Jamaicans excluded from 2024 US green card lottery Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

Jamaicans are among the nationalities excluded from participating in the US Diversity Immigrant Visa Program or visa lottery for 2024 due to the volume of immigrants who have entered the North American country from the Caribbean island over the last five years.

The 2024 application process opened on October 5 and is to close on November 8, providing approximately 55,000 people with the chance to win a Green Card through a lottery in which candidates are randomly selected.

To be eligible for entry into the lottery, candidates must have at least a high school diploma or have worked within the last five years and have completed two years of training.

Only applicants from countries with rates of immigration to the US of fewer than 50,000 immigrants over the previous five years will be eligible.

Research showed that, on average, just above 10,000 Jamaicans migrate to the US each year.

Jamaicans began migrating, in large numbers, to the US in the 1960s. About 10,000 Jamaicans migrated to the US legally from 1960 to 1965. However, the number skyrocketed in succeeding years–62,700 (1966-1970), 61,500 (1971-1975), 80,600 (1976-1980), and 81,700 (1981-1984)–to an aggregate of about 300,000 documented immigrants in just under a quarter of a century.

Along with Jamaica, other countries that are not eligible to participate in the 2024 Diversity Immigrant Visa Program include Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong SAR), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea (South Korea), United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

Advocates have pushed back against the exclusion of countries, saying that the educational restriction and the exclusion of developing countries are unfair.

NewsAmericasNow.com