The visa issuance program for diversity immigrants is carried out on an annual basis by the Department of State at the direction of Congress and is conducted in accordance with section 203(c) of the Immigration and Naturalization Act. Section 203 as amended by section 131 of the Immigration Act of 1990 provides for a category of immigrants called "diversity immigrants." Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act allows up to 55,000 diversity immigrant visas to be issued each fiscal year to individuals from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.
The annual DV program makes permanent residence visas available to individuals who meet simple but strict eligibility requirements. A computer-generated random lottery selection determines who will receive diversity immigrant visas. Visas are distributed among six geographic regions, with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower immigration rates, and citizens of countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the past five years are not eligible to receive these visas. Within each region, no single country may receive more than 7% of the diversity immigrant visas issued in any given year.
For DV-2008, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply because these countries sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the previous five years: Brazil, Haiti, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, Vietnam, Dominican Republic, India, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Russia, El Salvador, Philippines, South Korea, and Jamaica. Persons born in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan are eligible to participate in the lottery.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS *
The applicant must be a native of one of the countries whose natives are eligible to participate in the lottery.
A native of a country whose citizens are eligible to participate in the 2008 visa lottery: in most cases, this means the country where the applicant was born. However, there are two other situations that entitle an applicant to participate in the lottery.
First, if a person was born in a country whose natives are not eligible for DV-2008, but his/her spouse was born in a country whose natives are eligible to participate in the lottery, he/she may claim the spouse's country of birth, provided that both the applicant and his/her 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 DV-2008, but neither parent was born in that country nor was legally resident there at the time of his/her birth, he/she may claim the country of birth of one parent, if the natives of that country are eligible for DV-2008. *
The applicant must meet the education or work experience requirements as specified by the DV-2008 conditions.
The applicant must have either a high school education or its equivalent, defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education, or two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience. The U.S. Department of Labor's O*Net OnLine database (http://online.onetcenter.org/) will be used to determine work experience requirements. Additional information about what work experience qualifies can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions section (see page 6). !
If the applicant does not meet these requirements, he/she should not apply for the DV-2008 visa lottery.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE FOR DV-2008
The Department of State will accept only completed electronic registration forms for the 2008 visa lottery, submitted electronically through the website www.dvlottery.state.gov only during the registration period.
If more than one application is submitted on behalf of one applicant, regardless of who submits them, they will not be considered. Applicants may prepare and submit their own applications or have someone else do it.
Successful registration will be confirmed by displaying on the screen the 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.
Paper applications are not accepted.
The application will not be accepted for processing if all required photographs are not submitted. You must submit electronically recent photographs of: the applicant, his/her spouse, and each unmarried child under 21 years of age, 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; a separate photograph must be submitted for each family member.
Failure to submit the required photographs will result in incomplete entry into the DV-2008 electronic database. The application will not be accepted and must be resubmitted. Failure to submit the proper photograph for each person listed on the application into the electronic database will result in disqualification of the principal applicant and denial of all visas in his/her 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 the visa lottery. The image file can be created by taking a new digital photograph or by scanning a printed photograph using a digital scanner.
Applications will not be considered, and visas will be denied in cases where the photographs are not recent, have been manipulated, or do not meet the standards explained below.
Instructions for submitting a digital photograph
The image file must meet the following compositional and technical requirements.
Head position: The person being photographed must look directly into the camera lens; the head should not be tilted up, down, or to the side and should occupy approximately 50% of the photograph area.
Background: The person being photographed must be against a neutral, light-colored background; a dark or patterned background is not acceptable.
Sharpness: The photograph must be sharp.
Accessories: Photographs of people wearing dark glasses or other accessories that distract attention from the face are not accepted.
Headgear: Photographs of applicants wearing headgear are accepted only if the applicant cannot remove the headgear for religious reasons, but even in this case the headgear must not obscure any part of the face. Photographs of applicants wearing national or other headgear that is not required by their religious beliefs are not accepted. Photographs of military personnel, airline employees, and other workers in professional headgear are not accepted.
Photo composition: Color photographs with 24-bit color depth are preferred over black-and-white or grayscale photographs with 24-bit color depth. Photographs can be uploaded from a camera to a computer file or scanned into a computer file. When using a scanner, it is necessary to set the settings to accurate color reproduction or 24-bit color mode. Color or black-and-white (or grayscale) photographs must be scanned under these settings in accordance with the requirements of the DV program. When scanning black-and-white or grayscale photographs in 24-bit color mode, only three colors or image ranges are used, and the resulting image will still be in black, white, and gray.
Creating a new digital image. A new digital photograph must meet the following requirements:
* file format JPEG;
* size not more than 62,500 bytes;
* image resolution: 320 pixels high by 240 pixels wide;
* image color depth: 24 bits for a color image.
Scanning a printed photograph. Before scanning a printed photograph, it is necessary to ensure that the following requirements are met:
* photograph size 50x50 mm;
* color: for the DV-2008 program, a color image is preferred, but a black-and-white or grayscale image can also be used, but only in 24-bit color mode;
* the printed photograph must also meet the compositional requirements. If the printed photograph meets the size, print color, and compositional requirements, it is suitable for scanning with the following scanner settings:
- scanner resolution: 150 dots per inch (dpi);
- file format JPEG;
- size not more than 62,500 bytes;
- resolution: 300x300 pixels.
* Image color depth: 24 bits for a color image. (Note: Black-and-white or grayscale images must be used with 24-bit color depth. Monochrome images with 2-bit color depth, color images with 8-bit color depth, or grayscale images with 8-bit color depth are not accepted.)
SUBMITTING AN APPLICATION
There is only one way to participate in the DV-2008 visa lottery. Applicants must submit an application for the visa lottery on the electronic form, which is available only at www.dvlottery.state.gov. Partially completed forms will not be considered. Applicants must provide the following information:
1. FULL NAME - last name, first name, middle name.
2. DATE OF BIRTH - day, month, year.
3. GENDER - male or female.
4. PLACE OF BIRTH
5. COUNTRY OF BIRTH - the name of the applicant's country of birth must be indicated in its current spelling.
6. COUNTRY ELIGIBLE FOR THE VISA LOTTERY - usually the same as the country of birth. This country is not the current place of residence. If the applicant was born in a country not eligible for the DV-2008 program, the instructions should be consulted to determine whether the applicant can use another option for a country of "chargeability." Additional information on this matter can be found in the "Frequently Asked Questions" section (see p. 6).
7. PHOTOGRAPH OF THE APPLICANT - see the technical requirements for photographs. If necessary, be sure to include photographs of the spouse and all children.
8. MAILING ADDRESS – addressee, address line 1, address line 2, house number, street, city/town, district/county/province/state, postal code, country.
9. COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE – current.
10. PHONE NUMBER (optional).
11. EMAIL ADDRESS (optional).
12. HIGHEST LEVEL OF EDUCATION COMPLETED TO DATE. You must indicate one of the following options corresponding to the highest level of education achieved: (1) primary school only, (2) secondary school, no diploma, (3) secondary school with diploma, (4) vocational school, (5) some university education, (6) university degree, (7) some graduate school (master's), (8) master's degree, (9) some graduate school (doctoral), (10) doctoral degree (Candidate/Doctor of Sciences).
13. MARITAL STATUS - not married, married, divorced or in the process of divorce, widowed.
14. NUMBER OF CHILDREN – In the application, you must list all biological children, as well as all legally adopted and stepchildren under 21 years of age who are not married (except children 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/or will not immigrate. Please note that married children and children over 21 years of age are not eligible to participate in the visa lottery. If the principal applicant fails to list all children, the application will not be considered, and at the visa interview, all visas in the case will be denied.
15. INFORMATION ON SPOUSE - full first and last name, date of birth, sex, place of birth (city or other locality), country of birth, photograph. If the principal applicant does not provide data on the spouse, the application will not be considered, and at the visa interview, all visas in the case will be denied.
16. INFORMATION ON CHILDREN - full first and last name, date of birth, sex, place of birth (city or other locality), country of birth, photograph. You must include all children listed in response to question No. 14 above.
SELECTION OF APPLICANTS
Selection of applicants will be conducted by random computer selection from all eligible entries received. Selected applicants will be notified by regular mail between May and July 2007 and will receive further instructions, including information on fees associated with immigration to the United States.
Individuals not selected will not receive any notification. 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 under the DV-2008 visa lottery will take place from October 1, 2007 to September 30, 2008.
To obtain an immigrant visa, applicants selected by the 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 September 30, 2008. After that date, visa issuance will be terminated under any circumstances, no adjustments will be possible, and family members of selected applicants will not be able to obtain visas to accompany or join them.
IMPORTANT NOTE
There is no fee to enter the annual visa lottery. The U.S. government does not use any outside consultants or private services to conduct the visa lottery. Any intermediaries or other persons offering applicants help in preparing documents do so without authorization or consent from the U.S. government. Applicants must decide for themselves whether to use the services of any outside intermediary or outside assistance in preparing their visa lottery application.
All properly completed applications submitted electronically directly by eligible applicants have the same chance of being selected by the computer at the Kentucky Consular Center as applications submitted electronically through a paid intermediary. Each application received during the lottery registration period has an equal chance of being selected within its region. However, if more than one application is received from the same person, that person will be disqualified from registration, regardless of the source of those applications.