Accra, Oct. 21, GNA - The United States (US) Consular Section on Wednesday announced the opening of entries for its Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery for 2011 which would be closed at exactly 12 noon on November 30, 2009.

Mr Michael Evans, Chief of the Consular Section, addressing a round table conference in Accra, said the closure would be without further extensions and encouraged applicants to apply early to enable the Embassy to work on the necessary arrangements.

He explained that the DV Visa Lottery programme was instituted by the US Government to give opportunity to non-Americans who wished to become citizens to apply and aided to secure visas and the necessary documents for their acceptance as American citizens.

Mr Evans said since its institution about 20 years ago, the annual programme had offered opportunities to many people around the world to become American citizens by choice and in Ghana about 7,000 winners were declared in the previous entry, which indicated a lead in the winning race worldwide.

"It is unfortunate that only about a half of this number applied for the interview," he said.

Mr Evans said the criteria set for the application included five passes in the West African Examination Council (WAEC) Ordinary and Advance Levels examinations or a West African Senior Secondary Certificate of Education (WASSCE) or a Senior School Certificate of Education (SSSCE) including English and Mathematics.

He said it also includes an HND Certificate or University Degree, or an occupation with two years working experience in specific fields. He stressed that the process was free, with entry forms readily available on the internet at the website: www.dvlottery.state.gov, and urged all applicants to carefully read the rules and instructions before they applied.

However, Mr Evans warned that applicants with more entries would be disqualified, while those with pre-existing spouses or unmarried children under 21 years of age but were not included in the initial entry would also be disqualified.

"Applicants who include incorrect information on their initial entry by someone else or cannot prove the validity and continuity of their relationship with their spouse or submit fake documents, would be disqualified," he said.

Mr. Evans explained that only winners of the lottery would be notified by letters and not through e-mails, however, the receipt of such letters did not necessarily guarantee a visa but an opportunity for the winner to apply for a visa and warned that entries that did not meet the criteria would be rejected.

Mr. Robert Bunnel, Chief of the DV Section, said winners were required to pay a non-refundable visa application fee of 775 dollars or an equivalent of 1,162.50 Ghana cedis per each family member for their first interview, adding "the cost may vary based on the foreign exchange rate". He said the consulate had instituted stringent measures and technology to detect fraudulent documents such as fake educational, marriage, birth, medical and police certificates and would not hesitate to hand over such fraudsters to the security agencies.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Francis Baah, Head of Documentation and Visa Fraud Unit, CID Office of the Ghana Police Service, said the unit had worked closely with the various embassies in the country to ensure the detection of fraud and other malpractices. He said the police would deal with any person or group of persons who violated the law and urged applicants to be truthful in their declarations. 21 Oct. 09