The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program - Green Card Lottery

The US government issues 50,000+ greencards every year through a lottery system. The winners of these spots are then given an opportunity to apply for permanent resident status which authorizes the person to live and work permanently in the United States. They then may bring any unmarried children (under 21) and spouse too. So while obtaining one of the greencards is not the end of the process, it does give the winner a very good chance of obtaining permanent resident status.

The winners come from countries that have not sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the US in the previous 5 years. So not everyone is eligible to apply because some countries will be ruled out on a yearly basis and this can and does change. You can also apply though if one of your parents was born in one of the eligible countries even though you were not.

The lottery for these cards is usually held in the fall of each year. The instructions (including what countries' citizens are eligible) and other eligibility requirements are issued a couple months before that by the State Department.

It is free to apply for the greencards lottery and there is plenty of time every year to get the proper documentation together. But immigration services claims on their own web site that millions of these applications are rejected every year because of errors. So if you do not want or cannot afford an immigration attorney or, hire one of the cheaper specialist companies to walk you through it, be careful and thorough with the application process.

I have not been through it myself so I cannot tell you what to avoid but if millions are being rejected every year I'm guessing that the forms are not the easiest thing to fill out. It's par for the course here with any government thing and probably worse because of the added security now.

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