The US government has confirmed there will be no modifications made to its current visa programme in the wake of the attacks on the US last month.
Some 50,000 permanent residence visas are available and applications are divided into several geographical areas; Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Applicants can submit forms from October 1st to the 31st and applicants will be selected at random by computer from among all qualified entries.
A spokeswoman for the US embassy today said the criteria for the DV-2003 Visa Programme was not going to be changed, regardless of recent events.
A number of countries do not qualify for the diversity visas, which are intended to provide immigration access to the US for nationals of countries that do not send large numbers of immigrants to the US.
Among the countries that do not qualify are Britain, China, India, Pakistan, South Korea, Vietnam, Colombia, El Salvador and Mexico.
Applicants are required to have at least a secondary-level education or its equivalent or two years' work experience in an occupation requiring at least two years of training.
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/64c7504b-f9dd-4cbf-ad7c-534bbb1857e7.png)