DIVERSITY LOTTERY
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The DV-2011 Lottery online
entry began October 2, 2009 and ended at noon EST,
Monday, November 30, 2009. Winners of
the DV-2011 lottery will
be notified by mail between May and July of 2010. Each month visas will be issued,
according to registration lottery rank order, to those ready for visa issuance
for that month. Once 50,000 visas are issued, the program ends.
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Apply Online
Required Information for the Application
Digital/ Scanned Photographs
Will I have to wait for an confirmation notice
of my entry?
Checking status of entries
Will entrants not
selected be informed? |
Who can
apply?
Which countries are
excluded?
Regional lists of
countries
What if
my native country is not my birth country?
What is
chargeability?
Family members:
Are they left behind?
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Effect of unlawful status on
diversity eligibility?
Application's effect on your
nonimmigrant status
Possibility of waiving inadmissibility grounds
What does it mean to have a "high school education or its equivalent"?
If the DV
selectee dies, what happens to family?
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The selection process
How many are selected?
The rigidity of the number system
How can I confirm that my entry has been chosen in the random lottery?
Once
selected, what happens next?
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Annually, 55,000 visas are given away by random
drawing to individuals from countries underrepresented in the total
immigrant pool. Five thousand are reserved for use under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA), effectively leaving 50,000 visas available annually.
Visas are distributed among
six geographic regions: Africa; Asia; Europe; North America (other
than Mexico; Oceania, & South America (including Mexico, Central America,
and the Caribbean). Each of the six regions is divided into high and low admission nation states (countries).
The
permanent Diversity
program is designed to increase the number of visas given to states that have had low admission rates. Nation states with high admission rates are excluded. Specifically, if more than 50,000 visas have been issued to immigrants from one particular country in the past 5 years, that country is then entirely
excluded from the lottery.
Low admission states compete equally with other low admission states in the same region. No single state may receive more than 7% (3,500) of the 50,000 allotted visas. |
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You may submit your entry without an attorney.
If you feel more comfortable using an attorney, KLF can, very
affordably, help you submit the application properly and save you
time.
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An attorney will review any
admissibility issues and determine whether it is in your best interest
or harmful to apply.
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Any delays caused by mistakes
in self-filing will not likely be possible to correct in
time to allow your visa to be issued before the 50,000 limit is reached.
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An attorney can draft and
prepare the necessary documents so that you are ready to move forward
at the earliest opportunity.
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Once selected, it is highly
advisable to use a trusted attorney for adjustment of status or consular processing.
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Natives of which countries are excluded?
For DV-2011,
natives of the following countries are excluded:
- Brazil
- Canada
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China - mainland born
(nationals of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan ARE eligible)
- Colombia
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Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
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Guatemala
- Haiti
- India
- Jamaica
- Mexico
- Pakistan
- Peru
- Philippines
- Poland
- South Korea
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United Kingdom
(Exception: natives of Northern Ireland and its dependent territories.
Northern Ireland does qualify.)
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United Kingdom's dependent territories.
Natives of Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn, St. Helena, and the Turks and Calicos Islands are not eligible.
- Vietnam
Russia is once again eligible. Kosovo is also on the list of
eligible countries.
Persons born in the areas administered prior to June
1967 by Israel, Jordan, and Syria are chargeable, respectively, to Israel,
Jordan, and Syria. Persons in the Gaza Strip are chargeable to Egypt.
Why was my country excluded?
The DV lottery is designed to increase the diversity of the overall immigrant population of immigrants coming to the US. Countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the US in the past five years are excluded.
Who can apply?
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Individuals who otherwise meet the requirements for competition in the lottery may compete whether they are in the United States or in a foreign country.
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The individual must have EITHER at least a high school education or its equivalent, OR, within the preceding five years, two years work experience in an occupation requiring at least two years training or experience.
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A husband and a wife may
each submit one lottery application. If either is selected in the lottery, the other would be entitled to derivative status.
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Limited to one application per person. Note: If more than one application is submitted for an applicant, all entries will be disqualified. Hundreds of thousands of applications are rejected every year due to multiple applications. It is not a problem if you have submitted an application during a PREVIOUS lottery registration. -
No minimum age is required.
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Those already registered in another visa category may still apply.
Do I need to be in lawful visa status to compete? -
An individual who is in the U.S. need NOT be in lawful status to compete in the lottery. However, the Department of State has indicated that it will share information with the Department of Homeland Security for the "formulation, amendment, administration and enforcement" of the country's immigration laws.
Warning:
A person out of status may be subject to the three and ten year bars on admission due to unlawful presence and unable to take advantage of winning the lottery.
Diversity winners seeking adjustment of status within the
United States are subject to the general rule, with limited
exceptions, that the applicant have maintained status.
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'Unlawful presence' is a legal term different from and more specific than merely overstaying a visa; please consult an attorney to discuss.
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It is not advisable to apply if you know that you are barred from admission as the Department of State will share information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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However, it is arguable that if someone has an approved pending visa petition filed before April 30, 2001 (for example, an I-130 approved but where priority dates are not current), the person should be able to process a lottery selection in the United States. Because the laws on this subject are highly complex, it is recommended that out of status persons contact an immigration lawyer to determine their status and an appropriate strategy.
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What is 'chargeability'? Can I be a "native" of a country other my country of birth?
Your country of eligibility is not related to where you live.
Your country of eligibility will normally be the same as your country of birth.
"Native" ordinarily means someone born in a particular country, regardless of the individual's current country of residence or nationality.
For immigration purposes, under the provisions of Section 202(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act,
the term 'native' can also mean someone who is entitled to be "charged" to
a country other
than the one in which he/she was born.
Thus someone may be:
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(1) charged to the country of birth of his/her spouse, but only if the spouse is also issued a visa and enters the US at the same time as the primary applicant;
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(2) a minor dependent child can be charged to the country of birth of a parent; and
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(3) an applicant born in a country of which neither parent was a native may be charged to the country of birth of either parent.
For example, if you were born in a country that is not eligible for this year’s DV program, you may claim
chargeability
to the country where your derivative spouse was born, but you will not be issued a DV-1 unless your spouse is also eligible for and issued a DV-2, and both of you must enter the United States together with the diversity visas. In a similar manner, a minor dependent child can be "charged" to a parent’s country of birth.
If you were born in a country not eligible to participate in this year’s DV program, you can be "charged" to the country of birth of either of your parents as long as neither parent was a resident of the ineligible country at the time of the your birth.
In general, people are not considered residents of a country in which they were not born or legally natura lized if they are only visiting the country, studying in the country temporarily, or stationed in the country for business or professional reasons on behalf of a company or government.
If you claim alternate chargeability, you must indicate such information on the E-DV electronic online entry form.
Listing an incorrect country of eligibility or chargeability (i.e. one to which you cannot establish a valid claim) may disqualify your entry.
If you were adopted
and wish to be charged to the country of your adopting parents,
you are eligible to apply irrespective of where you were born. You
will need to bring proof of adoption to your interview.
What does it mean to have a
"high school education or its equivalent?"
You must have successfully completed a twelve year course of elementary and secondary education in the U.S. or successful completion in another county of a formal course of elementary and secondary education comparable to complete a 12 year education in the U.S. or successful completion in another country of a formal cause of elementary and secondary education comparable to completion of a 12 year education in the U.S. Passage of a high school equivalency examination is not sufficient. It is permissible to have completed one's education in less than 12 years or more than 12 years if the course of study completed is equivalent to a U.S. high school education. Documentary proof of education (including a diploma or school transcript) should NOT be submitted with the application, but must be presented to the consular office at the time of formally applying for an immigrant visa application.
What does it mean to have "two years work experience in an occupation requiring at least two years training or experience?"
The determination of which occupations require at least two years of training or experience shall be based upon the Department of Labor's O*Net Online database. Previously, when work experience was used as the equivalent of high school graduation, the employment position was compared to those in the US Dep't of Labor Dictionary of Occupational Titles. The Labor Department has phased out this publication and replaced it with the O*Net online system. The O*Net system is available online at
http://online.onetcenter.org. As with proof of education, documentary proof of work experience should not be submitted with the application, but must be presented to the consular office at the time of a formal immigrant visa application.
You must have EITHER a high school education or its equivalent, defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education; OR two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform. The U.S. Department of Labor’s
O*Net OnLine database will be used to
determine qualifying work experience.
Are waivers to any of the grounds for inadmissibility available by virtue
of participating in the lottery?
Applicants are subject to all grounds of
ineligibility for immigrant visas specified in the Immigration and
Nationality Act. There are no special provisions for the waiver of any
ground of visa ineligibility aside from those ordinarily provided in
the Act, nor is there special processing for waiver requests.
Some general waiver provisions for people
with close relatives who are American Citizens or Lawful Permanent
Resident aliens may be available to DV applicants as well, but the
time constraints in the DV program will make it difficult for
applicants to benefit from such provisions.
Also,
holders of J 1 visas with a two year home residency requirement will
not be able to receive a waiver of this requirement by virtue of being
selected in the lottery. A holder of a J visa can still enter the
lottery, but he/she will have to qualify for a residency waiver in the
same manner as is normally required to get such a waiver.
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How to Apply
There is no fee for submitting an
electronic lottery entry. DV applicants must pay all required visa
fees at the time of visa application directly to the consular cashier
at the embassy or consulate. Details of required diversity visa and
immigration visa application fees will be included with the
instructions sent by the Kentucky Consular Center to applicants who
are selected.
There is only one way to enter the DV-2011 lottery. Applicants must submit an Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form accessible only at
www.dvlottery.state.gov
Entries are submitted electronically.
An original signature is no longer necessary. Paper entries are no longer accepted.
The E-DV Entry Form is designed to be completed
and submitted at one time. However, because the form is in two parts,
and because of possible network interruptions and delays, the E-DV
system is designed to permit up to sixty (60) minutes between the
form’s download and when the entry is received at the E-DV website. If
more than sixty minutes elapse and the entry has not been
electronically received, the information already received is
discarded. This is done so that there is no possibility that a full
entry could accidentally be interpreted as a duplicate of a previous
partial entry.
Applicants will receive an
electronic confirmation indicating that the application was
properly received.
Keep your confirmation
page. Information is provided here for
checking the status of your entry.
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A successfully registered entry will
result in the display of a confirmation screen containing your name
and a unique confirmation number. You may print this confirmation
screen for your records using the print function of your web browser.
You will be able to check the status of your entry by returning to the
website and entering your unique confirmation number and personal
information.
Photographs
The applicants must have the scanned
photograph file ready when they submit the entry online. Photographs must be electronically submitted
with, and at the same time as, the E-DV online entry. The
entire entry (photograph and application together) can be submitted
electronically from the United States or from overseas.
However, photographs cannot be submitted separately from the online
application.
It is very important that
all required photographs be submitted.
Your entry will be
disqualified if all required photographs are not submitted.
See
instructions for taking and scanning photograph instructions
below.
Only one online entry can be submitted
for each person.
Multiple submissions will disqualify the entry for that person
for the year.
Recent photographs of
the following people must be submitted with the online entry:
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You
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Your spouse
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Each unmarried
child under 21 years of age at the time of your electronic entry,
including all natural children as well as all legally-adopted children
and stepchildren, even if a child no longer resides with you or you do
not intend for a child to
immigrate under the DV program.
You do not need to submit a photo for a child who is already a
U.S. citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident. Group or family
photographs will not be accepted; there must be a separate photograph
for each family member.
Failure to submit
the required photographs for your spouse and each child listed will result
in an incomplete entry to the E-DV system. The entry will not be accepted.
Failure to enter the correct photograph of each
individual in the case into the E-DV system will result in
disqualification of the principal applicant and refusal of all visas in
the case at the time of the visa interview.
If the
submitted digital photos do not conform to the specifications, the
system will automatically reject the entry and notify the sender.
Does this mean that the entry can be resubmitted?
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If there are problems with the digital photograph sent,
because it does not conform to the requirements, it is
automatically rejected by the E-DV website. Since the entry
was automatically rejected, it was not actually considered as
submitted to the E-DV website. It does not count as a submitted E-DV
entry, and no confirmation notice of receipt is sent.
- Yes, the entry can be resubmitted. However, the amount
of time it takes the rejection message to reach the sender is
unpredictable, given the nature of the Internet. If the problem
can be fixed by the applicant, and the Form Part One or Two is
re-sent within sixty (60) minutes, there is no problem. Otherwise,
the applicant will have to restart the submission process. An
applicant can try to submit an application as many times as is
necessary until a complete application is received and the
confirmation notice sent.
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The response from the E-DV website which contains confirmation
of the receipt of an acceptable E-DV Entry Form is sent by the E-DV
website immediately. However, how long it takes the response to
reach the sender is unpredictable, given the nature of the
Internet.
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If many minutes have elapsed since pressing the "Submit"
button, there is no harm in pressing the "Submit" button a second
time. The E-DV system will not be confused by a situation where
the "Submit" button is hit a second time, because no confirmation
response has been received.
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An applicant can try to submit an application as many times as
is necessary until a complete application is received and the
confirmation notice sent.
However, once you receive a
confirmation notice, do not resubmit your information.
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The Application: Required
Data
The DV-2011 instructions
explain clearly and completely what information is required to fill in
the form. Thus you can be fully prepared, making sure you have
all of the information needed before you start to complete the form
online.
Full Name - Last/Family Name, First Name, Middle name
Date of Birth - Day, Month, Year
Gender
City of Birth
Country of Birth
Country of eligibility or
chargeability
If your native country is not your country of birth, see
chargeability
discussion regarding claiming another country other than your country of birth
Scanned/Digital Photographs (instructions below)
Mailing Address -
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Address, City/Town, District / Country / Province / State, Postal Code / Zip Code, Country
Country where you live today?
Phone Number (optional)
E-mail Address (mandatory even
though you will not be notified by e-mail)
What is the highest level of education you have achieved, as of today?
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You must choose one of the ten options indicating the highest level of education you have achieved: (1) Primary school only, (2) High school, no degree, (3) High school degree, (4) Vocational school, (5) Some university courses, (6) University degree, (7) Some graduate level courses, (8) Master degree, (9) Some doctorate level courses, and (10) Doctorate degree.
Marriage Status
Number of unmarried children who are under 21 years
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Entries MUST include the
name, date, and place of birth of your spouse and all natural
children, as well as all legally-adopted children and stepchildren
who are unmarried and under the age of 21 on the date of your
entry (do not include children who are already U.S. citizens or
Legal Permanent Residents), even if you are no longer legally
married to the child’s parent, and even if the spouse or child
does not currently reside with you and/or will not immigrate with
you. Note that married children and children 21 years or older are
not eligible for the diversity visa; however, U.S. law protects
children from "aging out" in certain circumstances. If your
electronic DV entry is made before your unmarried child turns 21,
and the child turns 21 before visa issuance, he/she will be
treated as though he/she were under 21 for visa-processing
purposes.
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Warning:
Failure to list all
children who are eligible will result in disqualification of the
principal applicant and refusal of all visas in the case.
Spouse- Name, Date of Birth, Gender, City/Town of Birth, Country of Birth, Photograph -
You must list your spouse even if you are currently separated from him/her, unless you are legally separated (i.e. there is a written agreement recognized by a court or a court order). If you are legally separated or divorced, you do not need to list your former spouse. Living apart is not reason to omit your spouse. -
List your spouse whether or not he or she intends to immigrate with you.
Children - Name(s), Date of Birth, Gender, City/Town of Birth, Country of Birth, Photograph(s) -
Warning: Failure to list all children will
result in your disqualification for the visa.
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Entries must include the name, date and place of birth of all unmarried children (adopted and stepchildren included) under 21 years of age, with the exception of children who are already U.S. citizens or Legal Permanent Residents, -
List the child even if you are no longer legally married to the child’s parent, and even if the child does not currently reside with you and/or will not immigrate with you. -
Thus, include biological children, your spouse’s children, or children you have formally adopted. -
Married children and children 21 years or older will not qualify for the diversity visa.
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If I win, can I get green cards for my family?
Your spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21 (at the time the green card - not the lottery application - is approved) are automatically entitled to the same status as you. -
Under the new Child Status Protection Act, children of lottery-based green card applicants, the age of the child minus the adjudication time of the lottery-based immigrant petition at the time a visa number becomes available for the parent is the age used for determining whether the child is eligible for the green card as an under 21 year old child. But to take advantage of this, the child actually must seek to acquire the green card within a year of the visa becoming available.
Also, in the case of a child who turns 21 while a lottery-based green card application is pending who is not eligible to claim to be under 21 for purposes of seeking a green card, may still retain the original date issued upon receipt of the original petition and it is not necessary to file a new application because the case will automatically convert to the appropriate category.
If the
DV selectee dies, what happens to the DV case?
The death of an individual selected in the lottery results in
automatic revocation of the DV case. Any eligible spouse
and/or children are no longer entitled to the DV visa for that
entry.
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How does the selection process work?
The State Department's Kentucky Consular Center will receive all applications submitted electronically. Upon receipt, the KCC will assign the application to one of six geographic regions and assign the applicant an individual number. Within each region, the first applicant randomly selected will be the first person registered, the second applicant selected will be the second person registered, etc.
How many are selected?
There are 50,000 DV visas available for DV-2011, but
more than that number of individuals will be selected. Because it is
likely that some of the first 50,000 persons who are selected will not
qualify for visas or pursue their cases to visa issuance, more than 50,000
entries will be selected by the Kentucky Consular Center to ensure that
all of the available DV visas are issued.
However, this
also means that there will not be a sufficient number of visas for all
those who are initially selected. All applicants who are selected
will be informed promptly of their place on the list.
The Kentucky Consular Center
will send appointment letters to selected applicants four to six weeks
before the scheduled interviews with U.S. consular officers at overseas
posts. Each month, visas will be issued to those applicants who are ready
for issuance during that month, visa-number availability permitting. Once
all of the 50,000 DV visas have been issued, the program will end. In
principle, visa numbers could be finished before September 2011. Selected
applicants who wish to receive visas must be prepared to act promptly on
their cases.
Random selection by the
Kentucky Consular Center computer as a selectee does not automatically
guarantee that you will receive a visa. You must qualify for the visa
as well.
How
strict are the numbers?
The cut off number listed on the visa bulletin is the true cut off number. There are absolutely no exceptions. If 12,800 is the cut off number for your region, and you received 12800 as the last digits in your lottery number, you are cut off from adjustment processing.
Once selected, what happens next?
According to the Department of State, all applicants who are selected will be informed promptly of their place on the list.
You must be prepared to act promptly if your name is selected.
You will need to choose between adjustment of status or
consular processing.
Each
month visas will be issued, according to registration lottery rank order, to
those ready for visa issuance for that month. DV-2011 visa interviews will begin in October, 2010.
Adjustment of Status or
Consular Processing
If you are
in the U.S., you can choose to adjust status to legal permanent
residency from within the United States or depart and consular process
from outside the United States. To adjust status, you must meet
the normal requirements for adjusting status, including the general
rule of having maintained status.
The Kentucky Consular Center will send appointment letters to selected applicants four to six weeks before the scheduled interviews with U.S. consular officers at overseas posts.
Applicants must ensure that USCIS can complete action on their
cases, including processing of any overseas derivatives, before
September 30, 2011, since on that date registrations for the
DV-2011 program expire2. If your particular local office is
backlogged and cannot process an adjustment case in time, consular
processing may be your best option.
No visa numbers for the DV-2011 program
will be available after midnight EST on September 30, 2011 under
any circumstances.
Entry winners are actually in a
race to have their interview and be approved not only to meet the
September 30 deadline but to be among the 50,000 eligible to receive a
visa. Neither diversity visas
nor adjustments will be approved after this date. Family members
cannot obtain diversity visas to follow to join the principal applicant in their case in the U.S. after this date.
Once 50,000 visas are issued, the program ends. In principle, visa numbers could be finished before September 2011.
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How will I know if my entry
was selected?
The Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) will
send the letters notifying those who are selected. KCC will mail the letter
to the address listed on the E-DV entry. The letter will contain
instructions for the visa application process.
How can I confirm that my entry has been chosen in the random lottery?
Keep your confirmation page.
You will need it to check the status
of your entry on the official DV website after the electronic lottery is
conducted (usually March).
If you lose your confirmation
information, you will not be able to check your DV entry status by
yourself, and the Department of State will NOT resend confirmation page
information to you. If you lose your confirmation page information, you
will only find out that you were selected if you receive an official
letter by mail. U.S. embassies and consulates will NOT provide a list of
those selected to continue the visa process.
Checking status of entries
All entrants, including those NOT selected, will be able
to check the status of their entry and find out if their entry was or
was not selected.
Check status through the E-DV website.
Entrants should keep their own confirmation page information as status information for DV-2011 will be available online
after July
1, 2010.
The selected individuals will be notified by mail
between May and July 2010; the letters will provide further
instructions. DV-2011 visas will be issued between October 1, 2010
and September 20, 2011.
Will entrants who
are not selected be informed?
Persons not
selected will not receive any additional
official notification by email or by mail; they may however check their
entry using their confirmation information.
When do I pay a fee?
The instructions say the selected
applicants will pay all diversity and immigrant visa fees in person
only at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate at the time of the visa
application. The Consular Cashier or Consular Officer immediately
gives the visa applicant a U.S. Government receipt for payment. You
should never send money for DV fees through the mail, Western Union,
or any other delivery service.
Having applied, how do I answer questions about whether or not I have previously applied for an immigrant visa? Will applying for the lottery affect one's ability to receive a nonimmigrant visa?
Probably not. Siskind Susser addressed this situation:
"Technically, filing a visa lottery application is equivalent to filing an immigrant petition. Because a consulate will only be notified if the person is selected in the lottery, an individual who is not chosen is on his
or her honor to state that he/she applied for the lottery. Theoretically, if your name is selected in the lottery, you may have trouble renewing nonimmigrant status while waiting for your name to be cleared for processing.
See discussion on the post-selection process for securing a green card. This should only be a temporary problem since permanent residency should eventually be awarded. There is still a risk that you will fail to be deemed eligible for the visa or the Department of State will have overestimated the number of individuals to select in the lottery (see discussion on how the selection process works). However, of all the lawyers with whom I have spoken, none have ever reported a problem with a client having entered the lottery."
Kennedy Law Firm advises clients to answer the question on the DS-156 concerning previous immigrant visa applications as follows: "My lawyer entered me in the DV-200X lottery."
We have not heard of a single instance where a visa was denied because of a previous lottery application. |
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In what region is my native country assigned? |
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(1) Africa
- Algeria
- Angola
- Benin
- Botswana
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cameroon
- Cape Verde
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Comoros
- Congo
- Congo, Democratic Republic of the
- Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
- Djibouti
- Egypt
(Persons born in the Gaza Strip are chargeable to Egypt)
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- Gambia, The
- Ghana
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Kenya
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Rwanda
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Africa
- Sudan
- Swaziland
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Tunisia
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
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(2) Asia
- Afghanistan
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Bhutan
- Brunei
- Burma
- Cambodia
- China-mainland
- China-Taiwan
- East Timor
- Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Israel
- Japan
- Jordan
- Korea, North
- Korea, South
- Kuwait
- Laos
- Lebanon
- Macau Special Administrative Region
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Mongolia
- Nepal
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- Sri Lanka
- Syria
- Taiwan
- Thailand
- United Arab Emirates
- Vietnam
- Yemen
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(3) Europe
- Albania
- Andorra
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
(including components)
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark (including components & dependent areas overseas)
- Estonia
- Finland
- France (including components & dependent areas overseas)
- Georgia
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Kazakhstan
- Kosovo
- Kyrgyzstan
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macedonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of
- Malta
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Netherlands (including components & dependent areas overseas)
- Northern Ireland
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Tajikistan
- Turkmenistan
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom'
NOTE:
Natives of Northern Ireland and Hong Kong are eligible; however, natives of Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Caymen Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibralter, Montserrat, Pitcairn, St. Helena, and the Turks and Caicos Islands are not eligible]
- Uzbekistan
- Vatican City (an independent city under the jurisdiction of the Holy See)
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- Bahamas, The
- Canada
- United States
(5) Oceania
- Australia (including components and dependent areas overseas)
- Fiji
- Kiribati
- Marshall Islands
- Micronesia, Federated States of
- Nauru
- New Zealand (including components and dependent areas overseas)
- Palau
- Papua New Guinea
- Solomon Islands
- Tonga
- Tuvalu
- Vanuatu
- Western Samoa
(6) South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Grenada
- Grenadines
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Jamaica
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- St. Kitts and Nevis
- St. Lucia
- St. Vincent and the Grenadines
- Suriname
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
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***Photograph Instructions
A digital photo (image) of each applicant, his/her spouse, and children must be submitted on-line with the EDV Entry Form. The image file can be produced either by taking a new digital photograph or by scanning a photographic print with a digital scanner.
Do I need to send photographs of each family member and have each sign the application or just the principal applicant?
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Yes, you must submit a photograph of each family member other than a child who is already a U.S. citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident. Recent photographs must be submitted electronically with the Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form of the applicant and his/her spouse and each child, including all natural children as well as all legally-adopted and stepchildren, except a child who is already a U.S. citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident, even if a child no longer resides with the applicant. -
The entry will be disqualified if all required photos are not submitted. -
Group or family photos will not be accepted; there must be a separate photo for each family member.
The picture may be taken with a digital camera or a regular picture may be scanned.
If the submitted digital images do not conform to the following specifications, the entry will be disqualified:
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The image must be in JPEG format. -
File Size: the maximum image file size will be sixty-two thousand five hundred (62,500) bytes. -
The image must be either in color or grayscale;
monochrome images (2-bit color depth) will not be accepted. -
Resolution: two acceptable new digital image resolutions: -
Color Depth: color depth of either 24-bit color, 8-bit color, or 8-bit grayscale.
Monochrome pictures (2-bit) will not be accepted. -
The maximum image size accepted will be sixty-two thousand five hundred (62,500) bytes. -
If a photographic print is scanned, the print must be 2 inches by 2 inches (50mm x 50mm) square. Measure with precision. It must be scanned in jpg format with a maximum size of 62,500 bytes at a resolution of 150 dots per inch (dpi) with a resolution of 300 by 300 pixels and with a color depth of either 24-bit color, 8-bit color, or 8-bit grayscale. -
Head Position -
Person being photographed must directly face the camera. -
Head of the person should not be tilted up, down, or to the side. -
Head of the person should cover about 50% of the area of the photo.
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Background -
Person being photographed should be in front of a neutral, light-colored background. -
Dark or patterned backgrounds are not acceptable.
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Focus -
Decorative Items -
Head Coverings and Hats -
Photos of applicants wearing head coverings or hats are only acceptable due to religious beliefs, and even then, may not obscure any portion of the face of the applicant. -
Photos of applicants with tribal or other headgear not specifically religious in nature will not be accepted. -
Photos of military, airline, or other personnel wearing hats will not be accepted.
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Copyright 2009. Kennedy Law
Firm. |
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