Green Card status is a measure of how far along an applicant is in the process to getting a green card. Status is also an indicator of how long it will take to receive the Green Card.
With the Green Card Lottery, the period of time an applicant has to wait to receive their Green Card is approximately two years from application. However, for other categories of Green Cards this process can be significantly longer, even up to 20 years!
This is why the Green Card Lottery is considered to be so popular. With the Diversity Visa program immigrants can come to the United States very quickly and with fairly minimal restrictions on who can apply.
The Green Card Lottery also has a status system that is important to pay attention to.
When an immigrant initially applies for the Green Card Lottery (this is called the registration period and occurs sometime in October normally) they will receive a number at the end of the application called the Confirmation Number.
The Confirmation Number is incredibly important in tracking one’s application and therefore one’s Green Card status.
The State Department, whose duty it is to manage the Green Card Lottery, will take a few months to select the winners. This process is somewhat complex because it takes into account a large amount of information regarding immigration in the United States, so it normally takes until May of the following year to have the winning numbers collected.
The State Department does not contact the winners of the Green Card Lottery, but rather relies on the applicants to log onto their website and enter their Confirmation Numbers to see if they have won.
If someone wins the drawing, they are now considered to be an applicant for a Green Card and the next step is adjustment of status.