Washington -- Registration for the United States' 2010 Diversity Visa Lottery program (DV-2010) will be held October 2 to December 1, the State Department announced yesterday.

Applicants whose names are selected randomly will be eligible to apply for one of 50,000 permanent resident visas made available annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.

The 2010 lottery will mark the sixth year in which the registration process has been conducted entirely via the Internet. Persons seeking to enter the lottery program must register online through the designated Web site (www.dvlottery.state.gov), and digital photos must be submitted with the registration form. Paper entries will not be accepted, according to the DV-2010 instructions.

Entries will be accepted between noon Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Thursday, October 2, 2008, and noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5), Monday, December 1, 2008. No entries will be accepted after that time, according to the DV-2010 instructions.

Applicants are encouraged to enter early in the registration period, because excessive demand might slow down the system as the deadline nears. Applicants should be aware that there is only one official site for the diversity visa lottery registration, according to the State Department.

Applicants must meet certain education or work experience requirements to register for DV-2010. These are outlined in the instructions.

Natives of the some countries are not eligible to apply because those nations sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the previous five years: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, Peru, Poland, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible.

For DV-2010, Russia has returned to the list of eligible countries. Kosovo has also been added to the list of eligible countries. No countries have been removed from the list of eligible countries for DV-2010.

The Department of State implemented the electronic registration system beginning with DV-2005 in order to make the Diversity Visa process more efficient and secure. The Department utilizes special technology and other means to identify those who commit fraud for the purposes of illegal immigration or those who submit multiple entries. In DV-2010, for the first time, those who submit entries may check the status of entries online and determine whether their entries are selected or not selected. Successful entrants will continue to receive notification letters by mail.

For detailed information about entry requirements, along with frequently asked questions about the DV lottery, please see the instructions for the DV-2010 Diversity Visa lottery on the Department’s Consular Affairs Website.