How do I enter the US green card lottery?

Each year, out of 15 million participants in the green card lotteryOnly 50,000 people receive the precious sesame that is the green card. Why is it so coveted? Because it allows a foreigner to live in the United States as an American citizen, indefinitely.

Visit green card lottery is the easiest way to earn a U.S. green card. However, it requires a great deal of motivation and patience. Find out more about the procedure imposed by the American government in this article.

Steps to participate in the green card lottery

Organized by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the primary objective behind the creation of the “Lawful Permanent Resident Card” is the ethnic diversity of the U.S. population. The green card is part of the immigration visa category, and gives its holder the same rights and duties as American citizens (apart from the right to vote and jury service).

There are four different applications for a green card: family reunification, professional opportunity (provided you’re an expert worker in your field), asylum and the diversity visa lottery. In this article, we focus on the last application on the list: the green card lottery.

To submit an application, several steps are required:

Determine your eligibility

1. Make sure you want to become a permanent resident and are not applying for the green card lottery for a temporary stay such as a tourist trip, business trip or stopover. If you wish to travel to the USA temporarily, we advise you to apply for a USA visa or to use the ESTA waiver program if all conditions are met;
2. make sure you’re from an eligible country (see the list of countries on the official website). Not all countries are eligible for the green card lottery. The countries selected are those that have provided fewer than 500,000 migrants to the U.S. over the past 5 years. If you live in a non-eligible country, you can apply if you were born in an eligible country, if your spouse was born in an eligible country, or if one of your parents was born in an eligible country;
3. check that you meet the professional or educational criteria. You must have completed at least 12 years of schooling, or have worked for at least 2 years (in a position requiring training).

Registration for the green card lottery

A quick and complex process, you’ll have just one hour to complete the E-DV Entry Form and submit your application to the green card lottery. There’s no way to suspend your application.

Registration generally takes place from October to November. Applications can only be made online at dvlottery.state.gov by clicking on “Begin Entry.

To complete your registration for the green card lottery, you must provide the following information:

• first and last names, etc. (in the order in which they appear on your passport) ;
• genre ;
• date of birth ;
• place of birth ;
• native country ;
• country of eligibility (which should normally be the same as your country of origin) ;
• a recent photo of yourself that respects the format and technical requirements of the form (you can visit the website https://www.dvlottery.state.gov and click on the link “Photo Validator” link to check that your photos match);
• postal address ;
• country of residence ;
• telephone number ;
• email address to which you have access ;
• highest level of education ;
• living biological and adopted children (number, first and last names, dates and places of birth, gender and passport photos).
  
  

Receive confirmation number

Once you have completed your registration, click on “Submit to send your request.

Please do not close the page until you have received your confirmation number. This confirms receipt of your application (and therefore your registration for the green card lottery) but will also be useful when checking the lottery result.

The results of the green card lottery

After several months, you can obtain the results of the green card lottery on the site, by clicking on “Entrant Status Check and entering your application number.

If you’ve been selected, congratulations, the American dream is yours! But this is just the beginning of a long process. After selection, U.S. Homeland Security must ensure that the winner has an admissible profile. To do this, you need to complete the DSQ-260 form (Online Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration Application), undergo a detailed interview at the American embassy in your country, and undergo a medical examination by a doctor approved by the US government.

Tips for applicants to the green card lottery

• The lottery application form is free of charge. However, if you are selected, there will be an immigration fee to pay;
• You can only apply once per period. However, you can apply with your spouse. As a result, you may be selected either for your spouse’s application, or for your own;
• if you have lost your confirmation number, go to the “Verify Entrant” pagepage, then click on “Forgot Confirmation Number”.

You will be asked to enter the year in which you applied, your marital status, date of birth and e-mail address (in the same terms as when you applied).