The US State Department is expected to announce the winners for its yearly Diversity Visa Lottery Program on Wednesday May 1, 2013.
Immigrants who registered for the Green Card Lottery (As the Diversity Visa is also known) in October or November of 2012 will find out if they will have a chance to immigrate to the United States on the first day of May.
Winning the Green Card Lottery is not a guarantee for an immigration visa to the United States, but rather the opportunity to apply for immigration aside from the family or employment pathways.
Winners
If you registered for the Green Card Lottery last year during the registration period you can check if you have won the lottery at 12 pm Eastern Standard Time on May 1, 2013 on the official Diversity Visa Lottery site.
When checking your status, it is important to have the confirmation number available from your registration last year. The registration number was displayed upon completion of the Diversity Visa registration application.
Entrants who were selected in the Green Card Lottery will be notified by the Kentucky Consular Center in the months following the announcement date. When selectees receive their application packages they should follow the instructions included to apply for their registration as a permanent resident.
Registration
Registration for the Green Card Lottery typically takes place in either October or November. Paper registration is no longer allowed in the Green Card Lottery and applicants must register online.
Registration is the first step to winning the Green Card Lottery. Applicants can expect to receive their green cards two years from application if they are selected. Hence, the name of the Diversity Visa is dated two years in advance from the year of registration. Applicants registering in 2012 will be registering for “DV-2014”.
Requirements
There are only two requirements asked of applicants for qualification in the Green Card Lottery:
- Education: Applicants must either have a high school diploma (or similar educational background) or two years of experience in a profession that took two years to train for.
- Origin: Around the same time as the announcement of Diversity Visa winners, a list of ineligible countries is released. Applicants from these countries will be automatically disqualified. However, even if you are from one of the countries on this list, you may be able to apply by claiming the country-of-origin of one of your parents or your spouse.
Last Year?
Since the beginning of 2013, and arguably since the heated presidential race last year, immigration reform has experienced a lot of attention in the United States Congress.
Both houses have proposed a variety of immigration reform bills that may dramatically change the characteristics of United States immigration if passed. Some of these bills have received bipartisan support and are therefore considered more likely to be passed by analysts.
One common characteristic of these different pieces of legislation is that they tend to suggest ending the Green Card Lottery in favor of other immigration programs and reforms.
As a result of this confluence of political action, this may be the very last year to register for the Diversity Visa Lottery Program. The registration period planned to take place this year in October or November should still occur and it is suggested that immigrants who do not win DV-2014 apply for DV-2015 then.