The 2015 Diversity Visa Lottery’s registration period has been scheduled to begin on October 1, 2013 and potential immigrants are being advised to prepare their applications as soon as possible.
The DV 2015 instructions were released by the U.S. State Department on September 13, 2013 and include:
- Start and end dates for the Green Card Lottery registration period
- Eligible countries that are chargeable for the DV 2015
- Education and job experience requirements
- Specific instructions for filing one’s registration application and tentative further instruction for applicants
Registration Period
All registration applications must be submitted online between October 1, 2013 and November 2, 2013 to be considered for the Green Card Lottery.
The lottery registration period will open and close at noon of the respective dates.
Applications are to be submitted online through the State Department’s official registration website.
Eligible Countries of Origin
The country or nationality an applicant claims to be eligible for the Green Card Lottery is considered the “chargeable” country.
Chargeable countries are selected based on the immigration numbers to the United States over the previous five years. Countries with rates of immigration over 50,000 to the U.S. will not be considered chargeable for this Diversity Visa Lottery Season.
Education Requirement
Most applicants must be able to show that they have at least an education equivalent to a U.S. high school diploma and sufficient funds to support themselves in the U.S. while they search for employment.
Alternatively, some professions can be claimed to circumvent the education requirement if they took two years to train for and the applicant has had at least two years of experience working that job.
Last Year?
Recent discussion of immigration reform in the U.S. Congress has been focused on the elimination of the Green Card Lottery in favor of other immigration programs. The upshot of this is that the Green Card Lottery’s last year may be this year.
Potential immigrants are encouraged to take advantage of this great program while they still can.