Win a U.S. Visa: The Diversity Lottery Program

The Diversity Visa Lottery Program, or the green card visa lottery, makes 50,000 immigrant visas to the United States available annually through a lottery for people from countries with low rates of immigration to the U.S. These visas are not available for people from countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the past five years. The visa lottery program is held every year by the State Department's National Visa Center.

Lottery winners are chosen randomly from all qualified entries. Those selected through the diversity visa lottery program are provided the opportunity to apply for permanent residence. If granted, you can live and work permanently in the U.S. Your spouse and any unmarried children under the age of 21 will also be allowed to live in the U.S.

Some Countries Not Eligible

For 2007 natives of Canada, China, Columbia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Korea, the United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and Vietnam were not eligible to apply, because each one sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the previous five years. The list of eligible countries can change from year to year. The visa lottery program is intended to provide an immigration opportunity for residents of countries other than those that send large numbers of immigrants to the U.S.

Usually the country where you were born is considered for the US visa lottery. If you were born in an ineligible country but your spouse was born in an eligible one, you can claim your spouse's country of birth provided both of you are issued visas and enter the country at the same time. A second exception is if you were born in an ineligible country but neither of your parents were born or resided there at the time of your birth. You can claim nativity in one of your parents' countries of birth.

Continue to : Process for Filing the US Visa Lottery Application