INSTRUCTION FROM THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT FOR DV-2009 PARTICIPANTS
The annual DV program provides for granting permanent resident status to individuals who meet simple but strict selection criteria. Applicants wishing to obtain DV visas are selected through a random computer drawing. Visas are distributed among six geographic regions, with more visas going to regions with low immigration to the United States. No visas are sent to countries from which more than 50,000 immigrants arrived in the United States in the last five years. No single country may receive more than 7% of the DV visas issued in any given year.
Applications for DV-2009 visas will not be accepted from natives of countries from which more than 50,000 immigrants arrived in the United States in the last five years, namely: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Peru, Poland, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.
Since 2005, in order to increase the security and efficiency of the DV lottery process, the U.S. State Department has introduced an electronic application registration system. The State Department uses special technology and other means to expose individuals presenting deliberately false information for the purpose of illegal immigration to the United States, as well as individuals submitting more than one application.
Applications for participation in the DV-2009 lottery must be submitted electronically between October 3 and December 2, 2007. Access to the electronic application form can be obtained at the website www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period. Paper applications will not be accepted. Applicants are strongly advised not to wait until the last week of the registration period – heavy registration traffic may cause delays and failures. Applications sent after noon on December 2, 2007 will not be accepted.
PARTICIPANT REQUIREMENTS
The applicant must be a native of one of the countries eligible to participate in the lottery.
In most cases, this refers to the country in which the applicant was born. However, there are two other situations that provide eligibility to participate in the lottery.
First, if a person was born in a country whose natives are not eligible for the 2009 visa lottery, but his or her spouse was born in a country whose natives are eligible to participate, the applicant may use the spouse's country of birth, provided that both the applicant and spouse are issued visas and enter the United States simultaneously.
Second, if a person was born in a country whose natives are not eligible for the 2009 visa lottery, but neither parent was born in that country nor had a residence there at the time of the applicant's birth, the applicant may use the country of birth of one of the parents if natives of that country are eligible for the 2009 visa lottery.
The applicant must meet the education or training requirements set forth in the DV-2009 conditions.
The applicant must have either a high school education or its equivalent, defined as successfully completing a 12-year course of primary and secondary education, or two years of work experience within the last five years in an occupation requiring training or at least two years of work experience. The U.S. Department of Labor's O*Net OnLine database will be used to determine work experience requirements.
If the applicant does not meet these requirements, he or she should not apply for the DV-2009 visa lottery.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
The State Department will only accept completed electronic registration forms for DV-2009 submitted electronically via the website www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period.
If more than one application is received on behalf of the same applicant, regardless of who submitted them, they will not be considered. Applicants may prepare and submit their applications themselves or have someone else do so.
Successful registration of an application will be confirmed by displaying on the screen relevant information, including the applicant's first and last name, date of birth and country, as well as the date and time of registration. The applicant may print this confirmation for their own records.
An application will not be accepted without all required photographs. Recent photographs must be submitted electronically:
* of the applicant;
* of his/her spouse;
* of each unmarried child under the age of 21, including all biological children, as well as all legally adopted and stepchildren (except children who are already U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents), even if they do not currently live with the applicant or their immigration through the lottery is not planned.
Group or family photographs are not accepted; only individual photographs of each family member. The lack of required photographs of the spouse and each child will result in incomplete entry into the electronic database for DV-2009. The application will not be accepted and must be resubmitted. The lack of a correct photograph for each person in the case in the electronic database will result in disqualification of the principal applicant and denial of all visas in the case at the visa interview.
A digital photograph (image) of each applicant, his/her spouse, and children must be submitted on the electronic application form for participation in DV-2009. The image file can be produced by taking a new digital photograph or by scanning a printed photograph using a digital scanner. Applications are not accepted for review and visa issuance is denied in cases where the photographs are old, have been manipulated, or do not meet the standards explained below.
PHOTOGRAPH INSTRUCTIONS
COMPOSITION REQUIREMENTS: The person being photographed must look directly into the camera lens; the head must not be tilted up, down, or to the side; and must occupy approximately 50% of the photograph area.
BACKGROUND: The person being photographed must be in front of a neutral, light-colored background; dark or patterned backgrounds are not allowed.
CLARITY: The photograph must be clear.
ACCESSORIES: Photographs of people wearing dark glasses or other accessories that distract from the face are not accepted. Photographs of applicants wearing head coverings are accepted only if the applicant cannot remove the head covering for religious reasons, but even then it must not obscure any part of the face. Photographs of applicants wearing national or other head coverings that are not required by their religious beliefs are not accepted. Photographs of military personnel, airline employees, and other workers in professional head coverings are not accepted.
COMPOSITION: Color photographs with 24-bit color depth are preferred over black-and-white or grayscale with 24-bit color depth.
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS:
Creating a new image:
– File format: JPEG;
– File size: 62,500 bytes;
– Resolution: 320x240 (height x width);
– Color depth: 24 bits.
Scanning a photograph:
– Photograph size: 50x50 mm;
– Scanner resolution: 150 dots per inch (dpi);
– File format: JPEG;
– File size: 62,500 bytes;
– Resolution: 300x300 pixels;
– Color depth: 24 bits.
SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION
To participate in the DV-2009 visa lottery, applicants must submit an application on the electronic form, which is available only on the website www.dvlottery.state.gov. Partially completed forms will not be considered. Applicants must provide the following information:
1. FULL NAME (last name, first name, patronymic).
2. DATE OF BIRTH (day, month, year).
3. GENDER (male or female).
4. PLACE OF BIRTH.
5. COUNTRY OF BIRTH (the name of the country must be given in its current spelling).
6. COUNTRY ELIGIBLE FOR THE VISA LOTTERY (usually the same as the country of birth; this country is not related to the current place of residence. If the applicant was born in a country that is not eligible for the DV-2009 program, refer to the instructions to determine if another country option can be used).
7. PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE APPLICANT (see technical requirements for photographs. If necessary, photographs of the spouse and all children must be included).
8. MAILING ADDRESS (care of, address line 1, address line 2, house number, street, city/town, district/county/province/state, postal code, country).
9. CURRENT COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE.
10. TELEPHONE NUMBER (optional).
11. EMAIL ADDRESS (optional).
12. HIGHEST LEVEL OF EDUCATION ACHIEVED TO DATE. You must indicate one of the following options corresponding to the highest level of education completed: (1) primary school only; (2) secondary school, no diploma; (3) secondary school with diploma; (4) vocational school; (5) some college; (6) bachelor's degree; (7) some master's study; (8) master's degree; (9) some doctoral study; (10) doctoral degree (PhD).
13. MARITAL STATUS (unmarried, married, divorced or in the process of divorce, widowed).
14. NUMBER OF CHILDREN Indicate the total number of all biological children of the applicant, as well as all legally adopted and stepchildren under 21 years of age who are unmarried (except those who are already U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents), even if the applicant is no longer legally married to the child's parent, and even if the spouse or child does not currently live with the applicant and will not immigrate.
15. INFORMATION ABOUT SPOUSE (full name, date and place of birth, gender, country of birth, photograph).
16. INFORMATION ABOUT CHILDREN (full name, date of birth, gender, place of birth, country of birth, photograph. All children indicated in response to question #14 above must be included).
SELECTION OF APPLICANTS
Applicants will be selected at random by computer from all qualified applications submitted. Selected applicants will be notified by mail between May and July 2008 and will receive further instructions, including information about the fees associated with immigration to the United States.
Selected individuals will not receive notifications by email. Individuals not selected will not receive any notifications. U.S. embassies and consulates are unable to publish lists of selected applicants.
Spouses of selected applicants and their unmarried children under 21 years of age may also apply for a visa to accompany or join the principal applicant.
Issuance of visas distributed through the DV-2009 visa lottery will take place from October 1, 2008 to September 30, 2009. To obtain an immigrant visa to the United States, applicants selected by computer must meet ALL requirements under U.S. law. Processing of applications and issuance of visas to selected applicants and their eligible family members must be completed by midnight on September 30, 2009. After that date, visa issuance will be terminated in any case, any adjustments will become impossible, and family members of selected applicants will not be able to obtain visas to accompany or join them.
ATTENTION! To participate in the DV-2009 program, NO initial fees are required. When conducting the visa lottery, the U.S. government does not use the services of external consultants or private postal services. Any intermediary or anyone offering assistance in preparing the DV application form has no authority or consent from the U.S. government. The decision to use an outside intermediary or to receive help in preparing the application form is made solely by the applicant.
Eligible application forms received directly from applicants and through intermediaries have the same probability of being selected by computer at the Kentucky Consular Center as applications submitted electronically through a paid intermediary who filled out the form for the applicant. All application forms received during the established period have equal chances in the random computer lottery for that region. However, a person who submits more than one application will not be allowed to register, regardless of the source of application.