Ghana was ranked number one in the world for winning the 2010 United States Diversity Immigrant Visa lottery registered entries. Out of the 8,752 Ghanaians registrants who won, more than 2,600 of them were interviewed, with about 2,400 of them being issued with Diversity Visas (DV) in Accra.

Mr. Michael Evans, Consular Chief of the US Embassy, made this known at a press conference in Accra.

He said in September, the embassy issued 1,177 visas to applicants, which indicated that Ghanaians had shown great interest in the DV lottery programme. Speaking on the 2012 DV programme, Mr. Brent LaRosa, DV Lottery Chief at the embassy said the programme, which was launched on Tuesday, October 5, would run only for a month, unlike the six month-period for previews years.

Mr. LaRosa said the DV lottery should be submitted electronically during the 30-day registration period which ends on Wednesday, November 3.

He said the Consular had migrated into an online notification system, adding that the public needs to provide correct e-mail addresses that would serve as the medium of contact, through which the registrant would be informed about his or her results.

He cautioned applicants to start early registration to avoid website delays caused by heavy demands. The website address for the 2012 entry is www.dvlottery.state.gov

Deputy Superintendent of Police Francis Baah, Head of the Documentation and Visa Fraud Unit, Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service, cautioned the public against visa fraudsters, such as “middle-men and connection men”, who may give applicants assurance that they have special arrangement with the embassy to secure visas.

He said submission of entries electronically on the website is free of charge. The diversity immigrant visa programme makes available 55,000 visas annually, which are drawn randomly from all entries and issued to persons who meet strict eligibility requirements from countries with low rate of immigration to the US.