Family Members and the Green Card Lottery

The Green Card Lottery’s registration period is coming and now is the time to start putting together your family’s paperwork.

The registration system will only allow you one chance to enter all of your relevant information, so it is of utmost importance that all of your family’s identification and reference documents are available when you register.

However, a commonly asked question is: Which family members am I supposed to include on the registration application?

Family Members and the Green Card Lottery

The following are the family members that you MUST list on your application:

  • Your spouse. This is regardless of whether or not they are living with you. They might not even come with you to the United States, but they must be listed on the application.

    A spouse is defined as either a husband or a wife. Since June, 2013, same-sex couples are eligible to file for their spouse in U.S. immigration.

    Spouses must also be officially recognized by a court.

  • Your children. All of your living children under the age of 21 and unmarried must be listed in the application. This includes children living with you or not, adopted children and children from your marriage.

Failure to include all required family members will result in your application being rejected by the U.S. State Department upon application for an immigration visa.

A Helpful Hint

Duplicate applications are absolutely not allowed and any duplications will be summarily thrown out.

However, if you and your spouse are looking to immigrate together, you can both individually apply for the Green Card Lottery at the same time!

This effectively doubles your chance to win the lottery!

However, it is still very important to make sure that they are two separate and individual applications and not, in any way, duplications.