Immigration & Nationality Act makes available up to 55,000 permanent resident immigrant visas each year by random selection through a Diversity Visa lottery (DV). The annual DV program makes permanent residence visas available to persons meeting the simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. Diversity Visa entries are chosen by a computer-generated random lottery drawing. The visas are distributed among six geographic regions with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, and no visas going to citizens of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the past five years. Within each region, no one country may receive more than 7% of the available Diversity Visas in any one year.
The Department of State has announced that registration for the 2015 Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery begins at noon EDT on Tuesday OCTOBER 1, 2013. Person seeking to enter the lottery program must register online through the designated Internet website https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/ during the registration period (i.e. from noon EDT October 1, 2013 through noon EDT Saturday November 2, 2013).
The Department of State implemented the electronic registration system in 2003 year for the 2005 Diversity Visa Lottery to improve efficiency and make the process less prone to fraud, thus making it less vulnerable to use by persons who may pose a threat to the security interests of the United States. The Department continues to encourage persons who wish to enter the 2015 Diversity Visa Lottery to submit their information early in the registration period. Heavy demand may result in website delays. No entries will be accepted after noon EDT on Saturday November 2, 2013.
NOTE: There is no fee charged for entering the Diversity Visa Lottery. The Department of State does not endorse, recommend, or sponsor any information or material from outside entities. The Department is not aware that websites and e-mail have masqueraded as Official Diversity Visa Lottery facilitators. Registration from the Diversity Visa Lottery through the official U.S. government website, https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/, is free of charge and notifications of winning entries are sent by mail only. Paper entries and mail-in requests for Diversity Visa Lottery registration are not accepted.
For DV-2015, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply because the countries sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the previous five years: BANGLADESH, BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PERU, PHILIPPINES, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM.
Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan are eligible.
REQUIREMENTS FOR ENTRY
• To enter the DV lottery, you must be a native of one of the listed countries.
Native of a country whose natives qualify: In mo