The DV Lottery is conducted under the terms of Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and the US State Department makes available 50,000 permanent residence visas (Green Cards) on an annual basis to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. This is done through a program called the Diversity Visa Lottery Program or "Green Card Lottery".
This Program was set up to provide an Immigration opportunity to people from countries other than the main source countries of Immigration to the USA.
This program is open to all persons meeting the eligibility requirements who have correctly submitted an application at the correct time. The processing of applications is very strict and errors results in immediate rejection. Every year approximately 40% of all applications unfortunately get rejected! This is one reason why you may want to consider professional assistance with your application.
Persons wishing to apply need to meet 2 eligibility criteria. The first, is a Minimum Education level and the second, is determined by an applicants Country of Birth (but not their citizenship or residency). Check your eligibility to apply online now.
The Kentucky Consular Center (the State Department agency that administers the Diversity Visa program) receives the electronic applications during the submission period. Firstly, all applications received outside the correct application time period are unable to be submitted (rejected). Secondly, any applications that are not received in the correct new electronic format are also rejected. Thirdly, the rest of the applications received are checked and processed. Any applications submitted correctly (even with just a tiny error e.g. wrong photo for specific person) are also immediately rejected. Fourthly, any multiple applications from the same person are all immediately rejected. Finally, only then are the remaining correctly submitted applications ready to be entered for the Diversity Visa Lottery.
These applications are then selected at random by computer to determine the winners. If an applicant has submitted a 100% correctly prepared application at the correct time, he/she will have just as good a chance of success as the next person. This is obviously a very fair process.
Successful applicants (winners) are notified by the Kentucky Consular Center approximately 6-8 months after the application is submitted (entered) depending on the final application submittal period date.
This next stage is the ‘red tape’ stage where the successful applicant will have supporting US Immigration documents to complete and will be required to get their supporting documents (e.g. birth, marriage, education certificates etc.) together.
The completed additional US Immigration documents are then returned to the Kentucky Consular Center for processing. Once processing is complete, an interview and medical is scheduled at the US Embassy in the applicant’s country of residence. This time frame can be approximately from 4 to 12 months.
On the day of the scheduled interview at the US Embassy, the applicant will undergo a medical exam and have an interview with a US Immigration official. This is where the official will just double-check all the documents (including the supporting documents). The applicant is then required to swear under oath that all their statements and documents are correct. The US Embassy will then issue the applicant their US Immigrant Visa. The cost for the Visa issuance and medical is around US $500.
The Applicant then has 6 months to go to the USA to activate their immigrant visa (Green Card).
The Green Card Lottery Program is the certainly one of the quickest, easiest and cheapest ways to obtain a United States Green Card. Check your eligibility to apply online now.