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Helping an online friend apply for her green card. She's a little confused about what to select for "Country of Eligibility for the DV program". She was born in Switzerland, but is not a citizen of that country. She and her Serbian parents moved back to Serbia when she was a child, and she is a citizen of Serbia.
Obviously, "Country Where you were Born" is Switzerland in this case, but "Country of Eligibility for the DV program"? She is native to Switzerland, but she is a citizen of Serbia. Any thoughts?
ELIGIBILITY
1. What do the terms “native” and “chargeability” mean?
Native ordinarily means someone born in a particular country, regardless of the individual’s current country of residence or nationality. Native can also mean someone who is entitled to be charged to a country other than the one
ELIGIBILITY
1. What do the terms “native” and “chargeability” mean?
Native ordinarily means someone born in a particular country, regardless of the individual’s current country of residence or nationality. Native can also mean someone who is entitled to be charged to a country other than the one
Thanks for the repsonse! Right, so Switzerland is the country of eligibility?
The whole concept of eligibility seems to be centered around being "native" to a country, which is where you are born. My only concern was this part of the instructions:
Because a numerical limitation is placed on immigrants entering from a country or geographic region, each individual is charged to a country. Your chargeability refers to the country whose limitation you count towards. Your country of eligibility will normally be the same as your country of birth.
That makes it sound like she would be "charged" to Serbia because she lives there and would hypothetically be entering the US from Serbia.
Thanks for the repsonse! Right, so Switzerland is the country of eligibility?
I believe not. "Normally be" and "ordinarily be" don't apply here, in my opinion, as she's not a citizen of the country in which she was born. She's Serbian, not a Swiss citizen living in Serbia.
I believe not. "Normally be" and "ordinarily be" don't apply here, in my opinion, as she's not a citizen of the country in which she was born. She's Serbian, not a Swiss citizen living in Serbia.
Eligibility
Requirement #1: Individuals born in countries whose natives qualify may be eligible to enter
Hope she put Switzerland as that is the correct answer.
I don't understand the confusion for anyone who has read the rules properly (which are explained in more detail than the extracts in the posts above). It is the country in which you were born, unless that was ineligible in which case you can cross charge to a spouse or (long shot) prove that your parents are citizens of eligible countries and were oniy temporarily in your country of birth. Current citizenship is irrelevant for DV.
All that said, as both Switzerland and Serbia fall under Europe for allocation she would be ok if selected. If an error in citing eligibility puts someone in a different region, they will be denied.
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