In the United States announced the start date of the green card lottery: less than a week left

U.S. Department of State announced the start date of registration of applications for participation in the green card lottery (DV-2023).

Photo: Shutterstock

Online registration for the Diversity Visa Program 2023 (DV-2023) Lottery will begin on October 6, 2021 at 12:00 PM EST and will end on November 9, 2021 at 12:00 PM ET. Thus, applicants have less than a week to prepare for the application.

Until September 30 next year, you can check the results of the DV-2022 green card lottery - this can only be done on the official website of the lottery. ForumDaily wrote about the citizens of which countries won the most green cards in the DV-2022 lottery. If you haven’t won or are planning to participate for the first time in the DV-2023 drawing, ForumDaily’s instructions are for you.

Step 1. Check your right to participate in the lottery

Requirement # 1: Applicants born in countries eligible to participate in the DV-2022 lottery are eligible to participate in the program.

If you were born in another country, there are two cases when you can apply for a DV visa:

• Were your spouse born in a country whose residents can participate in the lottery? If so, you can indicate in your application the country of birth of your spouse instead of your country of birth, provided that you and your spouse receive visas and enter the United States at the same time.
• You were born in a country whose residents do not have the right to participate in the program, but not one of your parents was born in this country, nor was it a permanent resident at the time of your birth? If yes, then you can indicate that the country of origin is the country of birth of one of the parents, if the natives of the latter can take part in the DV-2022 lottery.

Requirement No. 2: Each applicant must meet the requirements of the DV program for education or qualifications.

Applicants must have a high school diploma or equivalent (in the United States, this means successful completion of a 12-year primary and secondary school course). Or have two years of work experience in the last five years, and we are talking about a work activity, which requires at least two years of study or work experience. The US Department of State will use the US Department of Labor database to determine eligibility for seniority. O * net online.

Documentary evidence of education or work experience does not need to be attached to a registration application, but they will need to be shown to the consular officer during an interview for an immigration visa. If you are unable to prove education or work experience, your application will be disqualified even after winning.

• Important: working in the marijuana business, using "weed", or even admitting that an immigrant has tried it at least once in their life may shut the doors to him in the USA forever.
• В our material You can find out about the 10 most common mistakes when applying for the green card lottery.
• Someone else's experience helps: find out 4 tips for participating in the green card draw from the winning immigrant.
• Among other things, ForumDaily wrote answers to the most common questionsthat arise when participating in the Green Card lottery.

Step 2. Fill out an application for participation

This is the main stage of participation in the lottery, so you need to approach it as carefully and accurately as possible. You can fill out the form until 12: 00 on EST 9 on November 2021 of the year. This should be done exclusively on the website. www.dvprogram.state.gov (earlier it was called www.dvlottery.state.gov, now there is a redirect from this URL, but it is also safe). Please note that the site must have the .gov extension, since sometimes scammers create fake sites with the .net, .com and others extensions.

Remember that participation in the lottery is free. You do not have to pay for registration, or for filling out a questionnaire, or for anything else until you win. It is also strongly discouraged to use the services of intermediaries: the questionnaire is simple, available even for people with a minimum level of English, filling out takes about 20 minutes.

As soon as you start filling out the form, you will have exactly 1 an hour to enter all the information. If you are late - you have to start over.

You must include your current spouses, even if you do not live together, with children up to 21. In addition, each spouse can fill out a questionnaire separately. Thus, the chances of winning the family will increase. For more information on how to indicate relatives in the questionnaire, read in material ForumDaily.

• ForumDaily published specially for its readers detailed instructions for filling out the questionnaire (DV-2021)already translated into Russian. BUT here - original in English from the US Department of State website.

IMPORTANT. In 2019, the USA introduced a new rule for submitting documents for participation in the green card lottery. Each applicant must indicate the number, series and validity period of your passport. Such an innovation has perplexed many residents of the countries of the former USSR, since the cost of a document is often not affordable for the middle class. Read more at this link.

Step 3. Take a photo exactly following the requirements

A new (i.e., captured within the last 6 months) digital photo or a new (i.e., captured within the last 6 months) photograph scanned with a digital scanner must comply with the composition and specifications set out below.

Before submitting an application, the sender can check the quality of the photo on the E-DV website by clicking on the "Photo Validator" link. The Photo Quality Assurance program will help you identify discrepancies with specifications and show examples of “correct” and “incorrect” photos. Don't submit an old photo. Submitting the same photo as in the previous year, as well as a photo that has undergone some processing, will result in your application being disqualified.

Examples of high-quality and relevant photos can be found here to register:.

The photograph or digital image must be:

• colored
• focused
• the size of the head (from the chin to the top of the head) in the photo should be between 22 mm and 35 mm, or 50% -69% of the total size of the photo. Details of photo sizes are posted on Photo Composition Template
• made in the last 6 months
• made on a white or light neutral background
• the person should look straight into the lens
• facial expression should be neutral, both eyes open
• The person in the photo must be dressed in casual clothing.
• the person in the photo should not be dressed in uniform, with the exception of religious clothes, which he wears daily
• a person should be depicted without a hat, with the exception of religious clothing that he wears daily. The face should be completely open, and the headgear should not cover or obscure the face
• headphones, wireless hands-free headsets and similar devices are not allowed in the photo
• can not be photographed with glasses
• if you use a hearing device or other similar items daily, they may be in your photo.

Photos that have been scanned from a driver's license or other official documents are not allowed. In addition, photos from magazines, selfie photos, as well as those taken in photo booths or a cell phone camera, as well as full-length photos, are not accepted.

During the application you will need to upload your photo. Your electronic image should be:

• JPEG (.jpg)
• Have a file size of no more than 240 kB (kilobytes)
• Have an aspect ratio like a square (height is equal to width)
• Resolution 600 × 600 pixels

If you want to scan a photo that you already have, in addition to the existing requirements, your photo should be:

• 51 x 51 mm
• scanned in 300 resolution in dots per inch (12 pixels per millimeter)

Pictures of children or babies

When photographing a child or baby in the photo there should be no unauthorized persons; the child should look straight into the camera and have open eyes.

• Tip # 1: Lay the baby on their back on a plain white or light colored cloth. This will support the baby's head and have a solid background for the photo. Make sure the child's face is not shaded, especially if you are taking a photo while standing over the child while the child is lying down.
• Tip # 2: Cover the car seat with a plain white or light colored cloth and take a picture of the child in that seat. This will help support his head for the shot.

It is important not to miss your chance because of an annoying little thing - an error in the application form or an incorrect photo. Photos when checking profiles are given HUGE Attention. How exactly the photos are checked and why you need to clearly follow the instructions, read in ForumDaily.

After you fill out the questionnaire and click the Submit button, you should receive a notification in which the confirmation number will be indicated. It must be preserved - without it, you won’t know whether you won the green card or not. Don’t settle if anyone offers to keep this information for you. You must also retain access to the email address provided when submitting the application.

On the subject: Winners of the DV 2020 lottery cannot get green cards: how many managed to get documents

Step 4. Wait and see the results.

Official notification of the winnings will be available on the website. www.dvprogram.state.gov under Entrant Status Check from May 2022 to September 2023. You will need a confirmation page number to access the Entrant Status Check section.

Checking the Entrant Status Check section will be the only means of obtaining information on the results of the lottery draw, on the procedure for further actions in case of a win, and on the appointment of the date and time of the interview for an immigrant visa. In order to utilize the full number of allocated visas, the Department of State may use the Entrant Status Check to notify additional winning applications beyond May 2022.

Important! Keep your confirmation number until the end of September 2022 in case you receive additional notices.

Web site www.dvprogram.state.gov (formerly www.dvlottery.state.gov) is the Department of State's only official site for electronic filing and drawing verification. The Department of State will NOT send out winnings.

5 Step: Complete the Green Card Requirements

ForumDaily previously published step-by-step instructions for those who won the Green Card. Here are the key points you will need to do.

The site Consular Electronic Application Center you need to fill out an immigration visa application form DS-260. It is filled in English. In the questionnaire you need to specify personal data, marital status, provide information about the place of work, study, criminal record.

Necessary documents to be collected before the interview: the full list is listed here. All documents that are not in English should be accompanied by a certified translation. No notarization or apostille is required.

Medical examination can only be passed in special certified centers, the addresses of which are indicated on Online... The cost of this procedure is on average $ 215 from each family member planning to immigrate (in different countries, the price may differ by $ 10-15), and vaccination is paid separately. More about this read in our material.

Pay attention! For the successful passage of an immigration medical examination from October 1, 2021 complete vaccination against COVID-19 is required... Applicants subject to an Immigration Medical Examination (all green card applicants, DV lottery winners and more pass this examination) must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before an eligible healthcare professional can conduct an Immigration Medical Examination and sign Form I-693 ( inspection and vaccination report).

On the subject: You won the green card: how much will it cost to complete paperwork and move to the USA

Interview. You will need the originals and translations into English of all documents, the results of the medical examination and the invitation to the interview itself. On the spot, at the embassy, ​​you need to pay the visa fee for each family member. But this is not a guarantee that the coveted visa to the United States is in your hands. An interview is no less important than the preparation of documents or a medical examination. The main purpose of the interview: to make sure that the people who came for the interview were applying; take fingerprints and check them against the database; see the results of the medical examination and check the availability of all documents.

Selected applicants in the DV lottery are eligible to apply for visas only during the financial year of the program, i.e. from October 1 to September 30. Applicants must obtain a DV visa or change their status by the end of the fiscal year, i.e. until 30 September... For those who were selected but did not receive a visa, the right to receive DV does not carry over to the next year. Likewise, a wife / husband and children who are granted close relative status at the time of registration for the DV draw can only obtain visas from xnumx october to xnumx september.

Applicants applying for the DV program outside of the United States (4-6 weeks prior to the interview date) will receive a message from the Consular Center that immigrant visa interview information is already available.

Step 6. Arrange a move to the USA

In addition to the thousands of questions that immediately arise before new residents of the United States, do not forget about paperwork. What already wrote ForumDailyIt is worth making a few basic documents: apply for bank cards, social security number and American ID.

US government does not provide no airline tickets, no apartments, no cash assistance for applicants who have received DV visas. If you apply for an immigrant visa through the DV lottery, you need to prove that you will not become a potential recipient of social assistance in the USA. Such evidence may include both your own funds and your US commitment (Affidavit of Support, Form I-134) from a relative or friend living in the United States of America, as well as / or an American job invitation the employer.

On the subject: It will be possible to buy a green card: to whom and for how much

From June 1 to 2019, applicants who participate in the lottery will be required to provide access to social networkswhich they used in the last 5 years preceding the filing of the application. We are not talking about logins and passwords, immigration agents are asked to provide them with simple links to accounts or username.

You have won a green card, which means you must know about the rights and obligations of its holder. Your continued residency may affect your ability to obtain US citizenship in the future. And this is always worth remembering. More details - in our material. It is worth getting acquainted with the most common misconceptions and mistakeswho make the winning lottery.

If you have not won the green card

Do not despair. Given that not everyone who won can go through the full range of procedures, the US State Department over time adds new lucky ones and potential green card holders. Therefore, check your result again later - the data may change. For verification, you must enter your confirmation number on the site, issued after registration in the lottery.

If on the page that opened, you see a letter with a barcode and your data - you won! However, before receiving the coveted green card, you need to go through several stages as quickly as possible. Read more about them in special material ForumDaily.

If you are in doubt about any details or you have questions, be sure to read our detailed material, which is completely based on official data: Green Card Lottery in questions and answers.

Read also on ForumDaily:

You are an insect without a piece of paper: what problems face immigrants in the USA due to lack of documents from their homeland

Social Security Number and Immigrants: Who Needs an SSN and Why, and How to Get One

Which of the relatives can be transported to the US by a green card holder

Five serious problems that an expired green card can create

Fewer and fewer: how many American visas have been issued in recent years

How to immigrate to the United States through marriage: methods and costs

What to do if you didn't win a green card

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