If you dream of immigrating to the U.S., you must have heard about the US diversity visa or DV Diversity lottery program. Also known as the green card lottery, DV program is a way to increase the diversity of U.S. immigrants. Each year, the U.S. government randomly selects 50,000 people from a large pool of applications for the diversity visa program. Due to the randomness of the program, people also call it American visa lottery.
This is a suitable way for some of the families who cannot legally immigrate to the U.S. by any other means. If you want to apply for the US Diversity Visa lottery program, you have to fill an online form. The form is available for free. The state department announces the US DV program program every year, and you can submit your application from early October to early November. The winners receive their green cards, and they are selected randomly by a computer.
An Insight into the History of DV Lottery Check
The American visa lottery or the US DV program came into picture under the Immigration Act of 1990. It was introduced as a way to increase the diversity in the people immigrating to the U.S. Previously; the US immigrants came from only a few selected countries. Congress introduced the DV diversity lottery program to increase the number of immigrants from those countries who send a few or not immigrants.
The U.S. state department is currently responsible for all the administrative activities of the diversity visa program. They look after the organization of American visa lottery program and also select the random winners. However, keep in mind that the winners will have to go through several procedures with the U.S. state department before they’re issued their green cards.
You should keep in mind that the rules and requirements of the diversity visa program keep changing every year. Several bills have been proposed in congress to eliminate this program, but for now, none of these bills have been approved and acted upon.
Eligibility Criteria For the US Diversity Visa
Basically, there is a criterion that you must fulfill if you wish to be eligible for the diversity visa program.
Native Country: If you want to qualify for the US diversity visa program, you must have been born in a country with less than 50 thousand immigrants to the USA in the past five years. Consequently, countries like Canada, Mexico never make the list for the diversity visa programs as they send plenty of immigrants to the USA every year.
The best thing about the diversity visa program is that even if your native country is not eligible to apply for the lottery, there are still two options by using which you can apply for this program.
- If your spouse was born in an eligible country, then you can apply with him/her. On the application form, you can choose your spouse’s country of birth.
- If your parents were not legal residents in your country of birth, you could choose their birth country on your application.
One important thing that you should know is if you are applying for the DV-2022, then natives of some countries won’t be able to apply for the DV diversity lottery. These countries have already sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the past five years. The list of these countries is as follows: 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.
Education:
If you want to qualify for the American Visa lottery, you must also have a high school degree or two years of work experience within the past five years. It must be in a field that requires two years of training prior.
General Admissibility Requirements for US Diversity Visa
If you’ve won the green card lottery, then there are some general requirements that you have to fulfill just like any other green card applicant. If you have certain types of criminal records, you might become ineligible for the green card. There are some medical conditions that can also reduce your chances of getting a green card. You can read complete details on the USCIS official website.
