Is it worth participating in the diversity visa lottery

A common question in the minds of many individuals who want to live and work in the US is ,” Is it worth participating in the diversity visa lottery?” It certainly is. Though randomly selected by a computer, it is indeed worth giving it a try since there is no submission fee involved and it serves as a platform to your dream of living and working in the United States.

Immigration through diversity green card lottery :

The diversity visa lottery or Green Card Lottery program, is a great opportunity for immigrants from countries other than the ones who send large number of immigrants to the United States. This program is conducted every year and provides 50,000 permanent residence visas. Applicants should meet simple eligibility requirements. The primary eligibility criteria is that you should be from a qualifying country. The eligibility country will normally be the same as your country of birth and is not related to where you live. Other criteria is that the applicant should have at least a high school education or its equivalent.

If you are from a country from which large number of immigrants move to the US, you become ineligible. If more than 50,000 persons from your country immigrated to the US in the family and employment based visa categories in the last five years, then you will not qualify for this year's DV lottery.

So considering that you are eligible, let's move on to the application process. You should submit only one application. You will be disqualified if you submit more than one application. Whereas, a husband and wife can each submit one application each if both meet the eligibility requirements for the diversity visa lottery program. If you are not from a qualifying country, you can apply if your spouse is from an eligible country. But here, both you and your spouse have to come to the US together if selected. All the children under 21 years of age, listed in the entrant's application can accompany their parents during the US visit. Additionally, you can also qualify through the country of birth of either of your parents as long as neither of your parents was a resident of an ineligible country at the time of your birth.

In the application, you should list details of your spouse and all unmarried children below 21 years of age including all natural children as well as legally-adopted children and stepchildren, even if your child no longer resides with you or even if you do not plan to take this child to the US under the diversity visa lottery program. However, you need not list your child/children who is/are already a U.S. citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident (LPR). Signatures are not needed while filing. But you have to submit all required photographs. You should electronically submit your recent photograph along with the that of your spouse and each unmarried child under 21 years of age.

All the applications received will be separately numbered at the Kentucky Consular Center. A computer will randomly select from the available entries for each geographic region. All the applications have an equal chance of getting selected in this diversity visa lottery program. Then winners will be notified by post. The Kentucky Consular Center will send appointment letters to the winners four to six weeks before the interview with the US consular officers overseas. The selected applicants will have to pay all diversity and immigrant visa fees in person at the US embassy or Consulate at the time of visa application. Green Card Lottery is one of the best way to get green card to USA.