Welcome to the US DV 2014 Lottery
DV Lottery 2014 Online Registration
The online processing period for the 2013 Diversity Visa Program (DV-2014) will begin on Tuesday, October 4, 2012, at noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), and conclude on Saturday, November 5, 2012, at noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4).
DV 2013 Entrants: Please keep your confirmation number until at least September 2013, even if you are not selected on May 1, 2012. The Department of State may select more DV 2013 entries on October 1, 2012.
What is the Green Card Diversity Visa Program?
The Diversity Immigrant Visa program is a United States congressionally-mandated lottery program for receiving a United States Permanent Resident Card. It is also known as the Green Card Lottery. The lottery is administered on an annual basis by the Department of State and conducted under the terms of Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Section 131 of the Immigration Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-649) amended INA 203 to provide for a new class of immigrants known as “diversity immigrants” (DV immigrants). The Act makes available 50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.
The visas are distributed on a regional basis, with each region sending fewer immigrants to the US in the previous 5 years receiving more diversity visas. Currently, Africa and Europe receive about 80% of the visas in the lottery. In addition, no single country can receive more than 7% of the total number of visas (3,500).
In order to allow for those who do not pursue immigrant visas, more ‘winners’ are selected in the lottery than there are visas available. Hence being selected from the lottery does not guarantee an immigrant visa to the U.S. To receive a
diversity visa and immigrate to the United States, ‘winners’ must meet all eligibility requirements under U.S. law. Requirements include at least a high school diploma, or its equivalent, or two years of work experience in an occupation requiring at least two years training.
SELECTION OF APPLICANTS
Based on the allocations of available visas in each region and country, the computer will randomly select individuals from among qualified entries. All DV- 2014 entrants will be required to go to the E-DV website Entrant Status Check using the confirmation number saved from their DV-2014 online entry registration to find out whether their entry has been selected in the DV program. Entrant Status Check will be available starting May 1, 2012, at the E-DV website www.dvlottery.state.gov. Selectees will be directed to a confirmation page that will provide further instructions, including information on fees connected with immigration to the United States. Entrant Status Check will be the ONLY means by which selectees will be notified of their selection for DV-2013. The Department of State will not be mailing out notification letters. Those selected in the random drawing are NOT notified of their selection by e-mail. Those individuals NOT selected will be notified of their non-selection through Entrant Status Check. U.S. embassies and consulates will not provide a list of selectees. Selectees’ spouses and unmarried children under age 21 may also apply for visas to accompany or follow-to-join the principal applicant. DV-2013 visas will be issued between October 1, 2013, and September 30, 2014.
Processing of entries and issuance of DVs to selectees meeting eligibility requirements and their eligible family members MUST occur by midnight on September 30, 2013. Under no circumstances can DVs be issued or adjustments approved after this date, nor can family members obtain DVs to follow-to-join the principal applicant in the United States after this date.
In order to receive a DV to immigrate to the United States, those chosen in the random drawing must meet ALL eligibility requirements under U.S. law. These requirements may significantly increase the level of scrutiny required and time necessary for processing for natives of some countries listed in this notice including, but not limited to, countries identified as state sponsors of terrorism.
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952
The 1952 act is also known as the McCarran-Walter Act, named after the bill’s sponsors: Senator Pat McCarran (D-Nevada), and Congressman Francis Walter (D-Pennsylvania). The new Act kept many of the same immigration policies from earlier statutes with some major changes:
* Racial restrictions and gender discrimination were eliminated
* The policy of restricting immigrants from certain countries remained but the quota formula was revised
* Selective immigration was introduced by giving a quota preference to aliens with much-needed skills and relatives of U.S. citizens and alien residents
* Introduced a reporting system whereby all U.S. aliens were required to report their current address to the INS each year
* Established a central index of aliens in the U.S. for use by security and enforcement agencies
President Truman was concerned about the decisions to maintain the national origins quota system and to establish racially constructed quotas for Asian nations. He vetoed the McCarran-Walter Act because he regarded the bill as discriminatory. Truman’s veto was overridden by a vote of 278 to 113 in the House and 57 to 26 in the Senate.
Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965
The original 1952 Act has been amended many times over the years. By far the biggest change occurred with the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965. The bill was proposed by Emanuel Celler, cosponsored by Philip Hart and heavily supported by Senator Ted Kennedy.
Major amendments in the 1965 Act included:
* Abolished the national origins quota system, eliminating national origin, race, or ancestry as a basis for immigration to the United States.
* Established a preference system for relatives of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, and for persons with special occupational skills, abilities, or training
* Established two categories of immigrants not subject to numerical restrictions: immediate relatives of U.S. citizens and special immigrants
* Maintained the quota restriction, expanding limits to world coverage by limiting Eastern Hemisphere immigration and placing a ceiling on Western Hemisphere immigration for the first time. However, neither the preference categories nor the 20,000 per-country limit were applied to the Western Hemisphere.
* Introduced a prerequisite for the issuance of a visa that an alien worker will not replace a worker in the United States nor adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed individuals in the U.S.
In Congress, the House of Representatives voted 326 to 69 in favor of the act while the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 76 to 18. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the legislation into law on July 1, 1968.
Current Reform Bills
Immigration reform bills to amend the current INA have been introduced into Congress in recent years. Most notably, these bills include the Kennedy-McCain Immigration Bill of 2005 as well as the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, introduced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and co-authored by a bipartisan group of 12 senators including Sen. Ted Kennedy and Sen. John McCain. None of these bills, however, have made it through Congress.
The most current version of the INA may be found on the USCIS website under Immigration and Nationality Act in the Laws & Regulations section.
Source: USCIS, US State Department
Disclaimer
This site is not affiliated with the U.S. government or the site dvlottery.state.gov, which is available only at certain times of the year (usually between Oct 1/3 – Nov 1/3 every year). As a private for-fee service, we provide information about the official DV-Lottery Program run by the U.S. government and help candidates submit their applications error-less. We wish you good luck!
