By Felicia Persaud
The 2013 green card lottery program is here already, giving foreigners around the world who wish to migrate legally to the U.S., an opportunity to take a chance.
Entries for the FREE lottery are only being accepted online at www.dvlottery.state.gov through noon on Saturday, November 5, 2011 (EDT, GMT-4).
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 in order to enter.
For fiscal year 2013, 50,000 diversity visas will be available but nationals of Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (Mainland-Born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (Except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam are excluded from entering the lottery.
The annual DV program makes visas available to persons meeting simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. A computer-generated, random drawing chooses selectees for DVs. The visas are distributed among six geographic regions, and within each region, no single country may receive more than seven percent of the available DVs in any one year. Visas are allocated to nationals of countries with historically lower rates of U.S. immigration. Nationals of countries who have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the past five years are not eligible to apply for the Diversity Visa program.
All instructions including size of photographs to be submitted with the online application can be accessed at .
Undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. can enter the lottery but should they win, may not be able to uplift the visa since they face a 5-10 year ban should they leave and try to return to the United States after living here without legal working papers.
Please note also that the Department of State’s Office of Visa Services is against fraudulent emails and letters sent to Diversity Visa (DV) program (Visa Lottery) applicants.
The scammers behind these fraudulent emails and letters are posing as the U.S. government in an attempt to extract payment so applicants are encouraged to review the rules and procedures for the DV program so that they know what to expect, when to expect it, and from whom.
While DV-2012 and DV-2013 applicants may receive an email from the U.S. government reminding them to check their status online through DV Entrant Status Check, they will not receive a notification letter or email informing them that they are a successful DV entrant. Applicants can only find out if they were selected to continue with DV processing by checking their status online through the DV Entrant Status Check at .
Finally, remember that fees for the DV application process are paid to the U.S. Embassy or consulate cashier only at the time of your scheduled appointment. The U.S. government will never ask you to send payment in advance by check, money order, or wire transfer.
The writer is founder of NewsAmericasNow, CaribPR Wire and Hard Beat Communications.
