Diversity Visa Lottery for FY 2024 Now Open

WHAT IS THE DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY?

The Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2024 Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (“DV Program” or “DV-2024 Program”) provides up to 55,000 immigrant visas (aka permanent residence or green cards) for issuance in FY 2024 to persons from countries with low immigration rates to the U.S. Foreign nationals are selected for eligibility to apply for U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident (“LPR”) status under this program on the basis of a lottery. The DV Program is administered by the U.S. Department of State, and there is no cost to register.

WHEN CAN I APPLY?

The online registration period for the DV-2024 Program is from 12:00PM EDT (GMT -4) on October 5, 2022 to 12:00PM EST (GMT -5) on November 8, 2022. The entry form will only be available for submission during this time.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

• An individual must have been born in an eligible country and must meet minimum education/work requirements.
• For DV-2024, natives of the following countries/areas are not eligible to apply: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong SAR), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea (South Korea), United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
• Natives of Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible.
• Eligible nationality is generally determined by the location of a person’s birth. However, if a foreign national is ineligible to apply based on his/her country of birth, there are two alternate ways to qualify. First, a foreign national whose spouse was born in a eligible country may apply provided that both the individual and spouse are named on the selected entry, are found eligible, and enter the U.S. simultaneously. Second, a foreign national who was born in a country whose natives are ineligible, may be eligible to apply if neither parent was born in or legally resided in that country at the time of the foreign national’s birth.
• A foreign national must also have either a high school education or its equivalent or at least two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years training or experience.

HOW DO I APPLY?

• Submit the Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form online at state.gov during the entry period indicated above. Entries will NOT be accepted through the U.S. Postal Service.
• In years past, the last week of the registration period saw heavy demand on the application website, causing website delays. Therefore, submitting an application as early as possible during the entry period is encouraged.
• An applicant may only submit ONE lottery entry; individuals who attempt to submit more than one entry will be disqualified.
• The application must be accompanied by digital photographs of the applicant as well as their spouse and/or dependent children, taken in accordance with requirements. Note: Each individual may submit his/her own application if he/she otherwise qualifies.
• The applicant must also enter valid international travel passport information unless they meet the requirements for an exemption. An exemption may apply if an applicant is stateless, a national of a Communist-controlled country and unable to obtain a passport from the government of the Communist-controlled country, or the beneficiary of an individual waiver approved by the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State.

HOW DOES THE SELECTION PROCESS WORK?

• DV Program winners are selected via an electronic lottery. After entering, it is critical that the applicant safeguard the confirmation page as it contains the information needed to check the application status.
• All DV-2024 entrants must go to the Entrant Status Check website using the unique confirmation number from the online registration to find out whether their entry has been selected in the DV Program
• Entrant Status Check will be available at state.gov starting at noon (EDT) on May 6, 2023 through at least September 30, 2023. Lottery winners will not receive correspondence in the mail.
• Selection in the DV Program does not automatically confer U.S. LPR status – only the opportunity to apply for it.

HOW DO I APPLY FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCE IF I AM ELIGIBLE?

Applications for permanent resident status can be completed by filing an adjustment of status application if lawfully present in the U.S. or by filing an application for an immigrant visa at a U.S. Consulate abroad. If an applicant is selected in the DV-2024 Program, the actual application for permanent resident status must be filed and approved by September 30, 2024; if an application is not approved by that date, the application is invalidated.

Note: more individuals are selected in the DV Program than there are immigrant visas/green cards made available. As a result, some individuals who are selected in the DV Program may ultimately be unable to become U.S. LPRs if the available immigrant visas are allocated prior to approval of the individual’s permanent resident application.

WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION?

Instructions regarding how to apply for the DV-2024 Program may be obtained from the official U.S. Department of State website at dvprogram.state.gov and at DV-2024 Program Instructions.

For more information or specific legal advice, please contact your designated Gibney representative or email info@gibney.com.