The Diversity Visa is a program administered by the U.S. Department of State, where up to 50,000 immigrant visas are granted to randomly selected immigrants each year, allowing these people the opportunity to establish permanent residence in the United States.
What are the steps to apply for the program?
Submitting the application: Submit your application within the specified period, via the website https://dvprogram.state.gov/
Selection of candidates: From an established date, you will be able to see the status of the participant on the same website as you made the application. For this, you will need to enter your confirmation number, obtained when filling out the application form. Do not lose this number, because without it you will not be able to proceed.
If you are selected (and you reside outside of the United States): You must complete the online DS-260 Form (an application for an immigrant visa) to schedule an interview at the appropriate U.S. Embassy or Consulate and confirm the required education qualifications.
Interview: After your Form DS-260 has been reviewed, you may receive an email informing you that an interview has been scheduled at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate. You will need to log in to the participant status check on the Electronic Diversity Visa (E-DV) website, using your DV entry confirmation number, to view the date, time, and location of your interview. Print this information to take with you to the interview. You will need to be present at the interview, as well as your spouse and children who are applying with you.
After the interview: The consular officer will inform you whether your visa application has been approved or denied. If approved, you will be informed how and when your passport and visa will be returned to you.
The online application period for the DV-2024 Program has already ended. However, the application for the DV-2025 Program began on Wednesday, October 4, 2023, and ends on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5). Submitting more than one application for a person during the application period will disqualify all of that person's applications.
There is no cost to register for the DV program. Another important thing to note is that countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the US in the last five years are not eligible for this program. Therefore, natives of the following countries are not eligible for the DV-2025 Program:
Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea (South Korea), United Kingdom (excluding Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, Venezuela and Vietnam.
We hope you learned more with this blog and if you have any questions, please contact us for further clarification!