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DIVERSITY LOTTERY Program
Each
year, 50,000 immigrant visas are made available through a lottery to
people who come from countries with low rates of immigration to the
United States. None of these visas are available for people who come from countries
that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the
United States
in the past five years. The State Department's National
Visa
Center
holds the lottery every year, and chooses winners randomly from all
qualified entries. Anyone who is selected under this lottery will be
given the opportunity to apply for permanent residence. If permanent
residence is granted, then the individual will be authorized to live and
work permanently in the
United States. You will also be allowed to bring your spouse and any unmarried
children under the age of 21 to the
United States. There is no fee for
entering the diversity visa lottery. If you win, you must pay a fee for
an immigrant visa and a separate visa lottery surcharge.
ELIGIBILITY:
- You or your spouse must be a native of a country that is
eligible to participate in the Diversity Visa Lottery. You may also
be eligible to apply if your parent was born in a country that is
eligible to participate. (The State Department will publish the
names of countries that are eligible to participate before each
year's lottery.)
- You must have a high school diploma or the equivalent,
defined in the United States
as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and
secondary education; OR you must have two years of work experience
within the last five years in an occupation that requires at least
two years of training or experience to perform.
Before each year's lottery drawing, the Department of State will
publish explicit instructions on how to apply in press releases and the
Federal Register. Please follow all directions exactly. Millions of
applicants are rejected each year for failure to follow the directions. Please
note that the Diversity Visa Lottery Program for 2006 has ended.
Only
the winners will be notified by mail at the addresses listed on their
applications. Winners will be sent instructions and information on fees.
Being selected as a winner in the diversity visa lottery does not
automatically guarantee that you will be issued a visa, even if you are
qualified. The number of entries selected is greater than the number of
immigrant visas available, because not everyone selected will be
qualified for the visa or will choose to complete the processing. Once
all 50,000 visas have been issued, the diversity visa program for the
year will end.
2006 DV Lottery Instructions --- The
registration period for the DV-2006 Lottery ended at noon EST on January
7, 2005. Entries can no longer be accepted.
For
DV-2006, natives of the following countries were not eligible
to apply because they sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the
U.S.
in the previous five years:
CANADA,
CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, EL SALVADOR, HAITI,
INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, RUSSIA, SOUTH KOREA,
UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories,
and VIETNAM. Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and
Taiwan
are eligible.
As
instructions for 2007 lottery become available, it will be posted here.
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