DV Lottery

Real Help for People to Apply for the DV Lottery

This website is to help people who want to apply for the DV Lottery (officially known as the Diversity Visa Lottery Program, and sometimes called the Green Card Lottery) in order to emigrate to the United States and be allowed permanent resident status.

Not everyone can be successful in this, which is why we have lots of resources right here to help you find a new life in the United States of America.

Our list of resources is growing every week. So be sure to return to this site on a regular basis.

There's a bit of background reading to do first. You need to know about how this works, so you'll want to read the following sections before applying for the DV Lottery.

The DV Lottery and United States Immigration

Immigration into the U.S. consists of the movement of people who are not United States nationals to permanently live in the United States. This has contributed greatly to the U.S. population growth and to the diversity of culture and way of life right through the whole of U.S. historical development. Every single American (with the exception of the indigenous native American population) is able to trace their ancestry back to immigrants who arrived from other parts of the world, because the U.S. is a settler society, originally founded by colonials.

The U.S. population comes from all over the world

(Source: Wikimedia.org)

The U.S. has a significantly larger immigrant community than any other nation in the world. In 2015 this figure was 47 million immigrants living in the United States, which is 19.1% of the total 244 immigrants internationally. This represents 14.4% of the population of the United States. There are only a couple of other countries which have a larger immigrant proportion, these being Canada (at 21.9%) and Switzerland (at 24.9%).

The Yearbook of Immigration Statistics for the year 2016 shows that the U.S. took in 1.18 million immigrants altogether, who were all legal. This consisted of 618,000 fresh arrivals and 565,000 additional status adjustments. The Yearbook also showed that 48% of these were close relatives of existing United States citizens, 20% of these were sponsored by extended families, 13% were of refugee status including asylum seeking people, 12% consisted of employment-based immigrants (largely in skilled occupations) and 4.2% were people who had applied through the DV Lottery, or Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (also known as the US Green Card Lottery).

There were other smaller groups. In particular, 1.4% were victims of crime overseas or belonged to the family of those who were; a further 1.0% were people who were granted SIV (Special Immigrant Visa status) for afghans and Iraqis who were employees of the United States government; the other 0.4% were tiny numbers from several additional categories, mainly humanitarian.

The implications of mass immigration, taking into account social, political as well as economic factors, have always tended to causes discussion regarding such issues as cultural and ethnic stability, settlement preferences and patterns, employment for immigrants vs for established citizens, social mobility direction, polling activity and intentions and crime.

From 1921 to 1965, U.S. government policies like the national origins analysis tended to cap immigration for those who originated from countries beyond western Europe. There were actually exclusion statutes as early as the 1880s which acutely curtailed immigration from Asia, and other statutes in the 1920s which limited the immigration of people from eastern Europe. However, such ethnic quotas were overthrown by the civil rights movement, and since that time the number of people in the U.S. who were first generation immigrants has grown vastly in number.

On balance, research studies have shown that United States immigration has been largely good for the economy of the U.S., immigration having (with some exceptions) a positive effect on the existing populace. There is also research which shows that immigrants tend to have a smaller crime rate than that of the existing population.

This is an overview of the U.S. immigration patterns over the past century or so. To find out if you are eligible, or if you have any special questions about this, please continue reading.

The DV Lottery Program

The United States State Department runs an annual computer-drawing of winners of the randomly selected applicants who have previously applied for the Diversity Visa Program (DV Lottery or US Green Card Lottery). This is a program which entitles people originally from other countries to legally live, work, study, invest in the United States or otherwise be in the United States for business purposes.

The DV Lottery program was conceived originally in order to allow into the country those who had the lowest existing representation of settlement within the U.S. For example, if fewer than fifty thousand people from a certain country had come in within the previous five years, that country is said to be under-represented. For this reason, people arriving from countries with traditionally higher rates of immigration, such as the UK, are excluded from the program.

Why is it called the Diversity Visa or DV Lottery?

During most years, a large number of people from certain other countries settle permanently in the United States; but these countries tend to be the same countries sending relatively large numbers of people every year. So it was decided that there should be a mechanism by which people from other countries should be able to move to the U.S. Hence the term 'diversity'.

When someone living in another country wins the DV Lottery, the first thing to be given to them is an immigrant visa. The US Green Card is only issued to them after that. The Green Card is only issued after the proper documentation is submitted and all the documents are submitted and supported in the correct way; the Green Card is also contingent upon the applicant passing an interview by a United States official.

Winners of the DV Lottery have to go through the secondary requirements in order to achieve their Green Card status. Once this has been achieved, the winner will be allowed permanent residence within the United States of America.

The DV Lottery First Started

The DV Lottery, in the form of the Diversity Visa Program, was first started in 1995. When it was first started it was designed to allow 55,000 winners of the DV Lottery their immigration visas. Over the following years this number was increased to 95,000 successful winners, and since then the number has fallen back again to 50,000.

This number increased again as a result of the Nicaraguan and Central American Relief law, by another 5,000. So the number rose again to 55,000. (Although 50,000 is the ‘normal’ figure and it is this figure which is used when the DV Lottery is discussed.)

The Visa Lottery was signed into law by President George Bush with the Immigration Act of 1990. The Lottery is sponsored by the U.S. State Department. You are now able to apply for this with some extra help that we can give.

The Number of DV Lottery Winners

The number of winners of the DV Lottery who will gain a visa to live permanently in the United States is 50,000 annually (excluding people given visas under NACARA laws).

The number of people who are given Visas is always less than the number of winners of the DV Lottery. This is because almost half the people who win the DV Lottery do not actually qualify for their immigrant visas because they either fail the interview phase or their documentation is in some way incorrect, or incorrectly submitted. There is also a smaller number of people who decide that they do not want to qualify for immigrant visa after all, for various reasons.

It should be noted, also, that every immediate family member of the applicant for the DV Lottery gets a chance of the available visas, even though only one person in each family is eligible to the chosen in this way.

Regions in Today’s DV Lottery Program

There are six global regions geographically among which the DV Lottery takes place and the total of 50,000 visa are divided by these six regions. This is to ensure that not more than 7 percent of the total 50,000 are given to people living in the same country. So this works out at 3,500 winners maximum in any one country.

U.S. Immigration 1660 to 2009

(Source: Wikimedia.org)

This is one of the basics of how the DV Lottery works. You can get live advice from qualified experts for your own application, and this follows shortly after the section on 'DV Lottery Requirements', below..

DV Lottery Requirements

Born in a qualifying country

It is necessary that you are a native of any of the many qualifying countries where the DV Lottery operates. Only people from those countries will qualify for fulfilling the quota groups within the visa program to live permanently in the United States. A list of qualifying countries is compiled each year (although they are largely the same countries every year, with some exceptions).

An applicant may also be eligible if not born in one of these countries but if MARRIED to someone who was born in one of these countries (in which case the visa is issued jointly to both applicants).

Failing qualification by marriage, a person may qualify if their PARENTS were born in one of the qualifying countries.

Eligible Countries for the DV Lottery

Most countries in the world qualify as eligible countries for the DV Lottery program. So it may perhaps be more useful to list the countries which were NOT eligible. If you were born in any of the following countries then you are not eligible for the DV Lottery (but you may qualify by marriage or parentage if your spouse or parents were born in any of the eligible countries).

Europe

Anguilla
Bermuda
British Virgin Islands
Cayman Islands
Diego Garcia
Falkland Islands
Gibraltar
Montserrat
Pitcairn
St. Helena
Turks and Caicos Islands
United Kingdom

North America

Canada
Mexico
United States

Africa

Nigeria

Asia

Bangladesh
China
India
Pakistan
Philippines
South Korea
Vietnam

South America, Central America, the Caribbean

Brazil
Colombia
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
El Salvador
Haiti
Jamaica
Peru

It should perhaps be noted that the decision for which countries are eligible is subject to a certain change year by year, as this is controlled by the number of people arriving from a specific country over the previous five years. If this is more than the statutory number then that country will become ineligible for the following year. Over time this has meant that some countries become eligible and then non-eligible for this reason. Below is a chart to show exactly how this has happened in practice.

DV Lottery eligible countries' changing status

(Source: Wikipedia)

Education and Training Eligibility for the DV Lottery

Applicants need to have a certain minimum educational or vocational training qualification. Applicants should have either successfully completed their high school education, or have the equivalent of a high school diploma, as recognized by the United States. Failing that, the applicant must have a minimum of two years consecutive work experience in the previous five years. (The U.S. Dept of Labor has an online database of eligible occupations.)

The DV Lottery and US Green Cards

If you are reading this then you have decided that you want to try to take part in the DV Lottery to gain permanent residence in the United States. The previous sections have been introductions to U.S. immigration and the development and purpose of the DV Lottery. By now you will also know that you are eligible for the DV Lottery yourself.

Your country is eligible for this, meaning that you are free to apply. A Green Card is given to people who have qualified to win the DV Lottery and who have then successfully completed and submitted their documents and passed an interview. It is the Green Card status which allows you to obtain permanent residence in the United States.

After a number of years, people with permanent resident status may apply to become naturalized U.S. citizens.

Example of a Permanent Resident Card

(Source: Wikimedia.org)

If you are a winner of the DV Lottery it will mean that Green Card status will also be given to your spouse and to your children as well.

Each year the United States government has its annual DV Lottery program (Diversity Visa Lottery) and anywhere from 100,000 to 125,000 people who apply are selected to win, and from these there are 50,000 Green Cards issued from people who have applied from all over the world (excluding any numbers under the NACARA laws).

The draw will take place through random computer generated lottery draw.

Professional Help for Your DV Lottery Application

Exclusive: This is an exclusive offer you will not find on any other U.S. immigration site. For years it was too expensive for ordinary people to get expert lawyers in U.S. immigration law because they were too expensive. But a service opened up recently which allows this to happen.

For only $5 you can get advice from an expert, qualified U.S. lawyer who is an authority on immigration, and who will be able to help you.

Click here to go straight to the page which features several services which you will find very interesting and useful.

Taking the Oath of Allegiance

(Source: www.mildenhall.af.mil)

Practical Help with Your DV Lottery Submission

There are also services which help with your DV Lottery submission (and thereby with the Green Card application) in a very active way, in that they will apply on your behalf. You supply them with your detailed information, with photographs and other images, and they will make sure that all the documentation is submitted in exactly the correct way.

There are stringent rules about the nature and dimensions of your photographic images, for example, which must be submitted correctly. If these documents and images are not correct, either in their content or in their submission, then your application will not succeed.

There are several companies which provide these services. Some are better than others, and some seem to be more professional than others. All are private companies which are not affiliated with the U.S. Government, but nevertheless they do provide a valid service. All charge a fee for their services.

We’ve looked at all of the most credible of these and the best seems to be the services offered by the US Green Card Office.

We would not provide a link to any service if we did not believe that they provided a valid and legitimate service. The services they provide costs from $80 and upwards.

Their website states that they provide a value-added service in twenty different languages and that "our immigration team will help you to properly prepare and complete your Green Card application online according to all legal requirements, and we do this throughout the year." They add that they will send you an official confirmation number as "proof that the US Government has received your application."

So to use their service click here.

The Statue of Liberty and approach to New York

(Source: www.nps.gov)

DV Lottery: We Want You to be Successful

There is nothing that we would like more than success for all our website visitors. That is, YOUR success!

If you are serious about starting your new life then we have given you the tools to make the first steps and we’ve supplied you with very strong foundations for building your new life upon.

The advice given here is the very best that is available; we’ve been through all sorts of material and every so-called resource imaginable and we’ve presented for you here the best of the best. Who else can point you in the direction of a professional U.S. immigration lawyer who will only charge you $5 to answer questions which are specifically for the benefit of you and your family concerns? Where else will you find a top-class service which will actually (and faultlessly) make your DV Lottery (in fact, your green card) application on your behalf for less than $100? To go to their service click here.

These are all tried and tested services which have been around for a while – long enough to ensure robust business legitimacy. In this competitive sector you don’t survive for that long if you aren’t providing measurable and fantastic results for your clients.

If you’ve found our website useful then please blow our trumpet for us and tell the people you know about us! We’ve worked hard to build this site and curate the best content, so we’d greatly appreciate it if you shared some of your success with others. Personal recommendation is the best way for websites like ours to grow. Thank you in anticipation!

Finally, may we wish you all the success in whatever you do in your new life: we wish you prosperity, health and, above all, happiness for yourself and your family.

Best wishes going forward!

DV Lottery Help