Blog Green Card Lottery Registration Begins Oct 2, 2008
October 1st, 2008The Green Card lottery, also referred to as the Diversity Visa Lottery, begins October 2, 2008 and runs through December 1 of the same year. Lottery winners are usually notified by the U.S. Department of State between May and July of the following year.
Under the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, American immigrant hopefuls can have the chance to enter a drawing to gain a Green Card, which allows unrestricted residency and work eligibility in the United States.
Green Card winners are selected through a computer-generated drawing and applicants must meet certain criteria in order to be considered eligible for the program. Specifically, qualified individuals must be natives of an eligible country, and have a minimum of a high school education or two years work experience. If selected for the Diversity Visa Lottery program, successful applicants as well as their spouse and all unmarried children under age 21, are eligible to apply for permanent resident status in the United States.
Diversity Immigrant Visa lottery winners, however, are not guaranteed a Green Card or United States citizenship and must submit several other applications and wait for approval before they receive permanent residency status. It takes about 30 minutes to submit an application for the Green Card lottery, and is currently free to apply. 80 percent of applicants participating in the lottery are from African or European nations. Under the Diversity Lottery program, over 50,000 Green Cards are given each year.