Cuba was the Latin American country with the most winners in the US Visa Lottery in 2023, with 1,358 selected. In the draw, which Washington calls each year, 55,000 permanent residence visas were offered to those who manage to present all the documents required by the State Department.
As has been happening for two years, in Latin America the number of winners of the DV-2023 Diversity Program continues to be low. After the Island, Peru came with 1,191 selected and Ecuador with 466. The Cubans obtained 383 places more than in 2021, when they were in second place with only 975 chosen and were surpassed by the Venezuelans (1,800). This year Venezuela was excluded from the draw.
The DV-2023 visas were selected from among 9,570,021 participants, as reported this Friday by the State Department in its Visa Bulletin August 2022.
In interviews to apply for residency, those chosen must provide proof of secondary education or its equivalent, or “show two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience in the last five years.”
The Cubans obtained 383 places more than in 2021, when they were in second place with only 975 chosen
The authorities also warned that those selected who do not receive their visas before September 30, 2023 “will not obtain more benefits from their registration in DV-2023”, and that their spouses or children who follow them in the process will only be entitled to the derived condition up to that date.
Similarly, they announced that the dates for the registration period of the DV-2024 program will be disclosed in the coming months and those who wish to participate should consult the Department of State’s Diversity Visas website.
The Island has stood out in the last ten years as one of the countries with the largest number of citizens admitted to the Lottery, however, since 2017 the country did not have a consular section at the US Embassy in Havana. diplomatic headquarters resumed processing of immigrant visas last May, starting with the IR-5 category, which recognizes parents who are claimed by US citizens.
In June it announced another extension: from July it will process visas for immediate relatives of US citizensincluding spouses and children under the age of 21, and would also start working in the Family Reunification Parole Program.
However, in its announcements, the Embassy insisted that while work continues to expand services on the Island, the consular headquarters in Guyana “will continue to be the main place of processing for all Cuban applicants for family preference immigrant visas and immediate family cases that are already scheduled to be processed in Georgetown.
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