Washington, DC – When Ahmad, who is Syrian, won the diversity lottery – and a chance to get a visa to the United States – in May 2018, he was in disbelief at what he described as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”.
It was the 33-year-old’s third attempt applying for the Diversity Visa Program, which gives up to 50,000 people out of millions of applicants the chance to apply for a US green card every year. A native of Damascus, Ahmad left the war-torn country in July 2019 for Jordan to do his medical tests and an interview at the American embassy as part of his application.
