A counsellor at the United States Embassy has warned Ghanaians to desist from fraudulent marriages arranged to benefit from the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery programme.

Fraud marriages, he said, make it harder for legitimate people to get their visas.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra, Mr. Michael Evans said the US Embassy takes the issue of fraud very seriously and has made several arrests involving fraudulent marriages arranged to benefit from the DV programme.

"We work with the CID to identify and arrest those involved in perpetrating the fraud", he said.

All marriages, he said, now undergo careful scrutiny because of the huge number of fraud marriages submitted during the application period.

Many Ghanaians, he said, are targeted for schemes where fraudsters charge large sums of money to assist with DV applications. These fraudsters normally claim they have some connection to the U.S. government or some method which improves the chances of winning. "These schemes cost Ghanaians money and do not improve chances of winning", he said.

He said the US Embassy strongly discourages the use of visa fixers.

With extensive technology at the embassy's disposal, it is able to quickly detect fraudulent claims. "Fraud immediately disqualifies DV applicants for this visa and negatively affects subsequent applications", he said.

On the issue of the DV programme, he said it operates under US law and makes available 50,000 permanent resident visas annually to people from countries with historically low immigration rates to the United States.

He acknowledged that Ghana is one of the most significant beneficiaries of the DV programme. In terms of lottery winners, he said Ghana is third in sub-Saharan Africa and eighth in the world.

The opportunity to apply for these visas is awarded through a lottery. The lottery is completely free to enter.

Mr. Evans said winning the lottery means winning the chance to apply for a visa.

Applications for the 2009 DV lottery are now being accepted. All applications for the programme are submitted electronically and randomly selected by a computer-generated lottery.

Applicants selected by the lottery are notified by mail that they are eligible to apply for an immigration visa.

In 2007, there were 3,088 winning applications from Ghana. Applications for the 2009 DV lottery must be submitted by Sunday, December 2, 2007. The DV application form is available through the Internet at the website www.dvlottery.state.gov. There is no charge to complete the electronic DV form.

Applicants are advised to carefully follow all the programme rules regarding entry. Spouses and children must be included on the initial entry.

Failure to follow the rules for whatever reason results in disqualification even if someone else entered the information. Applicants are responsible for all information entered under their name.

Applicants must meet the eligibility requirements of high school equivalency or occupational requirements, as demonstrated through evidence presented in an interview. Applicants should not spend money if they are not educationally or occupationally qualified.

Winners must pay the application fee. The fee is non-refundable even if it is determined that an applicant does not meet the eligibility requirements.

Selected winners would be notified by letter and not by email and are reminded that only websites with an ending ".gov" are official government websites.