The Diversity Visa Program, or “Green Card Lottery,” is an annual
lottery run by the U.S. Department of State to allow about 50,000 people a
chance to get a permanent resident visa to the USA. The visas provided under
this program are reserved for natives of countries that have a traditionally
low rate of immigration to the U.S.
The application period for each
year’s lottery is only about one month long, and there is very little
opportunity to correct mistakes made when submitting documents – in fact, you
can be disqualified for not filing the forms correctly. Therefore, it is very
important to fill out your forms correctly and quickly.
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 from between noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Wednesday, October 7, 2020,
and noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5), Tuesday, November 10, 2020.
Eligibility
Who Is eligible for the Diversity Visa?
1. Country of birth
In order to qualify for the Diversity Visa, you must have been born in
a country that sent less than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the
past 5 years. There is some yearly variation in the countries that are
eligible, but Canada, China, India, Mexico, and the United Kingdom never make
the list, because these countries all send a large number of immigrants to the
United States.
If your native country is not eligible, there are
still two ways you could qualify for the Diversity Visa.
If your
spouse was born in an eligible country, you can apply with your spouse and
choose your spouse’s birth country on your application.
If neither
of your parents were legal residents in your own country of birth, you can
choose your mother or father’s country of birth.
For DV-2022,
persons born in the following countries are not eligible to apply, because
more than 50,000 natives of these countries immigrated to the United States in
the previous five years: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong
Kong SAR), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti,
Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea,
United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and
Vietnam.
Persons born in Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible.
2. Education
U.S. immigration law and regulations require that every DV entrant must
have at least a high school education or its equivalent or have two years of
work experience within the past five years in an occupation that requires at
least two years of training or experience. A “high school education or
equivalent” is defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of
elementary and secondary education in the United States OR the successful
completion in another country of a formal course of elementary and secondary
education comparable to a high school education in the United States. Only
formal courses of study meet this requirement; correspondence programs or
equivalency certificates (such as the General Equivalency Diploma G.E.D.) are
not acceptable. You must present documentary proof of education or work
experience to the consular officer at the time of the
visa interview.
If
you do not meet the requirements for education or work experience, your entry
will be disqualified at the time of your visa interview, and no visas will be
issued to you or any of your family members.
3. Occupations qualified for the DV program
The Department of State will use the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL)
O*Net OnLine database to determine qualifying work experience. The O*Net
OnLine database categorizes job experience into five “job zones.” While the
DOL website lists many occupations, not all occupations qualify for the DV
program. To qualify for a DV on the basis of your work experience, you must
have, within the past five years, two years of experience in an occupation
classified in a Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) range of 7.0 or
higher.
If you do not meet the requirements for education or work
experience, your entry will be disqualified at the time of your visa
interview, and no visas will be issued to you or any of your family
members.
4. General admissibility requirements
If
you’re selected in the green card lottery, you and your family members will
have to meet the same requirements as any other U.S. green card applicant.
Certain types of criminal records could make you ineligible for a green card.
There are also some medical conditions that could make it difficult or
impossible to get a green card.
Online Registration
The online registration period for the DV-2022 Program begins on
Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4),
and concludes on Tuesday, November 10, 2020 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Standard
Time (EST) (GMT-5).
Entering the Lottery
Participating in the lottery is relatively easy. You fill out a form on
the DV program website[
LINK HERE ]. Applicants must
submit entries for the DV-2022 program electronically at dvprogram.state.gov
between noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Wednesday, October 7, 2020,
and noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5), Tuesday, November 10, 2020.
The
law allows only one entry per person during each entry period. The Department
of State uses sophisticated technology to detect multiple entries. Submission
of more than one entry will render you ineligible for a DV.
