The Department of State ("DOS") has issued application instructions for the 2010 Diversity Immigrant Program (DV-2010) green card lottery. The lottery will enable 50,000 randomly chosen people to obtain permanent residence in the United States. Applicants must have at least a high school education (or its equivalent) or two years of qualifying work experience. Applicants who are selected in the lottery will be eligible to become U.S. permanent residents during Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 (October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009).
The application period for the DV-2010 Diversity Visa lottery will begin at 12:00 pm EST on Thursday, October 2, 2008, and will end at 12:00 pm EST on Monday, December 1, 2008. Applications not submitted during this period will not be accepted.
- How to Apply
Applicants may access the electronic DV-2010 entry form (E-DV) at www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period. Paper entries will not be accepted. Applicants are strongly encouraged not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter. Heavy demand may result in website delays. Again, no entries will be accepted after 12:00 pm EST on December 2, 2008. - Background
Each year, the U.S. Diversity immigrant Visa program makes available visas to persons meeting certain eligibility requirements. Applicants for Diversity Visas are initially chosen through a random computer-generated lottery drawing. Visas are distributed among six geographic regions, with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, and no visas going to countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the past five years. Within each region, no one country can receive more than seven percent of the available Diversity Visas in any one year. - Ineligible Countries
For DV-2010, natives of the following countries are ineligible to apply, as they sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the last five years: BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISATAN, PHILIPPINES, PERU, POLAND, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM. - Changes to List of Eligible Countries
Persons born in Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan are eligible. Please note that for DV-2010, Russia has returned to the list of eligible countries. Kosovo has also been added to the list of eligible countries. No countries have been removed from the list of eligible countries for DV-2010. - Electronic Filing
All DV filings are required to be submitted in electronic format on the DOS website at www.dvlottery.state.gov dedicated for this purpose. The website features an application form that the applicant completes online and sends electronically to the specific DOS web address. The applicant must attach digital photographs of him/herself, and any spouse or unmarried children under 21 who will accompany the applicant; photographs are not required for children who are already United States citizens or lawful permanent residents. Lottery entrants will receive electronic confirmation upon receipt of a completed electronic entry form. Because the format is completely electronic, signatures are not required on the application. Further instructions and eligibility requirements are provided online at the link above. Application procedures and requirements remain essentially unchanged since last year. However, for the first time, those who submit entries may check the status of entries online and determine whether their entries are selected. Successful entrants will continue to receive notification letters by mail.
We will provide further information as soon as it becomes available.
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