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All About The 2017 DV Lottery

The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is an annual program that is congressionally mandated and implemented and managed by the Department of State. It provides countries that have low historical rates of immigration to the U.S. 50,000 Diversity Visas in the year 2017 and registering for this program is absolutely free. While selectees for Diversity Visas are chosen randomly by computer drawing, all applicants must meet a number of strict requirements for eligibility.

Applicants Must Be Native to a Qualified Country

There are six geographic regions across which DVs are distributed. No more than 7 percent of these visas will be distributed to a single country during a single registration period. The first and foremost requirement for a DV is that the applicant be a native of a qualified country. If applicants are not native to one of the applicable countries, they may still apply if they have a spouse who is a native.

For DV-2017, certain countries including Mexico, the UK (except Northern Ireland), Canada, Brazil, Dominican Republic, India, Pakistan, Philippines, and South Korea among others aren’t eligible for the program due to the high number of immigrants from these countries entering the U.S. during the last five years.

Education and Work Requirements

DV applicants must have evidence of having completed a 12-year course of formal education and of having obtained the equivalent of a high school degree. If this requirement is not met, the applicant must have at least two years of work experience in a position that requires at least two years of industry-specific training within the past five years. Work experience is verified by O*NET Online, a database that is maintained by the US Department of Labor.

Applying for the Diversity Visa

All Diversity Visa applications must be submitted online between Oct. 1, 2015 and Nov. 3, 2015. Incomplete or late entries will not be accepted. It is advised to avoid waiting until the last minute to submit applications given that high demand could cause website delays and other problems. People who submit multiple entries during a single registration period will automatically be disqualified.

Applicants are also advised to be physically present when this process is completed by a third-party, like a family immigration lawyer, in order to verify the accuracy of the submitted information. Once the DV application is complete, applicants will receive unique confirmation numbers and confirmation pages. These should be retained for future use such as when seeking online updates of the application status.

Complete instructions are available on the U.S. Department of State website. To ensure your eligibility and the correct submission of your application, work with an experienced San Diego immigration lawyer who can take you through each step of the process. Call KS Visa Law at (858) 874-0711 and request a free immigration consultation today.

March 2024
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