Chargeability follows birth, not citizenship or residence. Two alternate routes exist — through a spouse and through a parent — and only those two.
Reviewed by Ekaterina Fitenko, Esq. — Florida Bar #1064536. With 20+ years of experience in the legal field, she advises Diversity Visa entrants and selectees on eligibility and filings, in English and Russian.
Eligibility for the Diversity Visa program begins with a country, and that country is normally where you were born. It is not where you live, not the citizenship you hold now, and not the citizenship you acquired later. The program calls it your country of chargeability.
Countries that have sent large numbers of immigrants to the United States over the preceding five years are excluded from each cycle, and the exclusion list is recalculated every year. A country eligible in one cycle can be excluded in the next, so the list is checked for the cycle you are entering rather than remembered from a previous one.
Through a spouse. If your husband or wife was born in an eligible country, you may claim their country of chargeability — provided you are both listed on the entry and you immigrate together. The benefit and the obligation travel together: if the marriage ends or the spouse does not immigrate, the basis for your claim disappears.
Through a parent. If you were born in an excluded country but neither parent was born there, and neither was a legal resident there at the time of your birth, you may claim a parent's country of birth. A parent temporarily present in the country — for study, employment or travel — is the classic case this rule exists for.
These are the only two alternate routes. Length of residence elsewhere, citizenship obtained later, grandparents' origins and family history beyond a parent create nothing.
Under 22 CFR 42.33(a)(5), the districts comprising Northern Ireland are treated as a separate foreign state from the rest of the United Kingdom for the purpose of determining eligibility. It is a narrow rule, but it decides cases outright for people born there.
A chargeability claim is checked against civil documents at the interview. A claim that does not hold — a spouse's country claimed where the spouse is not immigrating, or a parent's country claimed where the parent was a legal resident of the excluded country at the time of birth — fails at the point where there is no time left to do anything else.
The question is worth settling before the entry rather than after selection, because the answer is documentary and does not change.
No. Chargeability follows birth, and residence does not create it. The only alternates are a spouse's country of birth, where you are both listed and immigrate together, and a parent's country of birth under the conditions in the rule.
Yes, on their chargeability, provided both of you are listed on the entry and you immigrate together. If the marriage ends or the spouse does not immigrate, the basis for the claim is gone.
When you were born in an excluded country and neither parent was born there nor was a legal resident there at the time of your birth — for example, parents temporarily present for work or study.
No. Citizenship acquired after birth does not change chargeability, and neither does a passport from an eligible country.
Not necessarily. The exclusion list is recalculated for each cycle from the preceding five years of immigration, so it is checked against the instructions for the cycle you are entering.
$200 for 30 minutes, in English or Russian. Call (305) 315-3425 or email fitenkolaw@gmail.com to schedule, or start with the intake form.
This article is informational only and is not legal advice. Immigration rules, fees and processing times change; confirm current requirements with the agency or with counsel before relying on anything here.
Fitenko Law PLLC, 11555 Heron Bay Blvd, Suite 277, Coral Springs, FL 33076 (main office); 600 Three Islands Blvd, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009 (by appointment only). Phone: (305) 315-3425. Email: fitenkolaw@gmail.com