Become a Green Card Holder Through the DV Lottery Program

Getting a green card will give you legal residence status in the US. You can enter, work and live permanently in the US. There are different ways to get a green card.

The DV Lottery Program :

As mentioned earlier, there are many ways through which you can get a green card and the DV lottery program is one among those. The DV lottery (Diversity Visa) program is held every year and through this program, 50,000 green cards are issued to applicants who are selected randomly. All applicants have to fulfill simple, but strict eligibility requirements. The main eligibility criteria is that you should be from a qualifying country. “Qualifying country”is same as your country of birth and is not related to where you live. Another requirement is that you should have at least a high school education or its equivalent.

There is a scale that decides the countries that are eligible. Countries that send large number of their nationals to the US are not eligible. If more than 50,000 persons in the family and employment based visa classification immigrated to the US in the last five years from your country, you will not qualify for the current year’s DV lottery program.

If you meet the requirements, you should submit only one entry. You will be disqualified if you submit more than one entry. But a husband and wife can each submit one entry if each meet the eligibility requirements.

If you do not qualify because you are not from a qualifying country, you can apply if your spouse is from a qualifying country. In such cases, both (you and your spouse) have to enter the US together ( if selected). All your children (under 21) listed in your application can accompany you during the US visit. You also have another option where you can qualify through the country of birth of either of your parents as long as neither of your parents was a resident of an ineligible country at the time of your birth.

DV lottery process :

The Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) is the authority entrusted with the processing of all DV lottery applications. All the applications received here will be separately numbered and a computer will randomly select from the available entries for each geographic region. All the applications, immaterial of the geographic region, get an equal chance of getting selected.

Off late, many scammers send fraudulent emails to the DV lottery applicants telling them they have won the DV lottery. Unlike previous years, DV-2012 applicants should monitor the status of their case online and will not receive any notification letter from the government. The status of their application can be checked at the official website http://www.dvlottery.state.gov

Though there is no fee for entering the DV lottery program, selected applicants are required to will have to pay immigrant visa fees in person at the US embassy or Consulate at the time of visa application. If you are selected, you can apply for adjustment of status for permanent residence. The application has to to submitted to the USCIS.