Greencard Lottery – USCIS Warns About Fake Emails

The annually conducted greencard lottery, officially called the Diversity Visa Lottery, was established under the 1990 Immigration Act. This is to enable natives from certain countries to immigrate to the US, by a method other than the regular methods of immigration to the US. Through the Diversity Visa lottery program, 55,000 immigrant visas are issued every year to people who come from countries whose immigration percentage to the US is very less.

Fraudulent Emails and Letters :

The State Department (DOS) is the authority that conducts this greencard lottery program. Of late, there are many scammers who send fraudulent emails to the applicants telling them they have won the DV lottery. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) warns immigrants to beware of such scammers. The Department of State, Office of Visa Services, has cautioned the public of a size able increase in such fraudulent emails and letters sent to greencard lottery applicants. The persons who send such fraudulent emails and letters pose themselves to be the U.S. government and their intention is to extract money from the applicants. All applicants are further advised to be familiar with information about DV scams issued by the Federal Trade Commission.

All DV-2012 applicants should monitor the status of their case online. They will not receive any notification letter from the government. The status of their case can be checked at the Department of State website www.dvlottery.state.gov from July 1, 2010, until June 30, 2011. Additionally, applicants should refer to the additional fraud warning information and the frequently asked questions about fraud protection.

The U.S. Department of State will notify winners by only by mail for the DV 2011 for which persons had applied in 2009. The Department Of State will send the letter. If you do not receive a letter or the website does not identify you as a winner, it implies that you are not selected.