When Immigration Matters

Immigration attorney Karen-Lee Pollak explains how the Diversity Immigrant Visa program works.

The department of State has posted instructions FOR THE 2014 DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM (DV-2014) - "Entries for the DV-2014 DV program must be submitted electronically between noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Tuesday, October 2, 2012, and noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Saturday, November 3, 2012.  Applicants may access the electronic DV Entry Form (E-DV) at www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period.  Paper entries will not be accepted.  Entry is free for qualified applicants.  We strongly encourage applicants not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter.  Heavy demand may result in website delays.  No entries will be accepted after noon, EDT, on November 3, 2012."

You can read the full instructions here docs/DV_2014_Instructions.pdf

Please note that natives of many countries are not eligible for this visa program:  "For DV-2013, natives of the following countries are NOT eligible to apply because the countries sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the previous five years:  BANGLADESH, BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PERU, 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..."

October 4, 2011.  Save the date!  Put in on your calendars!!!    This is the beginning of the DV-2013 Registration Period.  Electronic entries for the 2013 lottery will be accepted between noon (EDT) on October 4, 2011 and noon (EDT) on November 5, 2011.

The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2012 diversity lottery.  The diversity lottery was conducted under the terms of section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available *50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.  Approximately 100,021 applicants have been registered and notified and may now make an application for an immigrant visa. Since it is likely that some of the first *50,000 persons registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure should insure that all DV-2012 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2012 (October 1, 2011 until September 30, 2012).

The results for DV-2012 DV Lottery | Diversity Immigrant Visa Program are available now!!! 

For the nearly 19.6 million applicants who thought they missed out on an opportunity of a lifetime, there is still hope for second chance.  A new, random selection for the DV-2012 Diversity Visa Lottery 2012 will be conducted in the upcoming days. The new selection will be based on the original entries.  If you submitted a qualified entry in 2010 between October 5 and November 3, you do not need to reapply. Your confirmation number to check results on this website is still valid. 

Oops!!!!  In embarrassing fashion, the U.S. State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs announced that all results for last year’s diversity visa program for DV-2012 were incorrect.

Now that our readers have been educated on the recent wave of DV lottery scams, we are getting many questions about DV-2013 DV Lottery.