September 14, 2011
The annual Department of State Diversity Visa Lottery is a free program making available 50,000 immigrant visas ("green cards") to natives of certain countries. Instructions for applying for the 2013 Diversity Visa Lottery are available at: http://travel.state.gov/pdf/DV_2013_instructions.pdf.
Nationals of countries who have sent over 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the past five years are not eligible for the Lottery. “Natives” of the following countries DO NOT QUALIFY: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born) (Hong Kong S.A.R., Macau S.A.R., and Taiwan are eligible), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom and dependent territories (except Northern Ireland which is eligible), and Vietnam. Please note Bangladesh has been added to the list of countries that do not qualify. Please also note that natives of South Sudan and Poland are now eligible.
You may complete the lottery application by going to the Department of State’s lottery website, www.dvlottery.state.gov.
Entries must be submitted electronically on the website between noon Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 and noon Eastern Daylight Time on Saturday, November 5, 2011. No entries will be accepted after noon on November 5, 2011. Paper entries sent by mail will not be accepted.
An applicant may submit his/her entry directly or instead, have someone submit it on his/her behalf. Digital photographs of the applicant and family (including spouse and each unmarried child under 21 years of age at the time of electronic entry) are required and must be submitted electronically as part of the entry. (Please carefully follow the Department of State’s instructions for photographs.) To qualify, an applicant must also have either a high school education or its equivalent, or two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience.
Each person may submit only ONE application. If more than one application per person is received, the applicant will be disqualified. However, a husband and wife may each file an application. If you were not born in one of the eligible countries, but your spouse was, both of you can apply as natives of the eligible country. Every application received between the above-stated application dates will have an equal chance of being selected. All Diversity Visa entrants will be required to go to the E-DV website Entry Status Check to find out whether or not they were selected for the lottery. Starting May 1, 2012, selectees can find out via Entry Status Check whether they were selected. The Department of State will NOT be mailing notification letters. Entrant Status Check will be the ONLY means to be notified of selection for DV-2013. Visas will be issued between October 1, 2012 and September 30, 2013. If you are chosen in the lottery you will need to apply for your visa as soon as possible because more people are notified than there are visas.
