DV-2024 “Green Card” Lottery Open From October 5th To November 8th For Eligible Applicants – Work Visas

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released its instructions for the Diversity Immigrant Visa
“Green Card” Lottery Program (DV-2024) for fiscal year
2024 (October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2024). The Lottery
Program for DV-2024 registration will be open for only 34 days from
October 5, 2022 at noon (EST) through close at noon (EST) on
November 8^th. There are no significant changes from last
year’s Lottery Program.

The DOS makes 55,000 “green cards” available annually
to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the
United States. Applicants for Diversity Visas are chosen by a
computer-generated random lottery drawing. The DOS will notify a
participant’s selection exclusively online. Beginning in May
2023, applicants can check the status of their registration online
via Entry Status Check at www.dvlottery.state.gov to determine whether
they were selected. Entry Status Check will also notify selected
participants and provide them with instructions on the procedures
for the application process and will confirm appointments for visa
interviews. All entrants must check on the DOS website via the
Entry Status Check to determine whether they have been selected to
participate in the Lottery. The Entry Status Check is the ONLY
manner in which entrants will be notified of their selection. The
DOS will NOT mail any correspondence to the selected applicants nor
will it send out an email. Furthermore, the Entry Status Check will
be the only way in which selected individuals will be provided
further instructions on immigrant visa procedures.

The Diversity Visa “green cards” are available only to
citizens of countries with lower rates of immigration and no visas
are available to citizens of countries sending more than 50,000
immigrants to the United States in the past five years. Within each
region, no country may receive more than 7% of the available
Diversity Visa “green cards” in any one year.

Countries Ineligible to Participate in DV-2024 Lottery
Program

For the DV-2024 Lottery Program, natives of the following
countries are not eligible to apply because they are the principal
source countries of Family-Sponsored and Employment-Based
immigration, or “high admission” countries: Bangladesh,
Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong SAR), Colombia,
Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica,
Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea (South
Korea), United Kingdom (which includes Anguilla, Bermuda, British
Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar,
Montserrat, Pitcairn, St. Helena, Turks and Caicos Islands –
but not Northern Ireland), Venezuela and Vietnam. Foreign nationals
born in Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible for the Diversity Visa
Lottery.

Last year, natives of Hong Kong SAR and Venezuela were eligible
to participate in the DV-2023 Lottery Program but are not eligible
to participate in the DV-2024 Lottery Program. Additionally, last
year, natives of Peru were not eligible to participate in the
DV-2023 Lottery Program but are eligible to participate in the
DV-2024 Lottery Program.

NOTE: Even if you were born in one of the ineligible countries
you may still qualify for a Diversity Visa if your spouse was born
in an eligible country (and you are applying for the visa together)
or if one of your parents was either born in or at the time of your
birth was a legal resident of an eligible country.

Registration Procedures

The entries for the DV-2024 Lottery Program must be submitted
electronically between noon (EDT/GMT-4) Tuesday, October 5, 2022
through noon (EST/GMT-5) Monday, November 8, 2022. The DOS will
only accept entries made on an electronic diversity entry form
which will be available at www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration
period. The DOS will not accept mail-in entries. Only one entry by
and for each person during each registration period is permitted.
Receipt of more than one entry per person will disqualify the
person from registration, regardless of the source of the
entry.

The procedures for submitting an entry in the DV-2024 Lottery
Program are as follows:

Entry Form Contents. The DOS will only accept completed
Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Forms submitted electronically at
www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period. All entries
by an applicant will be disqualified if more than one entry for the
applicant is received, regardless of who submitted the entry. The
entry form will ask the applicant to submit the following
information:

Full name; (exactly as shown on your passport);

Date of birth;

Gender;

City/town and Country of birth;

Country of eligibility or chargeability;

Photograph according to the specifications described below;

Current mailing address;

Country where you live today;

Phone number (optional);

Email address;

Highest level of education completed;

Marriage status;

Number of children that are unmarried and under the age of 21
years of age and each child’s information including name, date
of birth, gender, city/town of birth, country of birth and
photograph that meets the previously described specifications
(failure to list all children, who are eligible, will result in
disqualification of the principal applicant and refusal of all
visas in the case at the time of the visa interview); and

Spouse’s information, including name, date of birth, gender,
city/town of birth, country of birth and spouse’s photograph
that meets the previously described specifications (failure to list
your spouse will result in disqualification of the principal
applicant and refusal of all visas in the case at the time of the
visa interview).

Photograph Requirements. The entry will be disqualified if
photographs are not submitted of the applicant, his/her spouse and
each child under the age of 21 (including all natural children as
well as legally-adopted and stepchildren, except a child who is
already a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident) even if the
child no longer resides with the applicant and does not intend to
immigrate under the Lottery Program. The photographs must be
submitted electronically with the entry form. Group or family
photos will not be accepted. There must be a separate photo for
each family member. Each applicant, his/her spouse and each child
will therefore need a computer file containing his/her digital
photograph which will be submitted on-line with the entry form. The
image file can be produced either by taking a new digital
photograph or by scanning a photographic print with a digital
scanner. The submitted digital images must conform to the following
specifications:

New Digital Image

1. The image must be in the Joint Photographic Experts Group
(JPEG) format;

2. The image must be in color – 24 bits per pixel (black and
white or 8-bit images

will not be accepted);

3. The maximum image size accepted is 240 kilobytes (240KB);

4. The minimum dimensions accepted are 600 pixels (width) by 600
pixels

(height) and the height must equal the width;

Scanning a Submitted Photograph

5. Scanner Resolution must be at least 300 dots per inch
(dpi);

6. The image must be in the Joint Photographic Experts Group
(JPEG) format;

7. The maximum image file size accepted is 240 kilobytes
(240KB);

8. Image resolution must be 600 by 600 pixels;

9. The image must be in color – 24 bits per pixel (black and
white or 8-bit images

will not be accepted);

Additional Specifications

10. The applicant, spouse or child must be directly facing the
camera;

11. The head of the person being photographed must directly face
the camera

and should not be tilted up, down or to the side;

12. The head should cover about 50% of the area of the
photograph;

13. The photograph should be taken with the person being
photographed in front

of a neutral, light-colored background (photographs taken with a
very dark

or patterned background will not be accepted);

14. Photographs in which the face of the person being
photographed is not in

focus will not be accepted;

15. Photographs in which the person being photographed is
wearing sunglasses

or other paraphernalia which detracts from the face will not be
accepted; and

16. Photographs of applicants wearing head coverings or hats are
only

acceptable due to religious beliefs and still may not obscure
any portion of

the face of the applicant.

DOS Processing of Entries

After an applicant submits his/her entry, the DOS will send
him/her an electronic confirmation notice of receipt of a completed
entry form. Applicants will be selected at random by computer from
among qualified entries. All entrants must check on the DOS website
via the Entry Status Check whether they have been selected to
participate in the Lottery on or after May 6, 2023 through
September 30, 2024. The Entry Status Check is the ONLY manner in
which entrants will be notified of their selection. The DOS will
NOT mail any correspondence to the selected applicants nor will it
send out an email.

The DOS normally notifies more than 100,000+ applicants that
they have been selected through the DV Lottery Program. However,
only 55,000 “green cards” are available annually. The
green cards based upon the DV-2024 Lottery Program will be issued
between October 1, 2023 and September 30, 2024. However, because
more individuals will be registered than there are immigrant visas
available, a registered applicant who wishes to receive his/her
immigrant visa must be prepared to act quickly after being
notified, especially if he/she is assigned a favorable lottery
number in the random selection process. The DOS emphasized that
random selection in the lottery process does NOT guarantee that an
applicant will receive a “green card.”

Education or Work Experience Required

In order to qualify for a “green card” through the
Diversity Visa Lottery Program, each applicant must have at least a
high school education or its equivalent or, within the past five
years, have two years of work experience in an occupation requiring
at least two years of training. A high school education or its
equivalent is defined as successful completion of a 12-year course
of elementary and secondary education in the United States or
successful completion in another country of a formal course of
elementary and secondary education comparable to a high school
education in the United States. Evidence of educational work
experience should not be submitted with the lottery entry but must
be submitted to the consular official or U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) officer at the time of the visa or
adjustment of status interview. In order to determine eligibility
based on work experience, definitions from the Department of
Labor’s (DOL) O*Net On-Line database will be used.

DOS Does Not Charge to Enter the DV Lottery Program

There is no charge to enter the annual DV Lottery Program. The
DOS does not employ outside consultants or private services to
operate the program. A qualified entry submitted electronically
directly by the applicant has an equal chance of being selected by
the computer at the DOS Kentucky Consular Center as does an entry
submitted electronically through a paid intermediary who completes
the entry for the applicant. However, if an applicant or a paid
intermediary submits more than one entry per person, the person
will be disqualified from the program. A special DV Lottery Case
processing fee will be payable later to the DOS by persons who
“win” the lottery and are processed for a “green
card” based upon the lottery program.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.