In this post, the DV Lottery Registration Guide to Avoid Disqualification is provided. The application process for the American Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is online and very simple. However, applicants need to be very careful when filling out the form to avoid being disqualified from the draw or at the time of the interview if they won the lottery.
Applicants should make sure they submit only one entry as
allowed by the law during each registration period. Multiple entries are not
permitted. Candidates with multiple entries will simply be disqualified. If
you’re married, each of you can submit one application by adding the spouse as
a derivative.
To apply for the DV Lottery program, you need to submit
the Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form or DS-5501. The
application form is available online through the Electronic Diversity Visa
(E-DV) website during the specified registration period. There is no
cost to register for the DV lottery program. Please register as soon as
possible.
The system usually bugs in the last week of application due
to the huge number of applicants in the last few days. You may not be able to
submit your application. The entry submission period for DV is from 12:00
PM EDT (GMT-4) on October 6th, to 12:00 PM EST (GMT-5) on November 9th each year.
To start, please click on the apply button and you will be redirected to a page. The begin entry button will appear once the application period starts. Please pay attention to the given instructions to avoid making a mistake that will cost you your immigration project to the United States of America.
Please click on the Begin Entry button to start.
You will then have access to the registration form.
I – DV Lottery Registration – Personal Information
Please fill the form. Information you enter must be accurate
and correct or you may be disqualified later. You will have approximately 30
min to fill the form. After 30 min the system will reset the form and you will
have to start filling it from the beginning. So do prepare all required
information and photos before you start the application process.
1. Name
Candidates should input their last/family name,
first name, and middle name exactly as it appears on their passport in the
corresponding field. If you have only one name, it must be entered in the
last/family name field. If you have No First Name or No
Middle Name, you must check the corresponding option, otherwise the form will not move forward as
a field will be left empty.
2. Gender
Applicants at this stage must select their gender (Male or
Female). Just click on the circles beside male or female to select your gender.
3. Birth Date
You must enter your Birth date. Please input the day, month
and year in their corresponding fields on the form.
4. City Where You Were Born
Please enter the name of the city where you were born. Do
not enter District/County/Province/State. If you don’t know the city where you
were born, please check the “Birth City Unknown” below the Birth
City field.
5. Country Where You Were Born
Please enter the name of the country of birth. Do remember
to use the current name of the country you were born in.
II – DV Lottery Registration – Country of Eligibility and Passport Information
6. Country of Eligibility for the DV Program
Your country of eligibility (chargeability) is normally your
country of birth. Your country of eligibility is NOT related to where
you live nor the citizenship you hold. Please answer the question Are
you claiming eligibility based on the country where you were born? By
selecting Yes or NO. If your answer is no (meaning your country of
birth is ineligible for the Diversity Visa), you have to choose another
country from which you’re claiming eligibility.
If your birth country is not eligible, you may choose your
country of eligibility as the country of birth of your spouse, or the
country of birth of either of your parents if you were born in a
country in which neither parent was born, and in which your parents were not
resident at the time of your birth. Selecting an incorrect country of
eligibility or chargeability will disqualify you. Please click on the American
Diversity Immigrant Visa Program for more details on eligible
countries.
7. Passport
In order to submit an entry for the Diversity Visa
program, you must currently possess a valid, unexpired passport from your
country of nationality, unless exempt. Please answer A or B.
A) Passport Information: Please fill in the corresponding
field, your last/family name, first name, middle name, passport number, and
passport expiration date as they appear in your passport. Also, select the
country of issuance of your passport. Do not forget to check No First
Name or No Middle Name if you do not have a first or
middle name.
B) Passport Exemption: Please select the option that corresponds to your situation. Please note that if it’s later determined that you’re not exempt from the passport requirement, you may be disqualified from the Diversity Visa program.
III – DV Lottery Registration – Photograph Requirements
8. Entrant Photograph
The digital photo you want to upload may be of one of the
following nature
A) A digital photo you take in the last 6 months which must
be:
- In
JPEG (.jpg) file format
- Equal
to or less than 240 KB (kilobytes) in file size
- In a
square aspect ratio (height must equal width)
- 600×600
pixels in dimension.
B) A scan of an existing photo. In addition to the digital
image requirements, your scanned photo must be:
- 2 x 2
inches (51 x 51 mm)
- Scanned
at a resolution of 300 pixels per inch (12 pixels per millimeter)
Furthermore, the image to upload must meet the following
requirements:
- In
color ;
- In
focus ;
- Sized
such that the head is between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches (22 mm and 35 mm) or
50 percent and 69 percent of the image’s total height from the bottom of
the chin to the top of the head. View the Photo Composition Template for
more size requirement details ;
- Taken
within the last six months to reflect your current appearance ;
- Taken
in front of a plain white or off-white background ;
- Taken
in full-face view directly facing the camera ;
- With a
neutral facial expression and both eyes open ;
- Taken
in clothing that you normally wear on a daily basis ;
- Uniforms
should not be worn in your photo, except religious clothing that is worn
daily ;
- Do not
wear a hat or head covering that obscures the hair or hairline unless worn
daily for a religious purpose. Your full face must be visible, and the
head covering must not cast any shadows on your face ;
- Headphones,
wireless hands-free devices, or similar items are not acceptable in your
photo ;
- Do not
wear eyeglasses ;
- If you
normally wear a hearing device or similar articles, they may be worn in
your photo.
Please click here to see examples of incorrect and acceptable photos. You can
use this tool provided by the US Department of State to prepare your photos.
Please click on the ‘Choose Photo‘ button to select
your prepared image for the application. If your photo does not comply with all
specifications, you will be disqualified from the draw.
IV – DV Lottery Registration – Contact Information
9. Mailing Address
Please enter your mailing address information. You may leave
blank places where it’s written “Optional“.
10. Country Where You Live Today
Please select the country Where You Live Today.
11. Phone Number
Please enter your phone number. Remember this is an optional
field. This means you’re not required to fill it and it can be left blank.
12. E-mail Address
Please enter your e-mail Address and Confirm it. If selected
you will receive follow-up email communication through this email address. So
you should make sure to provide a valid email address to which you will still
have access during the entire processing time of your case.
V – DV Lottery Registration – Level of Education and
Family Situation
13. What is the highest level of education you have
achieved, as of today?
Please select the highest level of education you have
achieved, as of today. You must have a minimum of a high school diploma
reflecting the completion of a full course of study (vocation schools or
equivalency degrees are not acceptable) or be a skilled worker in an occupation
that requires at least two years of training or experience to qualify
(visit onetonline.org to
see if your occupation qualifies) for a Diversity Visa.
14. What is your current marital status?
Please select your marital status. If you’re married at the
time of application, you must select married. Married means legally
married with official documents to prove that. If you’re married and
apply as single, you will be disqualified at the time of the
interview. However, if you’re married traditionally and there is no official
document to prove your status, you should apply as single.
You must list your spouse even if you currently are
separated from him/her unless you are legally separated. Legal separation is an
arrangement when a couple remains married but lives apart, following a court
order. If you and your spouse are legally separated, your spouse will not be
able to immigrate with you through the Diversity Visa program. If your spouse
is a U.S. citizen or a Lawful Permanent Resident, do not list him/her in your
entry since him/her won’t be needing a Diversity Visa.
15. Number of Children
Please enter the number of children you have. Children
include all biological children, legally adopted children, and stepchildren who
are unmarried and under the age of 21 on the date, you submit your entry. You
must include all eligible children, even if they do not live with you or if
they do not intend to apply for a Diversity Visa as your derivative. Failure to
list all eligible children is grounds for disqualification. If your child is a
U.S. citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident, do not list him/her in your entry.
Please click on the “Continue” button to move to the next page. If you’re married or have a child, please check the DV Lottery Registration – Derivatives section.
VI – DV Lottery Registration – Information Verification and Submission
You will have access to a page where you need to verify that all your entered information is correct. At the bottom of the verification page, you will have the following options;
- Cancel
Entry: After filling the form if for any reason you no longer wish to
complete the application process, please click on cancel entry;
- Go
Back to Part 1 : After verification, if there is a mistake on the
principal applicant form, please click on the “Go Back to Part 1” to
access the form, correct the mistake and click continue at the bottom of
that page to move forward;
- Go
Back to Part 2 (only for an applicant with derivative): After
verification, if there is a mistake on the derivatives application form,
please click on the “Go Back to Part 2” to access the form, correct the
mistake and click continue at the bottom of that page to move forward;
- Submit:
After verification, if all entered information is correct, click on the
“Continue” button to access the submission confirmation page.
You will then have access to the submission confirmation page. You must save the submission confirmation page in order to be able to check your status in May. You must save the page either electronically (recommended) or print it on paper. By experience, Varsity Scope advises you to save the submission page in PDF and send it by email to a trustful friend, family member or just save it as a draft in your email. This will save you from a lot of trouble later when you need to check your status.
To check your status in May, you need to click on the official page button. Please click on the Check Status button and fill in your information to see whether you’re selected or not. The DV lottery results will be available for all countries from May each year.
VII – DV Lottery Registration – Derivatives
If you’re married or have a child, you have to fill
in the same information and add a photograph for your spouse, children and
click on the Continue button. The form for derivative will
appear once you finished section V (DV
Lottery Registration – Level of Education and Family Situation) and clicked
on the “Continue” button at the bottom of the page.
The following are the information you need to fill for each
derivative (spouse and each children):
- Name:
last/family name, first name, middle name ;
- Birth
Date: please input the day, month, year in their corresponding fields ;
- Gender:
select the gender ;
- City
where the derivative is born ;
- Country
where the derivative is born ;
- Derivative
photograph.
once you finish filling in that information, you click next to access the verification section (DV Lottery Registration – Information Verification and Submission).
VIII – DV Lottery Registration – Important Notice
Below is some useful information that those who would like
to apply for the DV lottery should pay attention to.
How can I increase my chances of winning the DV lottery?
Married applicants can increase their chances by submitting
two different applications with each of the married couple being a principal
applicant and the other one a derivative.
If your children are eligible to apply, do submit an
application for them. If they won and immigrate to the USA, you can later get
your green card through them.
Single applicants can’t do anything to increase their
chances since the selection is done randomly by a computer program. However,
they should make sure to not make a mistake that may disqualify them from the
draw or prevent them from getting their visa if they won.
DV lottery registration date
The DV lottery application dates: Entries to the DV-Lottery Program must be submitted between noon EDT, Wednesday, October 6th, each year, and until noon EDT on Tuesday, November 9th. The submissions is only done
electronically on the state department website. Please click on the apply
button to access the online application form for the DV lottery.
Is my country eligible for the DV lottery?
Please click on the American
Diversity Immigrant Visa Program for more details on eligible
countries. Please note that your country of eligibility is NOT related to where
you live nor the citizenship you hold. It is the country where you were
born. For example, for the DV program, Brazil is not eligible. It
doesn’t mean all Brazilians cannot apply for the DV program this year.
Brazilians who were born in a foreign country that is eligible can still apply
for the Diversity Visa program.
If your birth country is not eligible, you may choose your
country of eligibility as the country of birth of your spouse, or the
country of birth of either of your parents if you were born in a
country in which neither parent was born, and in which your parents were not
resident at the time of your birth.
Is there an age requirement to apply for the E-DV
Program?
There is no age limit to apply. Anyone who meets the high
school education or work experience requirement, have a passport and was born
in a country that is eligible, can apply for the DV lottery.
What occupations qualify for the DV program?
The O*Net OnLine database is used to determine the
qualifying work experience. To qualify for a DV on the basis of your work experience,
you must have, within the past five years, two years of experience in
an occupation classified in a Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) range of
7.0 or higher. Please click
here to access the O*Net OnLine website and follow the steps below to
determine if your occupation qualifies:
- Under
“Find Occupations,” select “Job Family” from the pull-down menu;
- Browse
by “Job Family,” make your selection, and click “GO”;
- Click
on the link for your specific occupation; and
- Select
the tab “Job Zone” to find the designated Job Zone number and Specific
Vocational Preparation (SVP) rating range.
For example, the SVP Range for Carpenters is (4.0 to 6.0).
This means Carpenters are not eligible to apply for the DV program.
Other Points About the DV lottery registration
- Each
person is allowed to submit only one application. Duplicate
applications will disqualify you from the draw.
- Your
photo must have been taken within the last 6 months and aligned with size,
background and other DV photo requirements, otherwise, you will be
disqualified.
- If
possible apply yourself to avoid any error. If someone applied for you,
make sure to have a copy of the confirmation page, otherwise, you might be
scammed later if you win.
- Please
use your own email while applying. If you don’t have an email account, you
can easily get one for free.
Please note that the deadline to register for the American Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is November 9th, 12:00PM EST (GMT -5).