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Possible Impact of Diversity Visa (DV-2015) on E-2 Investor Visa

M

MacTexas

Registered Users (C)
My wife and I were planning on entering the Green Card lottery today, but our immigration lawyer has advised against it as we're planning to apply for an E-2 Investor Visa next year.

The lawyer advised:

Because the E-2 is a non-immigrant (temporary) visa and the DV is a permanent visa. So the two intents conflict: temporary vs. permanent. ​

The thing is, we have already applied for the DV but it was a long time ago (DV-2006, I think, in 2004).

We really would like to apply for DV-2015 but don't want to damage any other (presumably more certain) chances. Does anyone online here have direct experience of this & could confirm or challenge this?
 
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Your lawyer is confused. They generally know very little about the DV process.

What he is talking about is the danger of the DV process displayiong intention to immigrate - and yes having that intent can be a problem on E-2 visas.

However, entering for the DV visa is NOT considerd declaring intent. That would only come if you were selected as a "winner" (which you find out next May) AND THEN submit your application forms for the DV process. At that point you may have to decide E-2 or DV, but not now.

By the way, find a smarter lawyer.
 
Wow - that was fast. Thank you so much for posting back.

I have read somewhere that when applying for the E-2 I will have to declare that I applied for the diversity visa. (I'll try to locate my source for this - I'm struggling to find it again.)

Surely, if this is the case it would impact my E-2 application?
 
MacTexas said:
Wow - that was fast. Thank you so much for posting back.

I have read somewhere that when applying for the E-2 I will have to declare that I applied for the diversity visa. (I'll try to locate my source for this - I'm struggling to find it again.)

Surely, if this is the case it would impact my E-2 application?
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My point is - "entering" the lottery is not "applying for" it.

IF you are selected (around 1 in 50 people get selected depending on the region), then you have to decide whether to take up the opportunity or not. At that point, IF you then submit your 122/230 forms, then you will have declared your intent - but that won't happen until May of next year at least - and you could simply sit on your forms for months after that.

SO - you can enter the lottery without any issue - I am 100% certain of that.

FYI, I have a temporary visa application going currently - although mine is an H1 which is a type that allows dual intent. I mention that because I had to understand the rules around "intent".
 
I see.

We are intending to apply for the E-2 and then ultimately the EB-5 visa, so I see where you are coming from. I guess with your visa's being dual-intent, it probably would affect you less than it might an E-2 applicant.

From your username I see you're a fellow Brit, but it looks like you've been selected for the DV this year? If so, congrats! Out of sheer curiosity, how did you qualify to apply? Partner's nationality?
 
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MacTexas said:
I see.

We are intending to apply for the E-2 and then ultimately the EB-5 visa, so I see where you are coming from. I guess with your visa's being dual-intent, it probably would affect you less than it might an E-2 applicant.

From your username I see you're a fellow Brit, but it looks like you've been selected for the DV this year? If so, congrats! Out of sheer curiosity, how did you qualify to apply? Partner's nationality?
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Yes exactly. My wife is Spanish - so we were both able to apply with Spain as our country of chargeability.

I wouldn't have guessed you were British from your username.
 
britsimon said:
I wouldn't have guessed you were British from your username.
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Well, I'm Scottish. That still counts as British, I think - at least till 2014 :)

I did find the source which suggested entering the DV implied immigration intent. However, when I posted the reply it went off for moderation (presumably because I'd included a URL).

If you google "green card lottery immigrant petition" exactly, the top hit is an FAQ on immihelp.com which states:

Technically, entering into the green card lottery is equivalent to filing an immigrant petition.
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This thread also seems to suggest a similar thing:

When requesting benefits on Form DS-156, The Nonimmigrant Visa Application, the form asks: “Has anyone ever filed an immigrant visa petition on your behalf?” The DOS has determined that for lottery applicants, the correct answer to this question is “yes.”61
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/showthread.php?287377-Entering-DV-Lottery-amp-Immigrant-intent-question

(I daren't post a link in case it goes off for moderation again!)

Now, I'm not sure whether the word applicant means entrant here, but I assume it does as it refers to the lottery applicant, not the visa.
 
I am a fellow Scot - you can trust what I am saying!!! FYI, I've seen other examples of incorrect information on that immihelp site.

OK, if you want to get technical....

The point at which we file a visa petition is when we submit the two forms DS122 and DS230.

If you read about the DS230 form it says "The DS-230 Part I and Part II are the immigrant visa application, and contain questions about your biographical information."

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3194.html

SO - as I said before, simply entering the lottery will not be grounds for a refusal of a temporary visa by itself. However, it could be used along with other factors to give concern about someones intent - but in the same way, even submitting the DS230 form won't necessarily stop a temporary visa application - there are people on this forum who have obtained temporary visas AFTER their DV win whilst they were waiting for DV processing.

If you think about it around 10 million people a year enter the lottery - do you really think they all became ineligible simply by entering, even without being selected.

Further technical information in post 3 of this thread and it includes your second quote but gives further explanation.

http://forums.immigration.com/showt...ring-DV-Lottery-amp-Immigrant-intent-question
 
BTW, I believe all the visas are "temporary". H-1B is temporary as well. Even immigration visa is temporary in a way. It's only good to get you the LPR status and has an expiration date.

The distinction is whether it is non-immigrant, immigrant, or dual-intent.
 
c1984 said:
BTW, I believe all the visas are "temporary". H-1B is temporary as well. Even immigration visa is temporary in a way. It's only good to get you the LPR status and has an expiration date.

The distinction is whether it is non-immigrant, immigrant, or dual-intent.
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Being a bit picky, that bit I bolded is a bit off. The H1-B for example is a non-immigrant visa which allows dual intent. i.e. you are allowed to submit and renew H1-B visa applications at the same time as processing an immigrant visa application.
 
britsimon said:
Further technical information in post 3 of this thread and it includes your second quote but gives further explanation.
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Yeah, that's exactly the post I was referring to. It seems to suggest to me if you fill out DS-156 you have to answer that question "yes" once you've entered the DV, but then it goes on to say it's unlikely to impact your application.
 
britsimon said:
Being a bit picky, that bit I bolded is a bit off. The H1-B for example is a non-immigrant visa which allows dual intent. i.e. you are allowed to submit and renew H1-B visa applications at the same time as processing an immigrant visa application.
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Correct.
 
MacTexas, one further thing. Any temporary visa can be declined based on what they think your intent is. SO - having a plan to go down a EB5 route could be enough to raise concern and could get a temp visa denied. However, it is not all black and white. As I mentioned, people here (SusieQQQ I believe is one) have obtained temp visas by showing ties to their home country and demonstrating the intent to come back and process an immigrant visa appropriately. So - you are right to be careful but back to the original question, entering the lottery is not going to cause you a problem.

Jeez - just enter already! :D
 
MacTexas said:
Yeah, that's exactly the post I was referring to. It seems to suggest to me if you fill out DS-156 you have to answer that question "yes" once you've entered the DV, but then it goes on to say it's unlikely to impact your application.
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Quite. The poster (Raevsky) has been around this forum for many years. Some love him, others, well he is a bit of an acquired taste, but he knows this subject. He would say the "danger" to temp visas comes when you submit your forms after selection....
 
Additional information: if you have ever entered the electronic DV they WILL know about it during the visa interview, regardless to whether or not you consider DV an immigrant petition.

My opinion is that the CO knows about the confusion around DV, and wouldn't expect that every applicant knows that DV is supposed to be written as immigrant petition. The most important thing is having a good answer for the question, as DV alone is not a strong enough proof of immigrant intent, they need to consider the totality of your case. If you're applying for a non-immigrant visa a good answer for DV is that you're just taking advantage of a free opportunity, that you haven't made up your mind if you would actually go. Now, if you can show a strong link to your home country it can overcome the DV question, but if you don't have a strong case DV will be the last nail on the coffin, so to speak.

The last time I applied for a visa the officer asked about my DV entry even though I didn't enter it as an immigrant petition. Why did I do that? Because there was an actual immigrant petition filed on my behalf. I have an approved I-140, so I didn't think a dinky little DV entry should be mentioned and take more space. Besides, the H-1B visa I applied for was dual intent. Interestingly he asked why I applied for both I-140 and DV, and I answered truthfully that I didn't know whether my I-140 would be approved at that time.
 
Hexa said:
The last time I applied for a visa the officer asked about my DV entry even though I didn't enter it as an immigrant petition.
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Interesting. Had you actually applied for the DV at that point, or merely entered the lottery?
 
MacTexas said:
Interesting. Had you actually applied for the DV at that point, or merely entered the lottery?
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At that point I had only entered the lottery. Since DV is also administered by DOS, the information is available to a CO and it's trivial for him to check. Who knows, the visa application could even be automatically flagged by the system if there is a DV entry by the same person.
 
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