Huge crowd lines up for potential US visas

Updated October 6, 2008 17:49:13

A lottery with a difference opens at American Embassies around the world this week ... it's the chance for 50 thousand people to apply to live in the United States. The lottery is also open to Pacific island countries, including the five that the American Embassy in Fiji looks after - Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, Tuvalu and Fiji. Our reporter in Fiji - Samisoni Pareti - was among the crowd that lined up outside the American Embassy in Suva today to find out more about its Diversity Visa 2010 Lottery Registration programme.

Samisoni Pareti
Speaker:Vice Consul Quinn Plant of the American Embassy.

PARETI: It is a program that the United States offers citizens of most countries around the world each year, a chance to jump the queue in their wish to migrate and live in the US mainland.

In 2010, some 50,000 people will be selected by a computer at random. Each will receive an information kit in the process of applying for a permanent residency status as explained by Quinn Plant, a second secretary and vice-consul at the US Embassy in Fiji.

PLANT: During that time, you can apply for the program online. This is a program mandated by the US Congress. It's provides for up to 50,000 permanent resident visas to people who meet the requirements from under-represented countries throughout the world.

PARETI; Being selected in the Diversity Visa Lottery doesn't mean automatic and immediate entry into the US. A winner will still have to go through the interview process, but Mr Plant believed the Lottery does have its advantage.

PLANT: Number one yes, if you don't have a sponsor. Only certain people can sponsor you, so if you don't have anyone who can sponsor you, you have no way to go to the United States. If you wanted to this is one rout. The other rout is may be you have a brother, and you're brother has sponsored you. Well, this petition can take many years, actually it can take almost ten years. So while you're waiting, you can apply for the Diversity Visa Lottery every year and this one is quite quick. By the time you apply, selected and interviewed and on your way in less than two years, so that's what a lot of people do.

PARETI: Since its introduction 13 years ago, the American Embassy cannot say how many Fiji citizens have moved to the US.

Mr Plant said they do get quite a lot of entries from Tonga, a few from Kiribati but hardly any response from Tuvalu.

For Nauru, the Embassy got one single lottery winner last year.

PARETI: Last year's program for the 2009 program, 760 people from Fiji were selected, their names were selected okay and we're still processing those cases. So we haven't quite even started processing those cases yet.

For 2008 program, 630 people in Fiji won and we issued a total of 321 permanent resident visas to those winners.

PARETI: The senior American embassy officer could not say why the remaining 309 did not pursue permanent residency status in the US. The processing fee of 775 American dollars could be factor. But figures provided by Mr Plant suggest that America is still a popular place to live for many people.

For its 2008 visa lottery, out of the 50,000 places, the program received a total of 6.4 million entries.

For the 2009 program, this rose to 9.1 million.

Because of its popularity, Mr Plant warned that interested ones ought not be deceived by tricksters.

PLANT: We actually get quite a few emails from people saying, I received this email telling me that I won. How do you I set up my appointment. And so we have to tell them, well if you received an email, then that's not from us.

PARETI: Vice Consul Quinn Plant of the American Embassy and for Pacific Beat in Suva, I'm Samisoni Pareti.