will Probably decrease, but by that time, countries like Nigeria may become eligible once again so information and education can increase the number of applicants, otherwise, the number may stay the same or even decrease.
 
Guys, there are no mysteries in any of this. It us run according to laws laid down years ago. Countries with more people registering get more selectees. The competition is within the region. It is a real program, and the Green Cards are real.
 
lauryn said:
I'm in Scandinavia now. I think you are right. Not many of my friends know about it and the few that do, don't apply because they don't know of anyone who has applied and won. I don't think they believe it's possible, not even my family members - I think they are sceptical.
Over the years I have seen the number of South Africans increase. They should select a certain % or number from each country. It's not very diverse if 9 people from one country are selected and 4000 from another.
I think it's even tougher competing with the huge number of Ethiopians, Ghanians etc We have two applications in our family and only need just one of them to be selected. Good Luck everyone I hope this is the year.
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The number of south Africans has not 'increased over the years, it's actually been fairly stable, even dropping off in some years. The numbers for both entries and selectees per country per year are available.

I'm not sure what your point about number of people is. If 400 people from one country enter and 30000 from another, are you implying all of the entries from the first should be chosen? That is hardly random. The quotas on both region and country are explained.

Also re another post, I would think that the $10000 odd required to show you won't be a public charge IS actually a fortune to the average Zimbabwean. It's pretty much a fortune to the average south African too, which is probably why SA only ends up sending a couple of hundred DV winners a year to the US out of usually around a thousand selectees.
 
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To be honest I don't fully understand the selection process, but yes, wouldn't diversity mean selecting a balanced number from different countries rather than 5000 from other countries. Obviously it is what it is and I accept that.
Is there a thread somewhere about what's required if you have been selected?

$10K is a lot of money for the average Zimbo, but this would be the case for the average Nigerian/ Ethiopian/Eritrean, Kenyan etc?
 
lauryn said:
To be honest I don't fully understand the selection process, but yes, wouldn't diversity mean selecting a balanced number from different countries rather than 5000 from other countries. Obviously it is what it is and I accept that.
Is there a thread somewhere about what's required if you have been selected?

$10K is a lot of money for the average Zimbo, but this would be the case for the average Nigerian/ Ethiopian/Eritrean, Kenyan etc?
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No, that is not what diversity means in this context. Diversity means they want people from different regions and countries than those that have sent the most immigrants to the U.S. So for DV purposes, they meet this objective with African non-Nigerians for example, given current rates it makes no difference to them whether the person comes from Zim, Namibia, Kenya....

Also to reiterate the point that the draw is random and you enter according to regional chargeability. So on both counts they cannot do it they way you would like. There is a description of how they calculate the quotas ...somewhere. But you can't say that on the basis of diversity they should have it equal numbers per country! Heck, on that basis you could get the entire adult populations of swaziland, Namibia and Lesotho over to the US within a few years :D

And yes $10k is a lot of money for a lot of Africans, that is part of the reason so many less than get selected actually get visas. Some drop out when they realize the expense, others get denied. Nigeria is no longer eligible. When it was, refusal rates at Lagos were about 80% (not all public charge related- also high fraud levels). Kenyans have a host system that seems to get them around the public charge requirement. Johannesburg by contrast almost always asks for financial proof.

There are many threads about what is required whne you are selected, you can also read the official info at the dvselectee website.
 
Just as a matter of interest, the law says all entries within a region should have an equal chance of selection - and they do to an extent. However, there are countries that are "limited" during the draw and selectees from those countries are "disqualified" before they are even informed, which means entries from those countries have less chance of winning...
 
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