What are the DV-2010 Green Card Lottery Entry Requirements?

If you want to enter the diversity visa lottery, you need to meet both residential and personal requirements. Please note that these requirements can change each year.

• What are the residential requirements?

• What are the personal requirements?

• You must be born in or “chargeable” to a visa eligible country

• AND you must have a secondary education

• OR you must have two years recent work experience in a specific occupation

• What are rules for dependents?

• What are rules for married applicants?

• What are rules for unmarried applicants?

• What are rules for unmarried minor children?

• Can I bring my elderly parents?

• Death of the principal applicant

• What does “chargeability” mean?

• What if I am in the U.S. illegally?

• What if I am out of status for more than one year?

NOTE: The 2008 edition of Win the Green Card Lottery, the Complete Do-It-Yourself Guide to the USA Diversity Visa Lottery, is now available FREE for download to registered members.  The hardcopy version is also available at Amazon.com and elsewhere.

What are the residential requirements?

NOTE: The final list of visa ineligible countries for DV-2010 has STILL not yet been released by the U.S. State Department.

For calendar year 2008 (DV‑2010), if you were born in any of the following visa ineligible countries, you can not enter this year's DV2010 green card lottery.  If you are born in any other country, you are from a visa eligible country.

• Brazil
• Canada
• China (mainland born)
• Colombia
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Great Britain (United Kingdom) including the following dependent territories: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn, St. Helena, Turks and Caicos Islands
• Guatemala
• Haiti
• India
• Jamaica
• Mexico
• Pakistan
• Peru
• Philippines
• Poland
• South Korea
• Vietnam

If you are a native of a visa ineligible country, see if you can be charged to a visa eligible country.

In case you are interested, the U.S. Department of State divides the world into six regions for immigration purposes. Under the diversity visa program, the regions are divided into high and low admission regions. The greatest numbers of visas go to regions with lower rates of immigration. Within each region, there are visa eligible and visa-ineligible countries. No diversity visas will be provided to citizens of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the past five years. The six regions are:

• Region 1 - AFRICA – Includes all countries on the continent of Africa and its adjacent islands.
• Region 2 - ASIA – Includes the countries from Syria to the northern Pacific Islands, including Indonesia.
• Region 3 - EUROPE – Covers the area from Greenland to Turkey and includes Russia and all of the countries of the former USSR.
• Region 4 - NORTH AMERICA – Only includes the Bahamas.
• Region 5 - OCEANIA – Includes all the countries and islands of the South Pacific, including Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea.
• Region 6 - SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN, extends from the Countries and Islands of South America to Chile, Central America to Guatemala and includes all the Caribbean nations.

What are the personal requirements?

To be eligible to enter the visa lottery, you must:

• Be a native or “chargeable” to a qualifying (eligible) country AND
• Have at least a 12 year course of elementary and secondary education OR;
• You must have at least two years of training or experience in a skilled occupation or trade within the past 5 years. Your occupation must require at least two years of training or experience to qualify.

If you already live within the United States, you can also enter. However, you do not have a higher priority than those registering from overseas.  Many immigration attorneys believe that processing your application at a U.S. Embassy abroad provides the best chance of actually receiving permanent resident status.

In most cases, you must have legally entered the U.S. and maintained your status. Have at least two years of training or experience within the last 5 years in a skilled occupation or trade requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform. If your visa is about to expire, you should renew your visa to stay “in status” until your final application is approved.

You must be born in or “chargeable” to a visa eligible country

As long as you or your spouse was born in a qualifying country, then you can enter the green card lottery. Your current country of citizenship is not considered.

For example, if you have citizenship in France (a qualifying visa eligible country) but were born in Canada (a visa ineligible country), you are ineligible to apply for the green card lottery. As far as the green card lottery is concerned, your country of birth is your native country regardless of your current citizenship. The requirements state that you have to be born in a qualifying country.

AND you must have a secondary education

For the calendar year 2006 (DV-2008) visa lottery, you must have at least the equivalent of a twelve-year U.S. high school education to apply for the visa lottery.

You are not required to prove that you have a high school education during your visa lottery registration. But you will need to provide this evidence when you are called for your interview. You must graduate by the visa lottery notification date. This is usually six months after the close of the lottery.

If you are in your last year of secondary school education, you can register for the lottery as a primary applicant. The following example illustrates the age requirement.

If you register for the calendar year 2008 lottery and win, you will be notified by June 30 of 2009. In this case, if you graduate between May and June of 2009, then you will graduate by the visa lottery notification date. Therefore, you would qualify to enter the lottery in 2008.

If you have not successfully completed a secondary school education, then you must have two years full-time work experience in your occupation in a field that requires two years of training. Otherwise, your registration will be disqualified.

An American General Equivalence Degree (G.E.D.) or its foreign equivalent is not accepted.

OR you must have two years recent work experience in a specific occupation

For the calendar year 2008 (DV-2010) visa lottery, if you do not have a high school secondary school education or its equivalent, this provision may apply. You may be able to substitute experience from a skilled occupation for education. The following section explains this in more detail.

You need to show you have worked for at least two years in an occupation requiring two years of training or experience in the last five years.

If you are unsure if your particular line of occupation or trade qualifies, see the list of eligible occupations at the Occupational Information Network (O*Net) Resource Center. Typically, these include trades such as carpenter or electrician, and occupations that require a college degree such as a teacher, nurse, or biochemist.

If your job is listed here, you qualify for the green card lottery based on your work experience or vocation.

After you are notified by the State Department that you won the lottery and you wish to qualify based on your work experience, bring proof of your qualifying employment to the interview. This proof should be a letter from your employer on company letterhead verifying: dates of employment, job title, salary, if employment was full time, a brief job description, and the employer’s contact information.

What are rules for dependents?

Your spouse and unmarried children under the ages of 21 are also eligible to receive immigrant visas along with you. It does not matter whether your spouse was born in a visa ineligible country. It also does not matter if your children or your spouse’s children were born in a visa ineligible country.

You must list all your children who are unmarried and under 21 years of age, whether they are your natural children, your spouse’s children by a previous marriage,  or children you have formally adopted in accordance with the laws of your country, unless a child is already a U.S. citizen or Legal Permanent Resident. List all children less than 21 years of age even if they no longer reside with you even if you do not intend for them to immigrate under the DV program. Include the photograph of each child.

The fact that you have listed family members on your entry does not mean that they must later travel with you. They may choose to remain behind. However, if you include an eligible dependent on your visa application forms that you failed to include on your lottery registration, you will be disqualified. This only applies to persons who were dependents at the time your lottery registration was submitted, not those dependents born or legally adopted at a later date. Remember, if you do not list all your children, your registration will later be disqualified.

What are rules for married applicants?

Your spouse should apply for the green card lottery separately from you. This doubles your chances of winning the visa lottery. In this case, your spouse should submit a second registration as a primary applicant. You should be listed as the spouse.

If your spouse is the primary applicant, note that your spouse must be a secondary high school graduate or qualify based on his or her occupation. As before, follow the rules for listing the names of dependent children. No more than two registrations are allowed per married couple, per year.

What are rules for unmarried applicants?

If you are unmarried, you may only submit one registration. As before, follow the rules for listing the names of dependent children.

What are rules for unmarried minor children?

Unmarried children may be included with the primary (principle) applicant’s winning application if the children are under 21 at the time the primary applicant registers with the U.S. Embassy.

Unmarried children under the age of 21 may also apply separately from you (the primary applicant if the children meet the lottery qualifications.

For example, your unmarried child can apply on her own for the visa lottery in 2007 if she will graduate in June 2008. She can also be listed on your application as a dependent.

If your unmarried secondary school graduate child wins the green card lottery as a result of her separate registration, and you do not win, you can still eventually enter the United States. In this case, your child must first become a U.S. citizen. Then he or she can sponsor you for U.S. permanent residence. However, it typically takes five to six years for a permanent resident to complete the steps required to become a U.S. citizen.

Can I bring my elderly parents?

If you have elderly parents who reside with you in your native country, do not list them on your registration. You must submit a separate registration for them on their own behalf. If they do not win the visa lottery and you do, they must stay behind in your home country. If you wish to bring your elderly parents to the United States, you must first become a U.S. citizen. Then you can sponsor your parent for U.S. permanent residency. This process takes five to six years.

Death of the principal applicant

If you, the primary applicant, die before you apply for the diversity visa (or adjust status), then your spouse will be the alternate principal visa applicant. He or she may still apply for a diversity visa as a primary applicant.

  

What does “chargeability” mean?

Chargeability is the method used by the State Department to assign your visa registration to a specific country. If you claim to be a native of a country where you were not born, you must include this information in your visa lottery registration. This method is formally called “alternative state chargeability”. It is the only way that you can be considered a “native” of a visa eligible country if you are born in a visa ineligible country. Please note that very few individuals generally qualify by this method.

According to U.S. State Department rules, “native” means: (1) born within the territory of a foreign country (or dependent territory), or (2) “chargeable” to that foreign country. If you are born in a visa ineligible country, you can still enter the lottery if you qualify if you were born in a visa ineligible country, but your spouse was born in a visa eligible country.  In this case, you can apply for the lottery on a separate application if you meet the education or work requirement. Again, if both you and your spouse enter the lottery you will double your chances of winning. Charge to the country of your spouse.

This is only allowable if both you and your spouse are a married couple. It does not apply if you are divorced from your spouse who is a native of the visa eligible country. In addition, both you and your spouse are required to enter the U.S. together on the diversity visa.

Chargeability Example #1.  For example, if you were born in Mexico, a country ineligible for the visa lottery, but your spouse is a native of Argentina, a country that is lottery eligible, then your country of eligibility can be Argentina

In this case, you would enter “Argentina” to Question 6, “Country of eligibility or chargeability for the DV Program? and indicate that the country of eligibility is “Argentina”.

What if my Parent Was Born in a Visa Eligible Country? If your parents were residing temporarily in your birth country and at least one parent is a native of a visa eligible country, you can apply. If you are unsure about their residence, then apply to the green card lottery anyway. You don’t have anything to lose by trying! As always, you must meet the education or work requirement. Claim eligibility to the visa eligible country of that parent.

Chargeability Example #2.  Consider the case where your husband was born in China, you were born in India, and your child was born in England. You and your family currently reside in England. All three countries (China, India, and England) are ineligible for the green card lottery. However, your husband was born in China when his parents were there on a business trip. His parents were away from their native country of France, a country that is eligible for the green card lottery. Both you and your husband may each file lottery registrations and include your child on each form. In this case, your husband can claim eligibility to his parent’s country of France. You can claim eligibility due to your husband’s country of France. Your child is listed as a dependent on each of your registrations. In this case, both you and your husband would enter “France” to Question 6. If either registration wins the green card lottery, then all three of you may immigrate to the United States.

Chargeability Example #3. Consider Rosa who was born in Italy. Her husband Ali was born in Egypt. Both Egypt and Italy are eligible for the green card lottery. However, we know from previous winning lottery numbers that the U.S. Department of State selected 4,832 persons from Egypt in 2008 for DV‑2009. By contrast, only 433 persons from Italy were chosen. In Rosa’s case, it would increase her chances of winning if she were to charge her registration to the Egyptian draw, not Italy. In this case, Rosa would enter “Egypt” for Question 6.

What if I am in the U.S. illegally?

In general, the visa lottery is not intended for people who have overstayed the limitations of their visas, or those who have entered the U.S. illegally.

Before 1996, aliens who fell out of status were still eligible for the diversity visa program as long as they were natives of low admission countries. Back then, if you were illegal, it did not matter, as you would be allowed to adjust status regardless whether you were illegal or not! This is no longer true.

If you are in the U.S. illegally you can still apply for the lottery. However, the problem arises if you win. Presently, any illegal alien who wins the lottery and goes to Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to adjust status may be taken into custody and removed.

Note that immigration laws are still undergoing changes as a result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Therefore, if you win the lottery, we advise you to contact an immigration attorney before you take any action.

What if I am out of status for more than one year?

If you remained in the U.S. as an “overstay” for more than one year and you leave the U.S., in most cases you will be barred from reentering the U.S. for a full ten years. Your winning lottery number will expire and you will not be eligible to get a green card under the diversity visa program. As discussed above, waivers of the bar to reentry may be available.

At the present time, any illegal alien who wins the lottery and goes to CIS to adjust status may be taken into custody and removed. Alternatively, it is very risky for you to leave for your home in the U.S. to file for an immigrant visa because it might not be possible for you to reenter the United States. If you apply for the lottery and win, you should seek the advice of a highly qualified attorney before you either leave the United States to apply for the immigrant visa, or apply to USCIS to adjust status.