For the Green Card Lottery 2014
It’s generally accepted that government documents aren’t the easiest things to understand. This can be particularly true of the “country of eligibility” question on the diversity visa application. What, you may ask, do they mean exactly? Do they mean they want to know where you live now? Where you were born? Where you hold citizenship? It’s quite possible that you have a different answer for all three and, unfortunately, the government does already have a correct answer in mind and your application will be rejected if your answer does not match theirs.
You can only file for the green card lottery online. Visit our site for help entering the lottery!
Most of the time you are supposed to write in the country of your birth for the “country of eligibility” field on the application. However, there is a list of countries where there have been large numbers of emigrants to the United States in recent years. People from these countries are ineligible for the green card lottery. The list is expected to change slightly this year, but the excluded countries for 2011 were Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Mainland China, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, the United Kingdom (though all of the island of Ireland is eligible) and Vietnam.
If you happened to have been born in one of the above countries, you are not necessarily ineligible. If, when you were born, your parents were not living in that particular country you can claim one of their nationalities. You can also claim your spouse’ birthplace as your country of eligibility. Say, for instance, your parents were both natural born citizens of Norway and they happened to be on vacation in London when they gave birth to you. Though you were born in the U.K. this does not mean that that is your nationality. If you were to apply for the green card lottery you would write that your country of origin is Norway, not the U.K.
The application period for the 2014 green card lottery program is quickly approaching! You can apply as of October 2, 2012 at noon, and you must be sure to apply for the green card lottery before November 3 at noon, the closing of the application period. The State Department normally announces the winners online on May 1 of the year following the application period. For help applying for the green card lottery this year—as well as any subsequent years—visit our site! Your green card awaits!