Immigrants in the United States seeking permanent resident status will have from Oct. 7-Nov. 6 to apply for the fiscal year 2004 diversity immigrant visa lottery, the U.S. State Department has announced.

Up to 55,000 permanent resident visas, known as green cards, will be granted under the program. The visas are reserved for persons from countries that have fewer than 50,000 immigrants to the United States annually.

In the fiscal 2003 lottery, a total of 172 Latvians won permanent residency.

Further information on the visa program is available from the Bureau of Consular Affairs Web site.

Latvian Foreign Minister Indulis Bērziņš has thanked the American Jewish Committee for its support of expanding the NATO defense alliance.

Bērziņš, according to an Aug. 20 foreign ministry press release, sent a letter to the Washington, D.C.-based organization in response to the committee’s July 30 announcement urging expansion.

Bērziņš’ letter came a day after a Riga-based group, the Jewish Survivors of Latvia, said it sent a letter to President George Bush and members of the U.S. Senate urging that Latvia not be allowed into NATO, according to Latvian media reports.

Although the American Jewish Committee supports Latvia’s and other nations’ efforts to join NATO, the committee also said the countries should “redouble their efforts in the months ahead to complete the still open process of restituting Jewish communal property and preserving Holocaust memory and its integrity.”

Paulis Lazda, a professor of history and founder of the Occupation Museum of Latvia, has been honored with the Excellence in Service Award by the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire. Lazda joined the faculty in 1967, the university said in a press release.

In 1991, he established the university’s study abroad program in Latvia. Two years later, he helped set up a scholarship to bring students from Latvia to the university.

And in 1994, he began the annual Symposium on East Europe, which brings members of the university community in contact with internationally recognized experts on the region.

Lazda was honored with the Order of Three Stars, Latvia’s highest civilian honor, in 2000.