Diversity Visa Lottery (“Green Card Lottery”)
The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered on an annual basis by the U.S. Department of State. It provides for a class of immigrants known as "diversity immigrants" (DV immigrants). Each year, there are 50,000 permanent resident visas available to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The countries are designated each year.
The Diversity Visa Lottery program is conducted each year and the dates to submit the application changes each year.
Applications for the last Diversity Visa Lottery (DV-2008) were submitted between October 4 through December 3, 2006. Please check our news flashes page or sign up for our mailing list to find out when the next lottery (DV-2009) will occur later this year.
When the lottery applications open, they can be filed electronically through the U.S. Department of State at:
www.dvlottery.state.gov
In order to apply for the Diversity Visa Lottery:
- Applicant must be a native of one of the countries designated.
Native of a country whose natives qualify: In most cases this means the country in which the applicant was born. However, there are two other ways a person may be able to qualify. First, if a person was born in a country whose natives are ineligible but his/her spouse was born in a country whose natives are eligible, such person can claim the spouse’s country of birth provided both the applicant and spouse are issued visas and enter the U.S. simultaneously. Second, if a person was born in a country whose natives are ineligible, but neither of his/her parents was born there or resided there at the time of his/her birth, such person may claim nativity in one of the parents’ country of birth if it is a country whose natives qualify for the diversity visa program.
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Applicant must meet either the education or training requirement of the DV program.
Education or Training: An applicant must have EITHER a high school education or its equivalent, defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education; OR two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform. The U.S. Department of Labor’s O*Net OnLine database will be used to determine qualifying work experience. You can search occupations at the following link:
http://online.onetcenter.org/
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