WILLIAMSBURG — The Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery, which gives individuals from countries not represented in legal immigration a chance to live in the United States, has relocated to eastern Kentucky.

        The lottery was established by Congress in 1990. It issues 55,000 visas a year that allow permanent residency in the United States.

        The lottery's operations were formerly based in Portsmouth, N.H., but have moved to the Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, creating 65 jobs. The move will also create piles of extra mail at the Lexington post office, which will process 10 to 12 million applications for the consular center over the next month.

        U.S. Rep Hal Rogers, a Somerset Republican, was instrumental in bringing the consular center to Kentucky. Mr. Rogers persuaded the State Department to look at Williamsburg, said Dan DuBray, a spokesman for the congressman.

        Williamsburg's proximity to Interstate 75 in Whitley County and the availability of a building were two determining factors, said John Coe, director of the Kentucky Consular Center.

        The center will have an annual operating budget of up to $4 million. Many of the 65 jobs are data and mail-processing jobs in Williamsburg. But as the facility grows and additional programs are added, the labor force will be expanded, Mr. Coe said.

        A monthlong mail-in period began Oct. 1. As of Wednesday, the Lexington post office had processed more than 52,000 applications, but only 30,000 arrived in the window of eligibility.

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