The dates of the festival are observed as public holidays throughout Myanmar, and are part of the summer holidays at the end of the school year. The dates of the Thingyan Festival are calculated according to the Burmese calendar. It is a Buddhist festival celebrated over a period of four to five days, culminating in the New Year. Thingyan ( Burmese: သင်္ကြန် MLCTS: sangkran, Arakanese: from Sanskrit saṁkrānti, which means "transit " ) is the Burmese New Year Festival that usually occurs in middle of April. In North America, Canada does not qualify for this year's Diversity program.Burmese girls perform traditional yein dance during closing ceremony of Myanmar New Year Water Festival 2011 in Yangon, Myanmar on 16 April 2011. Note that for purposes of the diversity program only, Northern Ireland is treated separately Northern Ireland does qualify and is listed among the qualifying areas Great Britain (United Kingdom) includes the following dependent areas: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, British Indian Ocean Territory, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, St. Natives of the following Asia Region countries are not eligible for this year’s Diversity Visa program:īangladesh, China (including Hong Kong), India, Pakistan, South Korea, Philippines, and Vietnam.Īlbania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark (including components andĭependent areas overseas), Estonia, Finland, France (including components and dependent areas overseas), Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands (including components and dependent areas overseas), Northern Ireland, Norway (including components and dependent areas overseas), Poland, Portugal (including components andĭependent areas overseas), Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vatican CityĮuropean countries not qualified for this year's diversity program: Persons born in Southern Sakhalin are chargeable to Russia. ***Persons born in the Habomai Islands, Shikotan, Kunashiri, and Etorofu are chargeable to Japan. For the purposes of the diversity program only, persons born in Macau S.A.R. (Europe region, chargeable to Portugal) and Taiwan (Asia region) do qualify and are listed. Persons born in the Gaza Strip are chargeable to Egypt persons born in the West Bank are chargeable to Jordan persons born in the Golan Heights are chargeable to Syria. *Persons born in the areas administered prior to June 1967 by Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt are chargeable, respectively, to Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt. Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel*, Japan, Jordan*, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Macau S.A.R.**, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria*, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.