Bangladesh among top finishers in US visa lottery ("diversity lottery")

http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/07/24/d40724011515.htm ^ | 7/25/04 | AFP, Washington

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Bangladesh among top finishers in US visa lottery

Bangladesh, Nigeria, Poland and Ethiopia were the top finishers in the US visa lottery, which granted 50,000 permanent residence visas, or "green cards," allowing recipients to live and work in the United States, the US State Department said Thursday. The "diversity lottery," held each year under the US Immigration and Nationality Act, distributes the visas to residents of countries which have low immigration rates to the United States.

Applicants were selected at random from a total of some 9.5 million applications submitted from November 1 to December 30, 2003, said the State Department.

Bangladesh got 7,404 visas, Nigeria 6,725, Poland 6,211 and Ethiopia 6,060.

Countries with heavy immigration to the United States, including Canada, China (minus Hong Kong and Taiwan), Colombia, Pakistan, The Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Britain (minus Northern Ireland) and Vietnam, were excluded from the lottery.

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State Department Announces 2005 Diversity Visa Lottery Results






United States Department of State (Washington, DC)

July 22, 2004
Posted to the web July 22, 2004

Washington, DC

Diversity Visa Lottery 2005 (DV-2005) Results

The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky, has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2005 diversity lottery. The diversity lottery was conducted under the terms of section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available *50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Approximately 100,000 applicants have been registered and notified and may now make an application for an immigrant visa. Since it is likely that some of the first *50,000 persons registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure should insure that all DV-2005 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2005 (October 1, 2004 until September 30, 2005).

Applicants registered for the DV-2005 program were selected at random from more than 9.5 million qualified entries received during the 60-day application period that ran from 12:00 AM on November 1, 2003, until midnight, December 30, 2003. The visas have been apportioned among six geographic regions, with a maximum of seven percent available to persons born in any single country. During the visa interview, principal applicants must provide proof of a high school education or its equivalent, or show two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience within the past five years. Those selected will need to act on their immigrant visa applications quickly. Applicants should follow the instructions in their notification letter and must fully complete the information requested.

Registrants living legally in the United States who wish to apply for adjustment of their status must contact the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services for information on the requirements and procedures. Once the total *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2005 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2005 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2005 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2005 principal applicants are entitled to derivative diversity visa status only until September 30, 2005.

Only participants in the DV-2005 program who were selected for further processing have been notified. Those who have not received notification were not selected. They may try for the upcoming DV-2006 lottery if they wish. The dates for the registration period for the DV-2006 lottery program will be widely publicized during August 2004.

* The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) passed by Congress in November 1997 stipulated that up to 5,000 of the 55,000 annually-allocated diversity visas be made available for use under the NACARA program. The reduction of the limit of available visas to 50,000 began with DV-2000.

The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign-state chargeability of those registered for the DV-2005 program:

AFRICA

ALGERIA 1,489 ERITREA 556 NAMIBIA 11

ANGOLA 14 ETHIOPIA 6,060 NIGER 53

BENIN 233 GABON 29 NIGERIA 6,725

BOTSWANA 7 GAMBIA, THE 136 RWANDA 51

BURKINA FASO 76 GHANA 3,974 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE 0

BURUNDI 34 GUINEA 268 SENEGAL 409

CAMEROON 1,540 GUINEA-BISSAU 3 SEYCHELLES 4

CAPE VERDE 6 KENYA 3,618 SIERRA LEONE 594

CENTRAL AFRICAN REP. 4 LESOTHO 0 SOMALIA 364

CHAD 22 LIBERIA 714 SOUTH AFRICA 390

COMOROS 3 LIBYA 35 SUDAN 1,015

CONGO 47 MADAGASCAR 28 SWAZILAND 6

CONGO, DEMOCRATIC MALAWI 44 TANZANIA 356

REPUBLIC OF THE 844 MALI 124 TOGO 2,857

COTE D'IVOIRE 321 MAURITANIA 25 TUNISIA 134

DJIBOUTI 12 MAURITIUS 23 UGANDA 244

EGYPT 6,070 MOROCCO 5,298 ZAMBIA 118

EQUATORIAL GUINEA 2 MOZAMBIQUE 12 ZIMBABWE 141

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'Assassin' beats CSIS in court
Alleged terrorist's deportation delayed due to torture threat

Stewart Bell
National Post


July 24, 2004








TORONTO - Canadian officials are trying to deport a highly trained Sikh terrorist assigned to kill senior Indian government officials, including a Cabinet minister, but the government's effort has been hampered by fears the assassin might be tortured.

The man, who goes by the name Bachan Singh Sogi and many other aliases, is a member of the Babbar Khalsa International, the violent Sikh separatist group believed responsible for the 1985 Air-India bombing that killed 329 people, most of them Canadians.

Mr. Sogi, 43, flew to Toronto seeking refugee status and lived in Montreal for more than a year before he was arrested in August, 2002. Intelligence and Immigration officials had determined he was a terrorist better known as Gurnham Singh and Piare.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) said it had corroborated reports that Mr. Sogi was a trained explosives and weapons expert who was planning to assassinate Prakash Singh Badal, Chief Minister of Punjab, and his son Sikhbir Singh Badal.

Also on his target list was K.P.S. Gill, the former Punjab police chief, who led India's anti-terrorism campaign against such Sikh extremist factions as the Babbar Khalsa and who is credited with bringing an end to separatist violence in the western state.

Despite the seriousness of the government's allegations against Mr. Sogi and the continuing focus on Sikh terrorism at the Air-India trial in Vancouver, the arrest has so far escaped public attention.

He remains in custody and has denied the allegations.

The Immigration and Refugee Board, however, which was privy to secret intelligence information, ruled he should be deported on grounds of national security, and the Federal Court of Canada upheld the decision. But the case has become the latest challenge for the Canadian immigration system, which critics contend is unable to get rid of even known terrorists because it allows refugee lawyers to fend off deportation by filing repeated court appeals.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2002 that terrorists caught in Canada who fear they might be tortured in their homelands can only be deported if they pose a significant threat to Canadians, a ruling that some say cemented Canada's role as a safe haven.

The Immigration Department determined in June, 2003, that Mr. Sogi "would be at risk of torture if deported to India." But in August, another assessment said he was "a present and future danger to the security of Canada."

An immigration official weighed the two reports and determined he should be deported regardless of the torture risk. By accepting an assassination assignment, Mr. Sogi had shown he was directly and intimately involved in Sikh terrorism, the official wrote.

"The overall interests of Canada and Canadian security must be given paramount consideration in this instance. In my view, the presence in Canada of terrorists, terrorist groups and terrorism in general is an anathema to the values and beliefs of Canadians.

"It would be unconscionable to allow him to remain in Canada."...Continued

But Mr. Sogi's lawyers filed an appeal and last month a Federal Court judge ruled the deportation decision was flawed. Judge Sandra Simpson said the government had not considered Mr. Sogi's offer to observe a curfew and wear a tracking device in order to avoid deportation.

"In my view, a decision to deport to torture must consider, in the balancing exercise, any alternatives proposed to reduce the threat. I have concluded that, in the unusual circumstances of this case, it was patently unreasonable to decide to deport the applicant without considering the applicant's proposal," she wrote.

The government also erred by assuming that because of Mr. Sogi's terrorist "history and credentials, he is automatically a serious threat to national security." She ordered the Immigration department to revisit the deportation decision and report back by Sept. 30.

The Babbar Khalsa (BK) and Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) were among the first international terrorist groups to use Canada as a base for global violence. According to a report by Canada's Department of Public Safety, the groups were created to fight India for an independent Sikh state to be called Khalistan.

"BK and BKI continue to be one of the most vicious and powerful of the militant Sikh groups," the report said.

Past leaders include Canadians Talwinder Singh Parmar, alleged mastermind of the Air-India bombing, and Ajaib Singh Bagri, who is on trial for his alleged role in the attack.

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US Offers Citizenship To 7000 Ahiska Muslims


Several Ahiska Muslims packing to leave for the US


By Damir Ahmed, IOL correspondent

KRASNODAR, Russia, July 24, (IslamOnline.net) - The United States has agreed to grant citizenship to 7,000 Ahiska Muslims who will be settled in Pennsylvania, reported a Russian newspaper on Friday, July 23.

The first 11-strong batch of the Ahiska Muslims, living in the Russian province of Krasnodar, left for Geneva on Thursday, July 22, before flying to Philadelphia, reported Novie Izvestia.

It added that the Muslims would be housed near the grand mosque in Philadelphia.

The paper recalled that Krasnodar governor Alexander Tkachev was notified of the American decision on February 15.

Izvestia said the Russian government does not treat Ahiska Muslims as citizens and has not therefore given them passports or IDs.

An official in Krasnodar administration had told Interfax on Tuesday, July 20, that of the 11,999 Ahiska Muslims living in the region, 4,943 have received Russian citizenship and 744 have embarked on Russian naturalization procedures.

He added that more than 5,000 others have expressed a desire to emigrate to the United States.

Earlier, Chingiz Neiman-zade, chairman of Vatan, a Meskheti Turks association based in Georgia, said the United States had offered to accept the Ahiska Muslims living in Krasnodar as immigrants.

"On February 16, the International Migration Organization began an information program in Krasnodar to explain the terms for the resettlement of the Ahiska Muslims in the U.S.," he told Chicago Tribune on Thursday, July 22.

"The immigrants will be provided with housing and furniture, they will be helped to learn the English language and to complete formalities needed for residence in the US, which is especially important, and have been promised life-long welfare allowances for pensioners and the disabled."

Happiness

Ahiska Muslims were happy with the American offer.

"This decision marks a great change in our life", said Tepeshon Swanidze, leader of the Ahiska Muslim community in Russia.

"We thank the US administration for its humanitarian decision", he added.

Ahiska Muslims , originally hailing from Anatolia, were exiled from their homeland after Russia seized the region of Ahiska following its 1828-1829 war with the Ottoman Empire.

Many Ahiska Muslims were forced to seek refugee in Erzurum in eastern Turkey after being persecuted by the Russian Cesar for supporting the Ottoman Empire.

Facing a similar fate under the notorious Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Ahiska Muslims fled to Uzbekistan in 1944.

One year later, they went to Azerbaijan where they currently reside.

Turkish and Azeri parliamentarians had recently appealed for an international intervention to pressure the Georgian government into allowing the return of Ahiska Muslims.

Ahiska became part of Georgia in 1918.