What is DV Lottery?
You might have heard an immigrant in your community talking about how he or she “won the lottery?” the lottery your neighbor is talking about is the Diversity Visa program, which is administered by the Department of State as a way to increase the diversity of the immigrants coming to live in the United States.
The Immigration Act of 1990 established the Diversity Visa (DV) program, where 55,000 immigrant visas would be available in an annual lottery, starting in fiscal year 1995. The lottery aims to diversify the immigrant population in the United States, by selecting applicants mostly from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States in the previous five years.
To apply for a diversity visa, follow the steps on the Diversity Visa Process on usvisas.state.gov. Once you have completed those steps, review the instructions given to you by the Kentucky Consular Center (KCC), along with the information presented on this website, for further guidance and instructions.
How to apply?
The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program makes available approximately 50,000 diversity visas (DV) annually, drawn from selected at random by a computer, among all entries to persons who meet strict eligibility requirements from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Successful DV entrants must be eligible to receive a visa by qualifying based on education, work, and other requirements. Entering the Diversity Visa lottery (aka green card lottery) involves filling out a simple form online, and it doesn’t cost anything. You can enter the lottery every year from early October through early November.
How do you know that you are a Winner ?
The winners of the Diversity Visa lottery are chosen at random by a computer program, with a certain number of visas allocated to each region of the world and no one country receiving more than 7 percent of the Diversity Visas available in any given year.
Applicants will be able to check the status of their DV entry through the Entrant Status Check on www.dvlottery.state.gov, using the confirmation numbers they received when they initially submitted their applications. If you are not a winner, you are welcome to apply next year.
When you’re notified that you won the Diversity Visa, you’ll get a numerical rank, which will tell you when you can apply for your visa. Towards the end of July, you can check the State Department’s visa bulletin to see when you can submit your application. The first visas are available on October 1, the first day of the U.S. government’s fiscal year, and you can submit your application up to 90 days ahead of time.
What next if I am Selected?
If you’re selected in the green card lottery, it’s important to act fast, even though it could still be a year or more before you’re able to come to the United States. There are two reasons to act immediately: First of all, your application must be processed and your visa must be issued by the end of the fiscal year for which you were selected. Second, there are more people selected for the Diversity Visa than there are visas available, and if you wait until the last minute there might not be any visas left.
After you have completed the steps on the Diversity Visa Process on usvisas.state.gov, including submitting the required immigrant visa application form (DS-260), you may receive an email from the Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) to let you know that an interview has been scheduled for you. The e-mail will instruct you to log into the Entrant Status Check on the Electronic Diversity Visa (E-DV) website, using your DV entry confirmation number, to view the date, time and location of your interview.
Interview and Status
At the end of your immigrant visa interview, the consular officer will inform you whether your visa application is approved or denied. It usually takes several business days to process and print the visa, so applicants should not purchase tickets to the United States until they have received their passport with the U.S. visa affixed inside.
Some visa applications require further administrative processing, which takes additional time after the visa applicant’s interview by a consular officer. Applicants are advised of this requirement when they apply. Most administrative processing is resolved within 60 days of the visa interview. When administrative processing is required, the timing will vary based on the individual circumstances of each case. You can check the status of your visa application on ceac.state.gov. You can check the status of your visa application at website.
If your visa is approved: Your passport and visa packet will be sent to the PTT office of your choice for you to pick up in person.
Entering the Diversity Visa lottery is like entering any other lottery—the odds of winning aren’t high—but if you’re lucky, it can be a way to come to the United States even if you don’t have any family or employment contacts.
