Washington
-- Each year, the State Department holds a lottery -- a
computerized random drawing -- to select the names of persons
who may apply for one of the 50,000 visas made available
through the Diversity Immigrant Visa program. The lottery
for the fiscal year 2009 program (DV-2009) is October 3-December
2, 2007.
Persons who register for the lottery should
be aware that diversity visas are available only to persons
who meet “simple but strict eligibility requirements,”
according to the State Department.
The selection of a person’s name in
the lottery does not automatically guarantee that a diversity
visa will be issued. The lottery is just the first step
in the visa application process.
Those selected in the lottery who go on
to apply for a diversity visa must meet certain education
or work experience requirements: either a high school education
or its equivalent, or two years of qualifying work experience.
The requirements are outlined in the DV-2009 instructions.
“If you cannot meet these requirements,
you should NOT submit an entry to the DV program,”
according to the State Department’s September 25 announcement
concerning the visa lottery.
For the DV-2009 program, lottery registration
entries will be accepted between noon Eastern Daylight Time
(EDT) (1600 GMT), Wednesday, October 3, 2007, and noon Eastern
Standard Time (EST) (1700 GMT) Sunday, December 2, 2007.
No entries will be accepted after that time, according to
the DV-2009 instructions. (See related
article.)
There is no fee for entering the Diversity
Visa Lottery. However, there are mandatory fees connected
with the visa application process itself, and those fees
are paid at the time of visa application directly to the
consular cashier at the embassy or consulate.
People are “strongly encouraged to
enter early in the [lottery] registration period,”
the instructions note. “Excessive demand at end of
the registration period may slow the [computer] system down.
No entries whatsoever will be accepted after noon EST [1700
GMT] Sunday, December 2, 2007.”
Applicants should complete the online lottery
registration process very carefully. People often make careless
mistakes that can disqualify them at a later date, even
if they are selected in the initial lottery. They should
read the instructions thoroughly before registering. Some
common mistakes that people make include neglecting to list
a spouse and all their children in their original entries,
or choosing the wrong native country. These mistakes will
disqualify the applicant at the time of a visa interview.
The Department of State Kentucky Consular
Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky, will notify the people
whose names are selected in the visa lottery that they are
registered “for further consideration” in the
Diversity Visa Immigrant program for fiscal year 2009. Selected
persons will be notified by mail (NOT e-mail) between May
2008 and July 2008.
Those selected in the lottery will receive
instructions concerning the next steps in the process of
applying for DV-2009 visas, which will be issued during
fiscal year 2009 (between October 1, 2008, and September
30, 2009).
The visa instructions will include information
on fees connected with the application for immigration to
the United States. Payment of visa application fees does
not guarantee that a diversity visa will be issued. Visa
applicants are selected on the grounds of eligibility.
Any fees paid -- or costs incurred to prepare
for the interview, such as for medical examinations -- are
non-refundable.
Diversity visas are available only to persons
from countries with low rates of immigration to the United
States. These countries are listed in the DV-2009 instructions.
For more information, see DV-2009
Diversity Visa Lottery instructions and entry
form, as well as a warning
note on fake DV program sites.
For additional information on U.S. immigration
policy, see Visas
and Immigration.
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