- Exclusive interview with Vice Consul Bradley Raynor
Story, Sa'ah Siona Ikei
Cameroonians' Quest for the US Diversity Visa Lottery is on the rise. But winning the lottery to the American Dream can be tricky due to ignorance and common mistakes:
In an exclusive interview with Vice Consul Bradley Raynor at the US Embassy, we explored the intricacies of the US Diversity Visa lottery program, aiming to demystify the process and provide clarity to Cameroonian dreamers. Vice Consul Raynor revealed eligibility requirements, common application mistakes to avoid, and insights into the selection and visa issuance process. The annual lottery is already ongoing, this interview offers a beacon of hope and guidance, empowering aspiring immigrants to navigate the path towards their American dreams.
With meticulous detail, Vice Consul Raynor unraveled the web of eligibility criteria, equipping potential applicants with essential knowledge. He shared key tips to steer clear of common pitfalls and shed light on the journey from selection to visa issuance. This exclusive interview paves the way, providing Cameroonian dreamers the information they need to navigate the challenges and seize the chance for a brighter future.
How does the United States Diversity Lottery program contribute to promoting diversity and inclusivity within American society?
The Diversity Visa lottery is an opportunity for countries around the world who have relatively low numbers of immigrants traveling to the United States to have a way of traveling to the US that is not tied to family relations or work. It’s an opportunity for them to become a part of the American society and bring all of their values and cultural differences and skills and passion to the work that we do in the US.
There are 55,000 visas every year designated for this purpose and so applicants are able to apply basic requirements, having either high school equivalence or work that meets the high school equivalence requirements, then they can travel to the US and become really anything they want to be.
A lot of our diversity applicants go to school, study, becomes doctors, lawyers, start their own businesses. All of that has a direct impact on US culture and values, seeing representation from other parts of the world. When I came to Cameroon, I had friends tell me ‘‘hey you’re in Cameroon? My doctor is from Cameroon that’s so cool. My lawyer is from Cameroon, my teacher is from Cameroon…’’ And so it’s a really incredible opportunity to open our doors to folks who might not otherwise have had easy avenues to get to the United States.
I think it’s probably one of the coolest programs, it’s pretty unique out there in the world. There are not a lot of countries that have this kind of lottery aspects to immigration, where they just open up the doors and say come here and bring us everything that you are.
Could you provide some insights into the selection process for the Diversity Lottery program and the criteria used to determine eligible participants?
Great question, so essentially, eligibility is very straight forward and you are required to follow all of the DV rules and regulations. It can be very basic things like making sure that you input your name correctly, make sure you have a photo which has been taken within the last 6 months and then you also make sure you meet the requirements as I mentioned before. You need to have a high school equivalence. If you don't have a high school equivalence, then that can disqualify you in the process. You want to make sure you have that or verify your employment with our online resources to make sure they meet the threshold.
Once you sign up for the Diversity Lottery it's free to register. You can go to the dvprogram@state.gov and signup. Once you’ve submitted your application every eligible adults who meet the requirements can submit an application even for married couples. They can each submit one application for the wife and the husband or the spouse and that allows them to then enter but you only have one entry for each name. Once you’ve entered, that’s where the lottery comes in. It’s random. They are submitted to a system that will generate numbers and then applicants who won will be ranked ordered based on where the lottery placed them and that is when we start to schedule the interviews from there.
It’s a global program, and so it’s a global effort to get all the numbers in different places. That’s in a nutshell is the process. It really is a lottery to that point and winning the lottery grants you the opportunity to seek out an interview for a program. It’s very important to know and it's might come up later but this is not a guarantee of a visa. Just because you win the lottery when you get the notification in May, does not necessarily mean you are guaranteed to have an interview because again, there are limited numbers of visas available each year, and we purposely try to make sure that we get a little bit more winners than there are visas, to make sure we’re using all those visas.
Imagine that if we just accepted 55,000 applicants and some didn’t qualify, there were some folks who might have very well qualified and now they're missing out on the opportunity. So we always try to maximize the number of visas we use every year but that doesn't fortunately mean that sometimes you run out of numbers before we get to the end.
What measures are in place to ensure the integrity and fairness of the Diversity Lottery program, considering the high demand and limited number of available slots?
That's a great question. Selection comes inherently out of the random nature in which applicants are selected and assigned. There's no me behind the computer saying oh I think I'll put this person here or that person there. You generated a number when you win and that number indicates when you'll be invited to schedule an appointment. And then we receive our appointments from central offices back in the states and as soon as we're able to schedule people, we open up our slots and we invite them to come to the Embassy for their interview. So the selection processes inherently devoid of our own ideas, prejudices, opinions, it is a random lottery in essence and if you’ve been scheduled your appointment, you have the opportunity to come and present your case to us.
You mentioned before now that you usually consider having more winners selected than the visas available. In a case where you have more winners like you said, how is the selection process later on done to cut down on the number of candidates?
So it's just in order from when the season begins to when the season ends. So let's say for example we have - this is obviously not quite realistic we have 10 visas and I just interview 10 people. And 3 people three people have disqualified himself they don't have a high school they don't have a high school education but they thought maybe if they just showed up to the interview they could be given a chance or maybe you know, they went to a fixer and got some illicit documents…
Those three people don't get visas and now we have 10 visas, 7 people who get them, and then what would we do with the 3 visas? You would just say oh well those were the selectees and we’ll just throw those in the trash… that's not the goal, the goal is to bring as many people to the United States as possible and that's the 55,000 number and so inherently as part of that, we're doing our best estimation, we’re trying to make sure that we get as many of the people who want visas as possible but it's a numbers game and we're just doing our best to make sure that anyone who is a winner has the opportunity to try. And again it just depends on the world values as well. No single country you can have more than seven percent of the total number of visas available and that means that every country in the world is trying to process as many.
This year we processed 10% more applications than last year and so that in large part can contribute to whether seasons end early, if everyone in the world is issuing more diversity visas and that means that inherently those who are later on the number if there are many more qualified candidates might have a lower chance of being scheduled for an interview for the visa.
How does the Diversity Lottery program benefit both the United States and the selected participants in terms of economic, cultural, and social contributions?
That's such a great question. The benefits are truly incalculable. I mean you could probably quantify the contributions of successful Cameroonians to U.S. economy if you were better at math than I am. But I can tell you with the fact that we see Cameroonians going to America and they establish themselves and they'll sometimes bring family members in and we see them occupy all sorts of roles and walks of life. We see some coming back to Cameroon and having children and you know we see just amazing contributions and what it does is it bridges the gap between our countries.
It gives us points of connection and points of contact and shared values and opportunities to contribute to each other. You know Cameroonians I America contribute in all sorts of ways, big and small to fill in Cameron because many of them still have families here and still have friends and still have connections and contacts and try to make sure they contribute as much as they can and give back. So it really is an incredible opportunity to have this person-to-person diplomacy, this way of connecting people to other people across countries and across national divides.
What challenges or obstacles do applicants from Cameroon typically face during the Diversity Lottery process, and what assistance is provided to ensure a smooth application experience?
We try to promote as much information during the season when you're able to enter, just from October 4th to November 7th this year. So a big resource that you can keep an eye out for is our Embassy facebook page and Embassy website. We have all the rules, restrictions, resources, websites, places that you can go to all on our Embassy website and we post tips and tricks to wrap the season, to try to help people avoid scams and to be able to apply correctly and make sure they don't accidentally disqualify themselves.
You can keep an eye on this for our website, we're planning to do live stream outreach to answer questions and do a live Q&A so that folks who are wondering about the process or who have questions or confusions can get the answers they are looking for. In terms of the big feet falls, I’m gonna just lay out just three big ones that we see a lot that we would love to see disappear because it’s a diversity visa day, we’re in ‘‘yes mode’’. We want to say yes as many times as possible, and so it breaks our hearts when this happens.
Play with everyone in your family. Everyone who is the legal member of your family so legally married spouse, not traditionally married because the United States does not recognize traditional marriages. A civil marriage, a spouse even if they're not planning to travel, you don’t have to travel with everyone by the way. You just have to declare them. The same goes for children I can't tell you how many people leave their children out because they say oh I don't want to travel with them so I just won't include them.
You can choose not to travel with them after you’ve applied but you need to include every child who is legally part of your family, legal adoption, biological children, step children, anyone who is legally a part of your family through a legal process needs to be included in the application. I can’t tell you how many people that we’ve had to say no to because they did not play with their family. That's my number one tip and that can sometimes mean planning ahead.
There are a lot of people who will apply towards the end of the season and they might be in Dubai for example and they'll say oh but I don't have photos of my children so I won't play with my children. If they planned in advance and gotten photos of their children, they could have played with the family. So play with your family, number one, number two, make sure you qualify with education. We have had some people, it's very rare but every now and then it does bring a smile to my face.
We’ve had some people who enter the DV Lottery and they don't have their high school education but they know it and so they take that advanced level or they take that BACC and they try to pass it when they find out that they've gotten in. It’s playing it close because if you don't get your results before the end of the season, you don’t qualify. But I’ll tell you what, we’ve issued a few people who before the end of the season, passed their high school test. You need to qualify with your education or work requirements so it’s really important that you make sure you’re qualified and eligible. You don't want to find out at the interview after you paid the interview fee that you didn’t meet the requirements when you could have checked them yourself.
So an education and work requirement is the second piece. And then the last, do your due diligence. I will tell folks, the process is free. Many people will go to cyber cafes and we recognize that that’s a reality where internet access can be limited. But we ask that people do their due diligence and that they make sure that everything is done correctly. The cyber cafes have no invested value in making sure that your information is correct. They just are making sure that it's entered. So if they have missed your name, spelled it completely wrong, given you the wrong date of birth, mix your photo up with someone else, that can all disqualify you.
So its really important to make sure that you check your application and that you avoid any scams. We will never email or text you. It will always be on our website with your unique login code that you're given once enter, so you need to make sure you guard that code and make sure everything is up to date.
Are there any plans to review or update the eligibility requirements for the Diversity Lottery program in response to changing demographics and global trends?
That’s a great question. I would say that at this time, there’s no review of the eligibility requirements that I’m aware of. But I will tell you that I also at a very basic level of the process, that’s really back in the United States where the decision making is made. So I can’t really comment too close on that. What I will say is that the eligibility requirements as they currently exist do encompass certain changes in the global market because I would say that high school education would always be relevant.
It will always be a boon to you, regardless of what you're doing, having an awareness of the world's ways of interacting, ways of being a participative in your in your government and your surroundings. In addition, the work requirements are always up to date with different job listings and where they fall in the scale. There's an SVP rating for every job that we post there and you need to be a seven or higher. So in many ways it is responsive to how it works and at this time I'm not aware of any changes of the eligibility policy.
Can you share any success stories of individuals from Cameroon who have participated in the Diversity Lottery program and gone on to make significant contributions to American society?
So I didn't come prepared with any specific stories but I know that our public affairs section has explored opportunities to do something like that and if we're able to share anything I'll get your contact information and give you actually a real story with relevant details.
But I can tell you without any names, I do a lot of interviews and a lot of the times when we ask, how did your child go to the US, how did your husband or wife go to the US, they’ll tell us, the DV lottery and we'll look at them and we'll see what you know they've been up to and I mean really, some really successful Cameroonians are in the United Stated earning good money and contributing to their communities. I genuinely have had at least five or six people tell me oh my blank, he’s a Cameroonian with such joy and excitement.
Given the limited number of available slots, how does the American consulate in Cameroon handle the disappointment and frustration of individuals who are not selected through the Diversity Lottery?
At a basic human level we do try our best to be a sympathetic as possible. I mean at the end of the day as I mentioned our diversity Visa days are mostly joyous. We’re having folks come up, we're asking them a few questions and then telling them they're going to America, so whenever we do have to say no, we do try to be sensitive to how much time and effort has been invested in the process and how disappointing the news can be.
In addition, we try to make sure that we're very communicative to an extent possible about a deadlines depending changes and we try to make sure that we're holding ourselves accountable to processing as much as we can on our side to make sure that we are able to meet the needs of as many Cameroonians as possible in this process.
Are there any ongoing efforts or initiatives to promote awareness and understanding of the Diversity Lottery program among potential applicants in Cameroon and other countries?
This right here is one of the many ways that we try to reach out. We try to reach out through all forms of media and news, we try to reach out through our website, through our own words and how they spread throughout word of mouth. We really do believe in this program and so we try to make everything is streamlined and as easy as it can possibly be. We really try not to complicate this process more than it has because at the end of the day, it's supposed to be as inclusive as possible while meeting our specific requirements for the lottery.
So communicate, communicate, communicate, much like any good relationship, you need to communicate well and we try to make sure we're keeping our communication up and communicating in advance of deadlines and communicating in as many ways as possible because we know that everyone consumes information differently.
Some people watch TV, some people listen to the radio, some people on Facebook however you are consuming it we're trying to be there to guide you through the process and make sure you have all the resources you need to make sure you follow the steps. The only thing we can't do is stand next to you on the computer and fill in your application for you.
How does the Diversity Lottery program align with the broader immigration policies and objectives of the United States, and what role does it play in shaping the country's overall approach to immigration?
What a fabulous question. So as I mentioned towards the beginning, the Diversity Visa Lottery is an opportunity to expand our scopes, to expand the ways in which we build our communities in the United States and the ways in which other countries contribute to the work that we do in the United States.
As we mentioned, the whole program is built around this idea that there are some countries that just don’t have as many people immigrating as others. Whether they don't have as many family networks already in the United States through our family-based visas or maybe they aren't making connections to employment opportunities for some of our work-based visas, this is an opportunity for us to try to fill that gap, even if it's only a portion of what we do, it's still a big portion of what we do because it's trying to make sure that we are bringing communities across the world who are otherwise coming to the United States for whatever reason.
I know there are some countries that folks you know, aren’t interested or just aren’t aware. So we just like to try to make sure we're keeping our doors open and an inviting those who are excited to come contribute to the United States.
Are there any specific Organizations or programs that the consulate recommends for individuals seeking alternative immigration options?
So in general, we strictly recommend our own websites for information. That is where you can always get the best information for legal valid programs and immigration. You know there's a lot of scamming out there about us visas and ways to get visas and approaches to getting visas and pathways to avoiding. At the end of the day, the easiest thing to do is go to the US Embassy website and look up the visa that we offer, the instructions for applying them and the criteria for getting them.
We do have partners that we work with for certain types of things. Education USA does really incredible work for students, trying to advise them on the process of applying and to make sure they're building a strong application as they possibly can. But in terms of alternative visas or alternative immigration approaches, what we offer is out on the table you can look up any type of Visa in the requirements and if you meet those requirements, you can pursue that opportunity.
You mentioned those who are interested in applying to apply with their whole family. What of a case where one is not married, is he supposed to apply with his/her parents and siblings? Is it necessary?
That's a great question let me clarify that a bit. Actually, the people you play with are your legal spouse and your legal children so you won't play with any brothers or sisters, you won't play with any parents and so you always want to make sure that those are kind of your two main connections. And then this is actually a question we've received a few times and I would like to mention, it’s great that you mentioned that.
You're single now, let's say that you submit your application, you do it perfectly. You are single you don't have any children, you put everything in, you play with everyone and then you meet the love of your life and you fall in love and you get married and then you find out that you won the lottery. But you didn’t play with your husband because he wasn't your husband yet, that’s completely fine.
Play with your legal family as they exist at the time of your application because you always add them later. If you have a newborn baby, you can add them. You just need to make sure you apply with your family as they existed at the time. So in your case you'd want to just apply for yourself.
Addressing potential candidates interested of this year’s DV lottery program, Bradley Raynor, the Vice Consul at the U.S. Embassy Yaounde had this to say;
‘‘We know how important the diversity Visa Lottery is to many people around the world and we treasure it as well, and that's why we launch it year after year of time and time again. I would say come ready come prepared to contribute everything you are to the United States. We are ready for you and we are ready to welcome you. We want you to be there and make the most of your opportunity. Cameroonians have been incredibly successful in the United States and so for anyone hoping to apply I would say just this, follow all the rules, make sure everything is lined up for yourself so that on that day we can smile at you from across the window and say congratulations, your visa has been approved.’’
LAST LINE
Vice Consul Bradley Raynor aimed to dispel myths about the program and reduce fraud risks by clearly outlining the rules and chances of acceptance. With up to 55,000 visas granted globally each year through the Diversity Visa program, community members must now feel better informed in their preparations.
By Sa’ah Siona Ikei,
Creative Storyteller.
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