The Diversity Visa Programme, better known equally the greenish card lottery, is a United States lottery arrangement that grants up to 55,000 foreign nationals the ability to use for an immigrant visa number. Most people need a petitioner to make an immigrant visa bachelor. Either a U.S. family member or employer must file a petition that eventually gives the beneficiary the path to a light-green card. The light-green menu lottery makes immigrant visas available each yr to randomly selected individuals who are from countries with low rates of immigration to the U.s..

About xx meg people enter the greenish carte du jour lottery each year in hopes of getting i of the 55,000 spots. To participate, applicants must come from an underrepresented state that has low rates of immigration to the United States. For individuals without an exceptional instruction or U.Southward. family members, the lottery is one of the culling few paths for immigrating to the Usa.

The 2022 green card lottery begins October two, 2019. Here is what you need to know if y'all program to apply.

Green Card Lottery Eligibility Requirements

The eligibility requirements to register for the Diversity Visa Program are minimal, and they can change slightly from year to twelvemonth. Here are the 2022 Diversity Visa Program (DV-2021) requirements:

CRITERIA
1

Birth in an Eligible Land

By and large, you must have been born in an eligible state. The purpose of the greenish card lottery is to encourage clearing from countries with depression rates of clearing to the United states. Therefore, countries with high rates of immigration to the U.Due south. are not eligible.

For DV-2021, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply, because more than 50,000 natives of these countries immigrated to the Usa in the previous five years: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Islamic republic of pakistan, Philippines, Republic of korea, U.k. (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. Although mainland Chinese nationals may not apply, persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan are eligible.

If you were born in 1 of the ineligible countries listed above, there are ii alternating ways to qualify for the green card lottery:

  • Spouse: Was your spouse born in a land whose natives are eligible? If yes, you can merits your spouse'southward country of birth – provided that both y'all and your spouse are named on the selected entry, are constitute eligible and issued diversity visas, and enter the United States simultaneously.
  • Parent: Were you lot born in a state whose natives are ineligible, just in which neither of your parents was born or legally resident at the time of your nascence? If yes, you lot may merits the country of birth of 1 of your parents if it is a country whose natives are eligible for the DV-2021 programme.

CRITERIA
2

Education/Work Feel

Each dark-green card lottery bidder must run across the instruction/work experience requirement. The applicant tin can satisfy this requirement by meeting one of the following criteria:

  • At least a high schoolhouse education or its equivalent, divers as successful completion of a 12-year grade of formal elementary and secondary teaching; or
  • Two years of work feel within the past five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience to perform. The Department of State will utilize the U.Due south. Department of Labor'due south O*Cyberspace Online database to determine qualifying work experience.

In that location is no minimum age to apply for the lottery, only the requirement of a high schoolhouse instruction or work experience for each principal bidder at the time of awarding volition typically disqualify most persons who are under age 18.

For a detailed explanation of the 2022 Multifariousness Program, review the DV-2021 instructions.

Applying for the Lottery

If you're interested in applying for the green card lottery, you may submit an entry during an approximately one-month period each year. Be prepared with your digital photos and near people can complete the digital application in well under an hour.

When to Employ

Applicants must submit entries for the DV-2021 programme electronically noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Wednesday, Oct 2, 2019, and apex, Eastern Standard Fourth dimension (EST) (GMT-5), Tuesday, November 5, 2019. Do not wait until the last week of the registration flow to enter, as heavy demand may upshot in website delays. No late entries or paper entries volition be accepted.

Use to the lottery only once each year. The U.S. Land Department says that individuals who submit more than i entry during the registration period will be disqualified. You may exist listed as the derivative applicant on another person's entry. This is possible for married applicants. Each spouse may submit i entry if each meets the eligibility requirements. If either spouse is selected, the other is entitled to apply for a green card equally a derivative dependent.

Where to Apply

Submit your electronic green card lottery entry at dvlottery.state.gov. This is the official U.Southward. State Department website to support the Diversity Visa Program. Be wary of whatever other website accepting entries for the green card lottery; information technology could exist a scam.

What You lot'll Need

Generally, yous'll need to provide bones information virtually yourself and your family unit. List your spouse and all children (if applicable). In fact, failure to list your eligible spouse is grounds for disqualification. Additionally, yous will need to submit a digital photograph for yourself and all derivative family members. The photo must exist of the aforementioned quality and composition as U.Due south. visa photos. The photos should be taken:

  • Within the last 6 months to reflect your current appearance
  • In color and in focus
  • In a size such that the head is between i inch and 1 3/eight inches (22 mm and 35 mm) or 50% and 69% of the image's total height from the bottom of the mentum to the top of the head. (View the Photo Composition Template for more size requirement details.)
  • In total-face view direct facing the camera with a neutral facial expression and both optics open
  • Dressed in clothing that you lot normally wearable on a daily ground
  • In front of a plain white or off-white background

The following guidelines as well apply:

  • Uniforms should not be worn in your photo, except religious wearable that is worn daily.
  • Do not wear a hat or head covering that obscures the hair or hairline, unless worn daily for a religious purpose. Your total face must exist visible, and the head covering must non cast whatsoever shadows on your face.
  • Headphones, wireless hands-free devices, or similar items are not adequate in your photo.
  • Practise not wearable Eyeglasses

New Dark-green Card Lottery Dominion for 2021

A new rule puts additional burdens on lottery applicants. The State Department now requires applicants have a current, unexpired passport. Additionally, the rule makes information technology easier for the State Department to quickly disqualify all entries that do non accurately include all information or documentation.

DV Plan Price

There is no cost to enter the Diversity Visa Programme. You should not have to pay to enter. If you lot are existence asked to pay a fee, make certain you are on the official website (dvlottery.state.gov).

If you are selected and apply for a Diversity Visa, you must pay all required visa awarding fees (currently $330) at the time of visa application and interview directly to the consular cashier at the U.Due south. embassy or consulate. For individuals who are already in the United states in another immigration status, you may be able to arrange condition. You will pay all required aligning of status fees (currently $i,225) directly to USCIS.

Light-green Card Lottery Winners

The U.S. State Section randomly selects individuals by calculator from among all qualified entries.

The U.S. government will not email, postal service or phone call you if you have been selected. You must go to the Entrant Status Check to determine your selection. Y'all must check your condition using the unique confirmation number from your registration. Starting May 5, 2020, cheque your status:

  1. Go to dvlottery.state.gov
  2. Enter the unique confirmation number saved from your DV-2021 online entry registration
  3. Make up one's mind your selection

If your entry is selected, you will be directed to a confirmation page providing further instructions to obtain your Diversity Visa. Information technology is extremely of import to respond earlier than subsequently. All selectees, including family members, must be issued visas by September xxx, 2021. They cannot "acquit over" your visa to the following year.

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