When Can I apply for the Green Card Lottery?

The Green Card Lottery registration period—the time of year when you can apply for the Green Card Lottery—usually begins in early October and ends in early November. Potential immigrants can apply for the lottery at this time.

However, USAGreenCardLottery.org offers its customers the chance to register at any time of the year. The forms will still be submitted during the registration period, but customers often find that having extra time to fill out the forms during the year helps in their chances of success.

The Green Card Lottery application is completed online (paper applications are no longer accepted) and will ask questions about your identity, your qualifications for entry and for passport-style photographs to be included digitally. All of which are part of USAGreenCardLottery.org’s assistance.

Potential immigrants are considered to be eligible for the Green Card Lottery if they have ties to an eligible country (are from that country or have a spouse or parent from that country) and meet education requirements. Applicants must have either the equivalent of a high school degree or two years of experience in a profession that took two years of training.

The winners of the Green Card Lottery are announced on May 1 of the year following the registration period.

For example: if the registration period was in October of 2011, the winners would be announced  on May 1, 2012.

The official name of the lottery is made up of “DV” meaning “Diversity Visa” and the year that the visas are awarded, two years after the registration period. So the registration period for DV-2014 occurred in October and November of 2012 and the winners will be announced on May 1 of 2013.

In order to check if you won it is incredibly important to retain your confirmation number which you will need to enter into the State Department’s database.