The Us Green Card Lottery – Choosing to move to a different country can be a difficult decision. For whatever reason, be it safety, stability, opportunities, or more, taking the first step into changing your home and country address includes choosing what method of immigrating you have decided to use.
Due to the high rate of competition to enter the United States, the US Green Card lottery was formed to create more avenues for people to get an easier passage into the country.
What is the US Green Card Lottery?
The US Green Card Lottery is also called the Diversity Immigrant Visa. The US Congress created this type of visa to increase foreign nationals’ diversity in the United States. Though many prospective immigrants worldwide submit or apply to immigrate to the United States, some countries have a low number of immigrants who have successfully been awarded visas and live in the United States.
The United States strives to have an almost equal ratio of immigrants from different countries living in the country.
The Green Card Lottery or the Diversity Immigrant Visa is awarded to up to 50,000 immigrants every year to diversify the number of immigrants living in the United States from around the world. This visa is granted by randomly drawing candidates from a pool of submitted applications worldwide during the registration period. The DV lottery winner can then become a permanent resident of the United States.
Who can apply for the US Green Card Lottery?
To be eligible for the diversity immigrant visa program and to ensure that you increase your chances of winning, you must;
- Be a foreign citizen from a country with a low immigration rate to the United States. This increases your chances of winning as The US Congress created the diversity visa lottery to ensure a balanced mix of citizens from different countries immigrating into the United States. This is why the Department of State releases a list of eligible and ineligible countries every fiscal year.
- Have graduated from high school or its equivalence in your country to start the application process.
What are the benefits of the US Green Card Lottery?
Some benefits of applying for the US Green Card Lottery program include;
- Online registration process: The application process for this type of visa is almost entirely out of your hands. Because entry forms, physical forms, and mail-in forms are not accepted for this type of visa, the process of registration, as requested by the citizenship and immigration service, is an online registration process that gives all applicants an equal chance.
- High chances of winning: Since the candidate-drawing and visa awarding process is done using a sophisticated process that eliminates human faults, there is a high chance for your name to be drawn.
- Passport requirements: The US Green Card Lottery is open once a year for 4 to 5 weeks and requires that you produce a valid passport to qualify for the visa. The passport should also be valid for international travel to be eligible.
How much does it cost to receive the US Green Card?
Just as with any visa, the US Green Card is not guaranteed to any applicant. The application process is a general one where everyone submits registers online and receives a confirmation number used to check on the status of their application.
Any awarded applicant is drawn among the pool of submitted candidates for the diversity visa.
Any costs attributed to the US Green Card lottery are mainly attributed to the application’s documentation and interview stages. This may include US Embassy or Consulate instructions, costs incurred during the required documentation gathering, required medical examination, local government fees for certified record copies, and other expenses.
The only fee to be paid is the Diversity Visa Fee, which amounts to $330 per applicant, collected in the consulate in some cases. It is essential to check the consulate’s instructions on the payment of fees to follow the requirements. It is also advised to make all the necessary payments before the applicant interview stage and to take your evidence of charge along with you for verification.
How do I check my eligibility for the lottery?
Choosing to pitch your tent and join the pool of applicants for the Diversity Visa means ensuring that you have a valid passport, meeting the requirements, and going through the interview stage.
During the application process, you will need to complete an online registration form. After the successful completion of the form, you will be given a confirmation number that you will use to check the status of your application.
After the successful applicants have been selected for the diversity visa, please note that applicants will not be informed directly via message or mails. You need to check for your application’s status using the Entrant Status Check and the confirmation number given to you.
You can also read more about the US green card lottery on the official website.
Not sure if you qualify for the Diversity Visa or the US Green Card Lottery? Click here and use our free eligibility tool for the US green card lottery.
