The DV Green Card Lottery (Diversity Visa Green Card Lottery) makes US Green Cards, or Legal Permanent Residence, available to individuals who meet certain standards of eligibility. The current DV Green Card Lottery is called DV-2013.

Registration for DV-2013 is now closed.

The DV Green Card Lottery makes 50,000+ “diversity visas” available to nationals of countries with relatively low US immigration rates.  This computer-generated random lottery drawing chooses applicants eligible to apply for Diversity Visas. The DV Green Card Lottery visas are distributed among 6 geographic regions, with a greater number going to regions with lower rates of US immigration, and no visas going to citizens of countries sending 50,000+ immigrants to the US in the past 5 years. Within each region, no single country may receive more than 7% of available Diversity Visas in any one year.

When Should I Register for the Annual DV Green Card Lottery?

If you use our service, our office should receive your COMPLETE information and DV-2013 Credit Card Payment Form by 8pm EDT Wed, 02 Nov 2011, to ensure your application meets the deadline for this year’s DV Green Card Lottery submission. The Department of State system has been known to experience overload during the last days of the lottery period. Although we will exercise due diligence to ensure your application is submitted by the deadline, due to technical issues with the Department of State web site that are beyond our control, we cannot guarantee the DV Green Card Lottery system’s receipt of your application by that system if submitted during the last week of the submission period.

Who Is Eligible for the DV Green Card Lottery?

Persons eligible for the annual DV Green Card Lottery must be a native of an eligible country (see below), and must have a certain level of education and/or training (see below).  They also must apply during the annual DV Green Card Lottery registration period, which is announced by the US Department of State in the late summer or fall of each year.

Definition of Nativity for Purposes of the DV Green Card Lottery

Only natives of eligible countries qualify for DV-2013 (see below for list of eligible countries). Nativity in most cases is determined by place of birth. However, one may qualify in two other ways:

• If you were born in a country whose natives are not eligible for the DV Green Card Lottery, but your spouse was born in a country whose natives are eligible, you may claim your spouse’s country of birth rather than your own for purposes of the DV Green Card Lottery, provided that both you and your spouse are on the selected DV Green Card Lottery entry, both of you are ultimately issued immigrant visas, and you both enter the US at the same time.
• If you were born in a country whose natives are not eligible for the DV Green Card Lottery, but neither of your parents was born in that ineligible country or resided there at the time of your birth, you may claim nativity in one of your parents’ countries of birth if that is a country whose natives qualify for the DV Green Card Lottery program in the year of application.

Nationals from all countries EXCEPT the following qualify for the DV-2013 lottery: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, 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, as are persons born in Poland and South Sudan.

Education or Training Requirements for the DV Green Card Lottery

Applicants for the DV Green Card Lottery must have either a high school education or its equivalent, or have 2 years of work experience within the 5 years immediately preceding registration in an occupation that requires at least 2 years of training or experience. US Department of Labor (USDOL) definitions will apply. The USDOL’s O*Net OnLine database will be used to determine qualifying work experience. See also qualifying occupations.  To qualify for the DV lottery on the basis of work experience, you must within the last 5 years have 2 years of experience in an occupation designated as Job Zone 4 or 5, classified in a particular Specific Vocational Preparation range (SVP) of 7.0 or higher.

If you and/or your dependents do not meet these requirements, you SHOULD NOT submit an entry to the DV Green Card Lottery program.

Background of DV Green Card Lottery

The Department of State (DOS) implemented an electronic registration system beginning with DV2005 to make the Diversity Visa process more efficient and secure. DOS utilizes special technology and other means to identify those who commit fraud for the purposes of illegal immigration or who submit multiple entries.

Changes to DV Green Card Lottery Program

All DV Green Card Lottery  entries for DV-2013 must be submitted electronically between 12pm noon EDT (GMT-4), Tues, 04 Oct 2011, and noon, EDT (GMT-5), Sat, 05 Nov 2011.

Persons born in Bangladesh are not eligible to play this year’s DV Green Card Lottery, DV-2013.  Those born in Poland and South Sudan, however, are eligible for DV-2013.

Ineligible Countries for DV Green Card Lottery (DV-2013)

For the DV Green Card Lottery DV-2013, ineligible countries are: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, 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 the DV Green Card Lottery DV-2013, as are those born in South Sudan.

Be sure to print or write down and retain your DV Green Card Lottery registration information, which is provided only at the time of DV Green Card Lottery registration on the Department of State’s E-DV Registration page, so that you can later check the status of your entry online at the DV Green Card Lottery Entry Status page. This is the only way you will know if you have been selected.

Note: Please do not inquire with us about obtaining a list of lottery winners. There is no such list.  If you are a winner, the Department of State will notify you or your representative that you have been selected on the DV Green Card Lottery Entry Status page.  You will not receive a letter in the mail or an email from the Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) if you have been selected (unless you register using our service, in which case, we will notify you via email if you have been selected for DV-2013).  If you have not been notified on the DV Green Card Lottery Entry Status page that you have been selected, you have not won the DV Green Card Lottery. Also, if you have not retained Kirberger PC to represent you using our DV Green Card Lottery Registration Service, then we are not your representative.

You can check your DV Green Card Lottery Entry Status until the end of June 2012 if you applied for last year’s DV Green Card Lottery, DV-2012.