The United States Department of State has officially begun accepting online registrations for the Fiscal Year 2021 Diversity Visa lottery since October 2, 2019. The deadline for foreign nationals looking to enter the lottery is set for Tuesday, November 5, 2019 at noon, Eastern Standard Time.
The Diversity Lottery program for the 2021 Fiscal Year will have 55,000 green card numbers to be handed out to randomly selected registrants when the results are announced in May 2020. If selected, foreign nationals may submit their green card applications from October 1, 2020.
Eligibility:
- Foreign nationals from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States are eligible to enter the lottery. If you are from a country with a high rate of immigration into the US, you are ineligible to register for the Diversity Lottery.
- Countries that are not included in the Fiscal Year 2021 Diversity Lottery Program include: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.
- If you are born in Macau SAR, Hong Kong SAR, or Taiwan, you are eligible to register.
- If you are born in a country that is excluded from the Diversity Visa Lottery, you may qualify to enter through your spouse if your spouse was born in a country that is included and eligible, or in certain cases, through your parent’s country of birth.
- To qualify for eligibility and to register, you must have not less than two years of appropriate work experience or must have a high school education (or equal).
Registration:
- The official Diversity Visa Lottery website has a link for submission of an online form and a digital photo of the registrant which can be found here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/diversity-visa-program-entry/entry/diversity-visa-submit-entry.html
Note: Registrants can add their spouse and children in their entry if they wish.
- More than one registration for one person is prohibited and registrants can only register for themselves once. If not, all the registrations for said person will be disqualified.
- If registering, it is imperative that registrants read the State Department’s lottery instructions in order to thoroughly follow the exact requirements of the registration and to not risk disqualification.
- If a primary applicant, you must provide information from your valid travel passport if applicable.
- After registering, a confirmation number will be sent to applicants and the confirmation number can be used to check the current status of applications.
After Registration:
From May 5, 2020 to September 30, 2021, the results for the Fiscal Year 2021 Diversity Lottery program will be released at https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/ .
Posted in: Immigration
posted on: October 17, 2019