Getting close?

August 8th, which means that any day now The US Department of State will send out the new Visa Bulletin (see link on the right). With a little luck the cut-off number will be above our case#, so keep all limbs crossed.

Our hearts go out to the DV2005 winners whose casenumbers didn't become current. For months -and I'm talking specifically about Europe now- their cut-off number just didn't move. It's unfair, I know.

Then, there is talk about revising the DV Lottery system. In a good and a bad way.

Let's start with the good.
Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss introduced a bill to the Senate to "permit an alien to remain eligible for a diversity visa beyond the fiscal year in which the alien applied for the visa, and for other purposes."

For the exact proposed bill:

http://www.congress.org/congressorg/webreturn/?url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:S.1119:

It's a good sign a Republican senator is proposing this bill, it just might get the vote of the Republican majority.

But.
Yes, there is a but. Here comes the bad way.

There are also enough lawmakers who want to abolish the DV Lottery, arguing that it is a backdoor for (would-be) terrorists to come to the US legally. Well, before getting a Green Card -through the lottery or in an other way- the applicant has to go through background checks, including a FBI one.

We'll keep a close eye on both developments.

Hope to talk to you in a couple of days!