Getting a Green Card for the USA through the Diversity Visa Lottery
In order to enter the lottery you MUST be from one of the qualifying countries. And must have either a High School Diploma or a minimum of two years experience in a job that normally requires at least 2 years of training or experience. US job offers are not a requirement. The type of work you have been doing for 2 years qualifies will be determined based on a US Department of Labor data base at www.onetcenter.org. Only the lottery winner not his spouse or children needs to meet the educational requirements.
However, a spouse or child who does meet these requirements should apply separately. (It is OK to be listed on a parent or spouses application at the same time you file your own.) There is no minimum age to enter the lottery. However, the requirement of a High School Diploma or 2 years experience usually keeps out anyone under the age of 16 years.
The lottery requirements are different from Green Card requirements.
- Prove that you are not inadmissible
- Support yourself financially
- or that someone is willing to support you
- You have not committed any crimes
- If you are living in the USA illegally it will be impossible for you to collect your Green card.
- Procedurally, you would have to leave the US for an interview at a Consulate outside the United States.
- At that point you could be barred from re-entering the US for three or ten years depending on the length of your illegal stay.
There is a new application period every year occurring in late winter or early spring.
Registrations submitted one year are NOT held over to the next year, so if you are not selected one year you need to reapply the next year to be considered. For the 2006 lottery (technically called DV-2008 because 2008 is the year in which the visas will actually be given out, the only countries NOT qualified repeat NOT were:
Brazil, Canada, China (main land born), Columbia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Island) and its dependant territories and Vietnam.
So if you are from a country not named in the above list you could have applied for the lottery that took place in 2006. Most of these countries re-appear on the list year after year. Winners of the DV-2008 were notified by mail between May and July of 2007.
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