Get your keyboards & photos ready folks! The DV-2013 visa lottery will open on October 4, 2011.

What is the Diversity Visa Lottery?

The DV lottery program, also referred to sometimes as the green card lottery, is a program created by Congress to encourage diversity within the U.S. pool of immigrants. Specifically, the program allots a total of 50,000 visas to natives of certain countries. These countries are ones from which historically, fewer people have immigrated. Watch out – the list of countries changes from year to year, so just because your country was on the list last year does not mean it will be this year, and vice versa.

Some additional tips:

1. The applications can only be filed online. This means that you should not wait until the last minute (or week) to file. It is entirely possible that the application website would be overloaded and not working properly if you wait too late.
2. There is no application fee for the DV lottery.
3. Born in a country that doesn’t qualify? Check out your options! In some cases, it’s possible to claim the nationality of your spouse or parent if the country that they were born in is included in the program this year. This is called cross-chargeability:
   1. You can claim your spouse’s country of birth if you are both listed on the selected entry, are issued visas, and if you both enter the U.S. at the same time.
   2. You can claim your parent’s country of birth if you were born in a country whose natives are ineligible, but neither of your parents as born there or resided there at the time of your birth.
4. If you are a lucky winner, you must obtain your visa or adjust your status by the end of the fiscal year (which is September 30, 2012).
5. You can file the application yourself, or you can use an attorney to file the DV-visa lottery application.

If you are interested in pursuing permanent residence in the US, and if you meet the other requirements, this is a great opportunity to take advantage of a fantastic program that may mean the fast-track to a green card!

As with all other information on this site, the above is not legal advice, and you should not take action or refrain from taking action based on this information. If you need additional information, please do not hesitate to contact our office.