Feeling lucky? Then you may want to take a turn at winning permanent residency in the United States through the Diversity Visa Lottery!

Each year, between 50,000 – 55,000 immigrant visas are available to natives of underrepresented countries. If you were born in a country that has sent fewer than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the last 5 years, then you may be able to enter the lottery. The lottery opens up at the start of the new fiscal year each year (October 1) and the countries that are eligible will be listed.

If you were born in one of the listed countries (or fall into an exception that allows you to utilize the birthplace of your spouse or parent), you will qualify to enter the lottery so long as you meet the necessary education or experience requirements. To satisfy the education/experience requirement, you must either have a high school diploma, or, you must have at least 2 years of experience during the last 5 years in a job or trade that normally requires at least 2 years of experience. Not sure if you have the necessary experience? You can search it on the O*Net online library. See also the Department of State’s website for additional information on proving your qualifications.

If you were born in a country that does NOT qualify for the visa lottery, you may still be eligible if your spouse was born in an eligible country, or, if neither of your parents were born in your country of birth and they were also not residents of that country at the time of your birth. In those situations, you may claim the country of either your spouse or your parent(s) for purposes of eligibility.

If you’re selected in the lottery, your spouse and children (unmarried and under 21 years old) may also apply for immigrant visas along with you. Even if your spouse or children do not plan to come to the United States, make sure you list all of them in your application. If you want to increase your odds of winning, you can each submit an individual application. The Department of States clarifies in its FAQ that spouses may each submit a separate entry, ultimately utilizing the entry of the winning spouse. But make sure that you only submit one entry for yourself. If you submit more than one for yourself, you will be disqualified.

Most applicants for this process are out of the country, but you can also apply if you’re in the United States. Remember that normal grounds of inadmissibility do apply so if you’re in the United States but in violation of immigration laws, then you may not be admissible to the United States. The waivers that normally apply to immigrant visas are available for this process, as well. One potential problem in relying upon a waiver is the timing. Waivers can take a really long time to get, and this diversity visa process is quick and fast with a hard out deadline.

The 50,000 visas that are authorized for each fiscal year must be used during that fiscal year. So, for example, if you’re selected for the 2025 fiscal year visa lottery, you must complete the process and receive your immigrant visa between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025. No exceptions.

Generally speaking, the new lottery opens up each year in the first week of October. The lottery that opens up will be for the following fiscal year, not for the fiscal year that just started. Meaning that, if you apply for the diversity visa lottery on October 5, 2023 (which is the first week of the 2024 fiscal year), you are applying for the 2025 fiscal year lottery. Let’s look at the timing for the 2024 fiscal year to break down an approximate timeframe for how things might look if you are interested in applying for the visa lottery:

• October 5, 2022 – November 8, 2022: Registration period opened for 2024 fiscal year. If you want to enter the lottery, you must register online during this time period.
• May 6, 2023 (until at least September 30, 2024): Persons selected in the lottery begin to be announced. To find out if your entry was selected, you will search it online, and you MUST know your confirmation number, name, and year of birth. If you are selected, you must follow the instructions provided for how to proceed, which includes filing a DS-260 application (or, if you’re in the United States, an I-485 application).
• October 1, 2023: Visas may be issued for 2024 fiscal year lottery winners. Once the new fiscal year begins, visas can begin to be issued until such time as all available visas are used, or the end of the fiscal year is reached, whichever comes first.
• September 30, 2024: Last day for visas to be issued for the 2024 fiscal year lottery winners.

Most lotteries cost money to enter. But, this one, is FREE! Unless, of course, you count the time it takes to get the application and documents together and the fees it will later cost if you’re actually selected during the lottery and move forward in the process.

To give you an idea of just how popular this lottery is, there were 22,185,619 qualified entries for the 2024 fiscal year. With a maximum of 55,000 available visas, this means there is less than 0.25% chance of being selected. But, somebody has to win! And if you want to come live in the United States and don’t have another way to do it, this sure seems worth a shot!

Sources:

• https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Diversity-Visa/DV-Instructions-Translations/DV-2024-Instructions-Translations/DV-2024-Instructions.pdf
• https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/diversity-visa-program-entry/diversity-visa-submit-entry1.html
• https://fam.state.gov/fam/09FAM/09FAM050206.html

Last Updated: 9.10.2023 (*Note That Immigration Rules, Regulations, And Practices Change Frequently. Make Sure To Check For Updated Information Since The Posting Of This Article.)