US DV Lottery: How to Apply for US Green Card?

DV Lottery is one of the easiest and legal ways of migrating to the United States, over 12 million people applied for the DV lottery in 2019.

The US or the United States is the land of opportunities, from Asia to Africa and even Europe, everyone has the dream of starting a new and a better life with having all the freedoms and the opportunities to expand their ideas, making a better life and have the best possible future.

So if you’re one of those dreamers and have a vision of starting a better life with lots of opportunities and a better future, you’re in the right place. This blog post will help you out with all information about the US DV Lottery, from basics to advance, all needed instruction to apply. Stick with us till the end, read every section carefully, and if you got any questions feel free to contact us by any means available, and we would be happy to answer all your queries.

What is DV Lottery?

The US DV Lottery or the Unite States Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is US government program for receiving a US permanent Visa or US Green Card.

The DV lottery is administrated by the US Department of States and managed by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The program issues 55,000 Visa’s annually from all countries around the world, the aim is to diversify the immigrant population of the United States.

Each year the program application starts on October and ends on November, which means you barely have a month to prepare and submit your documents. All your documents must be submitted online, through their only official website. The program result comes out the next year on June and end on 30the September, on the DV lottery official website, and applicants can check them through a special code, receiving it during application registration process.

Many deceptive agencies charges fee from applicants against processing their online forms. Some agencies going beyond that, and introducing themselves as a legal DV Lottery partner and asking for huge amounts of money from applicants. But at the end of the day, they’re all there to make money and nothing else. 

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DV Lottery Requirements:

The US DV Lottery requirements are simple and have nothing to be very worried about, but yet there are slightly few things to be kept into consideration while you apply for the DV lottery. These requirements are available on the application page of the DV lottery website, once you visit the application form, you will find everything in details.

These requirements are varying each year, and, the US Department of Stat, bring necessary changes each year according to the circumstances and world conditions. Same is the number of applicant, varying each year.

So before apply, read the full description and provided requirement and then prepare your documents accordingly. But still to give you a rough idea, here in this topic we have prepared the list of requirement documents and necessary steps to have a successful application.

Applicants who are selected in the program (selectees) must meet simple but strict eligibility requirements to qualify for a diversity visa. The Department of State determines selectees through a randomized computer drawing. The Department of State distributes diversity visas among six geographic regions, and no single country may receive more than seven percent of the available DVs in any one year.

For DV-2021, natives of 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 (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.

Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan are eligible.

Eligibility:

Requirement #1: Applicants should be resident of any country other than the United States, and be a citizen of the eligible country.

If you were not born in an eligible country, there are two other ways you might be able to qualify.

• Was your spouse born in a country whose natives are eligible? If yes, you can claim your spouse’s country of birth – provided that both you and your spouse are named on the selected entry, are found eligible and issued diversity visas, and enter the United States simultaneously.
• Were you born in a country whose natives are ineligible, but in which neither of your parents was born or legally resident at the time of your birth? If yes, you may claim the country of birth of one of your parents if it is a country whose natives are eligible for the DV-2021 program. For more details on what this means, see the Frequently Asked Questions

Requirement #2: Each DV applicant must meet the education/work experience requirement of the DV program by having either:

• at least a high school education or its equivalent defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of formal elementary and secondary education;
• Two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience to perform. The Department of State will use the U.S. Department of Labor’s O*Net Online database to determine qualifying work experience.

For more information about qualifying work experience, see the Frequently Asked Questions.

Do not submit an entry to the DV program unless you meet both of these requirements.

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Entry period

Applicants must submit entries for the DV-2022 program electronically at dvlottery.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. Do not wait until the last week of the registration period to enter, as heavy demand may result in website delays. No late entries or paper entries will be accepted. The law allows only one entry per person during each registration period. The Department of State uses sophisticated technology to detect multiple entries. Individuals with more than one entry will be disqualified.

You must provide all of the following information to complete your entry. Failure to accurately include all the required information will result in mandatory disqualification of your entry

1. Name – last/family name, first name, middle name – exactly as it appears on your passport. If you have only one name, it must be entered in the last/family name field.
2. Gender – male or female.
3. Birth date – day, month, year.
4. City where you were born.
5. Country where you were born – Use the name of the country currently used for the place where you were born.
6. Country of eligibility for the DV program – Your country of eligibility will normally be the same as your country of birth. Your country of eligibility is not related to where you live or your nationality, if it is different from your country of birth. If you were born in a country that is not eligible, please review the Frequently Asked Questions to see if there is another way you may be eligible.
7. NEW FOR DV-2022: The passport number, country of issuance, and expiration date for the principal entrant’s valid, unexpired international travel passport. This requirement applies to the principal entrant only, not to dependents. You must enter valid international travel passport information unless you are stateless, a national of a Communist-controlled country and unable to obtain a passport from the government of the Communist-controlled country, or the beneficiary of an individual waiver approved by the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State.
8. Entrant photograph(s) – Recent photographs (taken within the last six months) of yourself, your spouse, and all your children. See Submitting a Digital Photograph for compositional and technical specifications. You do not need to include a photograph for a spouse or child who is already a U.S. citizen or a Lawful Permanent Resident, but you will not be penalized if you do.

DV entry photographs must meet the same standards as U.S. visa photos. Your entry will be disqualified or your visa application refused if the entry photographs for you and your family members do not fully meet these specifications or have been manipulated in any way. Submitting the same photograph that was submitted with a prior year’s entry will result in disqualification. See Submitting a Digital Photograph (below) for more information.

• Mailing Address – In Care Of
  • Address Line 1
  • Address Line 2
  • City/Town
  • District/Country/Province/
  • State Postal Code/Zip Code
  • Country
• Country where you live today.
• Phone number (optional).
• Email address – An email address to which you have direct access, and will continue to have direct access, after we notify selectees in May of next year. If your entry is selected and you respond to the notification of your selection through the Entrant Status Check, you will receive follow-up email communication from the Department of State notifying you that details of your immigrant visa interview are available on Entrant Status Check. The Department of State will never send you an email telling you that you have been selected for the DV program. See the Frequently Asked Questions for more information about the selection process.
• Highest level of education you have achieved, as of today: (1) Primary school only, (2) Some high school, no diploma, (3) High school diploma, (4) Vocational school, (5) Some university courses, (6) University degree, (7) Some graduate-level courses, (8) Master’s degree, (9) Some doctoral level courses, and (10) Doctorate. See the Frequently Asked Questions for more information about educational requirements.
• Current marital status: (1) Unmarried, (2) married and my spouse is NOT a U.S. citizen or U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR), (3) married and my spouse IS a U.S. citizen or U.S. LPR, (4) divorced, (5) widowed, or (6) legally separated. Enter the name, date of birth, gender, city/town of birth, and country of birth of your spouse, and a photograph of your spouse meeting the same technical specifications as your photo.

Failure to list your eligible spouse or, listing someone who is not your spouse, will result in your disqualification as the Diversity Visa principal applicant and refusal of all visa applications in your case at the time of the visa interview. You must list your spouse even if you currently are separated from him/her, unless you are legally separated. Legal separation is an arrangement when a couple remain married but live apart, following a court order. If you and your spouse are legally separated, your spouse will not be able to immigrate with you through the Diversity Visa program. You will not be penalized if you choose to enter the name of a spouse from whom you are legally separated. If you are not legally separated by a court order, you must include your spouse even if you plan to be divorced before you apply for the Diversity Visa. Failure to list your eligible spouse is grounds for disqualification.

If your spouse is a U.S. citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident, do not list him/her in your entry. A spouse who is already a U.S. citizen or LPR will not require or be issued a visa. Therefore, if you select “married and my spouse IS a U.S. citizen or U.S. LPR” on your entry, you will not be prompted to include further information on your spouse. See the Frequently Asked Questions for more information about family members.

1. Number of children – List the name, date of birth, gender, city/town of birth, and country of birth for all living unmarried children under 21 years of age, regardless of whether they are living with you or intend to accompany or follow to join you, should you immigrate to the United States. Submit individual photographs of each of your children using the same technical specifications as your own photograph.

Be sure to include:

• all living natural children;
• all living children legally adopted by you; and,
• all living step-children who are unmarried and under the age of 21 on the date of your electronic entry, even if you are no longer legally married to the child’s parent, and even if the child does not currently reside with you and/or will not immigrate with you.

Married children and children who are already aged 21 or older when you submit your entry are not eligible for the DV program. However, the Child Status Protection Act protects children from “aging out” in certain circumstances. If you submit your DV entry before your unmarried child turns 21, and the child turns 21 before visa issuance, it is possible that he or she may be treated as though he or she were under 21 for visa processing purposes.

A child who is already a U.S. citizen or LPR when you submit your DV entry will not require or be issued a Diversity Visa; you will not be penalized for either including or omitting such family members from your entry.

Failure to list all children who are eligible or, listing someone who is not your child, will result in disqualification of the principal applicant and refusal of all visa applications in the case at the time of the visa interview. See the Frequently Asked Questions for more information about family members.

See the Frequently Asked Questions for more information about completing your Electronic Entry for the DV-2021 Program.

Submitting a Digital Photograph (Image):

You can take a new digital photograph or scan a recent (taken within the last six months) photograph with a digital scanner, as long as it meets all of the standards below. DV entry photos must be of the same quality and composition as U.S. visa photos. You can see examples of acceptable photos here. Do not submit a photograph older than six months or a photograph that does not meet all of the standards described below. Submitting the same photograph that you submitted with a prior year’s entry, a photograph that has been manipulated, or a photograph that does not meet the specifications below will result in disqualification.

Your photos or digital images must be:

• In color
• In focus
• Sized such that the head is between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches (22 mm and 35 mm) or 50 percent and 69 percent of the image’s total height from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head. View the Photo Composition Template for more size requirement details.
• Taken within the last six months to reflect your current appearance
• Taken in front of a plain white or off-white background
• Taken in full-face view directly facing the camera
• With a neutral facial expression and both eyes open
• Taken in clothing that you normally wear on a daily basis
• Uniforms should not be worn in your photo, except religious clothing that is worn daily.
• Do not wear a hat or head covering that obscures the hair or hairline, unless worn daily for a religious purpose. Your full face must be visible, and the head covering must not cast any shadows on your face
• Headphones, wireless hands-free devices, or similar items are not acceptable in your photo.
• Do not wear eyeglasses
• If you normally wear a hearing device or similar articles, they may be worn in your photo.

Review the Photo Examples to see examples of acceptable and unacceptable photos. Photos copied or digitally scanned from driver’s licenses or other official documents are not acceptable. In addition, snapshots, magazine photos, low quality vending machine or mobile phone photos, and full-length photographs are not acceptable.

You must upload your digital image as part of your entry. Your digital image must be:

• In JPEG (.jpg) file format
• Equal to or less than 240 kB (kilobytes) in file size
• In a square aspect ratio (height must equal width)
• 600×600 pixels in dimension

Do you want to scan an existing photo? In addition to the digital image requirements, your existing photo must be:

• 2 x 2 inches (51 x 51 mm)
• Scanned at a resolution of 300 pixels per inch (12 pixels per millimeter)

Use the Department of State’s free photo tool to:

• select a digital image stored on your computer
• resize and rotate it if necessary
• crop it to a square image of exactly 600 x 600 pixels

Taking photos of your baby or toddler:

When taking a photo of your baby or toddler, no other person should be in the photo, and your child should be looking at the camera with his or her eyes open.

Tip 1: Lay your baby on his or her back on a plain white or off-white sheet. This will ensure your baby’s head is supported and provide a plain background for the photo. Make certain there are no shadows on your baby’s face, especially if you take a picture from above with the baby lying down

Tip 2: Cover a car seat with a plain white or off-white sheet and take a picture of your child in the car seat. This will also ensure your baby’s head is supported.