# Is the DV lottery illegal?



## NYCSavage (May 17, 2008)

I am an ameteur lawyer (that means I just like to argue anything lol) and I recently read a thred on the DV lottery. I am not qualified in law, I am actually an undergraduate in Web Systems Development, and if I am wrong, then I will gladly hold up my hands.

Here is my issue:

The lottery is open to select nationalities.....isnt that blatent discrimination? I cannot enter the lottery as a UK national so I am being discriminated against?

And whilst I am on my soap box, the US Government has a strong belief in God, in Gods eyes, the planet belongs to no-one, we are only here to do His work, so what right does anybody have to tell us we can and can't go somewhere?

I am expecting to get flamed for this post, but I do look forward to valid comments and arguments on this and hopefully, we can have a good debate on the subject.


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## MichaelS (Nov 8, 2008)

NYCSavage said:


> Here is my issue:
> 
> The lottery is open to select nationalities.....isnt that blatent discrimination? I cannot enter the lottery as a UK national so I am being discriminated against?
> 
> And whilst I am on my soap box, the US Government has a strong belief in God, in Gods eyes, the planet belongs to no-one, we are only here to do His work, so what right does anybody have to tell us we can and can't go somewhere?


from a purely legal point of view:

Discrimination is not illegal in the US, it only becomes illegal when used to deny someone their legally defined rights based on race, ethnicity, etc. You have no right to immigration to the US, nobody does, so therefore no rights are being infringed.

The US government has no official belief in any god. The few state sanctioned references to god, like on the US dollar, have been clarified by the supreme court to reference no deity in particular, and to therefore not be in violation of the constitutional prohibition of the government endorsing any religion. There are still many people who believe these references to be illegal.


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## NYCSavage (May 17, 2008)

MichaelS said:


> it only becomes illegal when used to deny someone their legally defined rights based on race, ethnicity, *etc*


That is a very clear and concise answer, and I appreciate the time it took for you to reply, but when you say etc could that be classed as background? My background is British and the US Government is clearly holding that against me (ie discriminating my ethnicity (white British))

My understanding of discrimination is:



> Discrimination occurs when a person or a group of people
> are excluded, rejected, or otherwise treated poorly due to one of a number of characteristics.


I also found this:



> Discrimination based on national origin is also frequent, with the person’s country of origin being the basis on which the discrimination occurs.


As for the US Dollar, I stand corrected lol


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

NYCSavage said:


> That is a very clear and concise answer, and I appreciate the time it took for you to reply, but when you say etc could that be classed as background? My background is British and the US Government is clearly holding that against me (ie discriminating my ethnicity (white British))


As far as the legal aspects of discrimination go, I believe they are spelled out in the various anti-discrimination laws. Like anti-discrimination laws in hiring - specific to discrimination against someone based on their sex, their religion, their race. But it's not (yet) illegal to refuse someone a job because they're fat, or a bad dresser, yet that's discrimination all the same. 

Nationality is not considered an "ethnicity" and it's not (yet) illegal in the US to discriminate against a person's "background." I suspect they don't have many (or any) laws against discrimination based on "nationality" because that would mean they couldn't require US citizenship, which is also a nationality.
Cheers,
Bev


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## MarylandNed (May 11, 2010)

The point of the DV (Diversity Visa) lottery is to increase DIVERSITY within the US - not decrease it. They have determined that there are already enough immigrants from certain countries (including Britain) through other visa categories so they are trying to even things up by increasing the diversity of other immigrants through the DV lottery.

Not just white British are excluded - it's all people born in Britain (except for Northern Ireland) although there are some exceptions e.g. you can claim the country of your spouse if your own country does not qualify. So if it is discrimination, it's NOT based on race or color or ethnicity because not all British people are white.


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## NickZ (Jun 26, 2009)

What you expect? They are all a bunch of insurgents. Ask King George.


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

NickZ said:


> What you expect? They are all a bunch of insurgents. Ask King George.


Culture Club did make it to the US in the long run.


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