Fewer applicants for green card lottery reports US State Department

[nancymervin]

Fewer applicants for green card lottery reports US State Department      

A US State Department spokeswoman attributed the drop in applications this year to the fact that Bangladeshi citizens weren't eligible to participate. This year, the three countries that submitted the most entries were: Nigeria, with 1.36 million; Ghana, with 909,000; and Ukraine, with 853,000.Last year, Bangladesh accounted for 7.6 million entries.

In October, the US Senate approved a bill to extend federal benefits to disabled refugees living within the US. Based on an earlier deal worked out by Senators, the $36 million in aid will be offset with revenue generated by a new $30 fee for individuals applying to enter the country through the diversity-visa lottery program.

This year's US diversity-visa green card lottery ended on 5 November 2011. The results will be announced in May 2012.

Applying for US citizenship