Daily Mail quotes Loren Locke about the new $1 diversity visa fee

Loren Locke, an immigration attorney and former State Department consular officer, said the new change was 'crucial' to help the government trace where green card lottery applications were coming from.

She told the Daily Mail: 'While the fee itself is minimal and unlikely to deter sophisticated fraud networks, it establishes a financial footprint that can be cross-referenced with application data to flag suspicious patterns indicative of exploitation or trafficking.

'This fee-based tracking fits into a larger US immigration strategy that increasingly focuses on the source of immigrant funding, requiring more robust financial documentation and payment verification across visa types to combat fraud and abuse.'

Locke added that the new payment would help 'close loopholes that (human) traffickers or unscrupulous agents might exploit.'

'Though direct links between the DV lottery and human trafficking are less documented than with other visa categories, the enhanced payment tracking helps close loopholes that traffickers or unscrupulous agents might exploit, supporting broader anti-trafficking efforts.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15129421/green-card-visa-lottery-change-application-fee.html