Diversity Visa Lottery
Read the Rules, Avoid the Rip-Offs
If you or someone you know is trying to get a green card — the right to live in the United States permanently — be on the lookout for unscrupulous businesses and visa brokers. Each year, the State Department conducts a lottery through its Diversity Visa program to distribute applications for 50,000 immigrant visas to persons meeting the simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. A computer-generated, random lottery drawing chooses selectees for diversity visas. Winners are eligible to apply for a diversity visa which can be used to enter the U. S. and become a legal permanent resident (aka green card holder).
Winners are selected randomly, and there is no fee to enter the lottery. Winners of the lottery are notified by mail from the Department of State – not by email. However, a lot of businesses and individuals take advantage of people who wish to live and work in the US. Protect yourself – know the facts. There are a lot of false claims and fake websites pretending to help people win the lottery.
This article written by the US Embassy in Ulaanbaatar includes information on the lottery and on common scams or other schemes. For more information on the diversity visa program, immigration to the United States, or for general information about travel to the United States, please visit the Department of State’s webpage at http://travel.state.gov or the US Embassy in Ulaanbaatar’s homepage at http://mongolia.usembassy.gov . If you wish to file a complaint about fraud relating to visas or the diversity visa program, please email us at UBIV@usembassy.mn
Protect Yourself from Fraud
The best way to protect against green card lottery scams is to understand how the State Department’s lottery works.
- There’s no charge to enter the green card lottery. You can enter on your own at the State Department’s Web site www.dvlottery.state.gov. You’ll need to answer a few questions and provide passport-style digital photographs. You’ll get an acknowledgment from the State Department once you’ve submitted your entry.
- No one can improve your chance of winning. Hiring a company or attorney to enter the lottery for you is your decision, but the person you pay will have to follow the same procedure and your chance of being selected is the same whether you submit the entry or you pay someone to do it for you.
- Selection of entries is random. The lottery is a computer-generated, random drawing. It is impossible to for you or other people to manipulate the lottery.
- Submit only one entry. If you submit more than one within one year, you will be disqualified. However, spouses who are eligible for the DV lottery can apply separately. Since each person is eligible to bring their spouse, this would increase your chances of entering the U.S. through the DV lottery.
- Be alert to Web sites promising government travel or residency documents online or by mail. Except for entering the DV lottery, most applications for visas, passports, green cards, and other travel and residency documents must be completed in person before an officer of the U.S. government.
- Do not respond to emails and phone calls saying you won the visa lottery. Visa lottery winners will be notified by letter from the Department of State, NOT by email. The letter will include instructions on how to proceed to the next step in the process. No other organization or company is authorized by the Department of State to notify Diversity Visa lottery applicants of their winning entry. Those individuals NOT selected will NOT receive any notification.
- Be thoughtful about who you send your personal documents to. Unless you have an established relationship with a business, do not mail birth certificates, passports, drivers’ licenses, marriage certificates, or other documents with your personal identifying information to businesses promising to complete your application for travel or residency documents. These businesses may be engaged in identity theft.
- Be skeptical of Web sites posing as U.S. government sites. They may have domain names similar to government agencies, official-looking emblems (eagles, flags, or other American images like the Statue of Liberty or the U.S. Capitol), the official seals or logos of — and links to — other government sites, and list Washington, D.C., mailing addresses. If the domain name doesn’t end in “.gov,” it’s not a government site. Bogus sites may charge for government forms. Don’t pay; government forms and instructions for completing them are available from the issuing U.S. government agency for free.
How to Apply:
Entries to the DV lottery must be submitted online at www.dvlottery.state.gov. This site is only accessible during the application period. Entries are only accepted for a limited time between October and December. Paper entries will not be accepted. Lottery winners are notified by mail between May and July and will be provided further instructions, including information on fees. Lottery winners will be eligible to apply for their immigrant visa starting in October of the following year. The application process must be completed and the visa approved by September 30th of the following year. Selected individuals may apply for their visa at the US Embassy in Ulaanbaatar. Check the official instructions for exact dates of upcoming lotteries.
Entrants may submit only one entry during any particular DV lottery; those who submit more than one entry will be disqualified. Spouses may submit separate entries, however, if each meets the eligibility requirements. If only one spouse is selected, the other may enter the country on the Diversity Visa of the winning spouse.
The DV lottery has two eligibility requirements which cannot be waived:
- The entrant must be from an eligible country. You must have been born in an eligible country, or have parents who were born in eligible countries and who were not residents of your country of birth, when you were born. For example, your parents might have lived temporarily in the ineligible country because of their jobs. Currently, Mongolia is an eligible country while mainland China is not. However this changes every year so check the State Department website for updates.
- Entrants must meet an education or training requirement. You will have met the education requirement if you have a high school education or have successfully completed a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education. You will have met the training requirement if you have at least two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform. The U.S. Department of Labor’s O*Net OnLine database will be used to determine qualifying work experience.
Winning the diversity visa lottery is just the first step in the process. Applicant must still apply and demonstrate their qualifications for an immigrant visa. Individuals who are otherwise ineligible to receive a visa for health, criminal, or security reasons, or who have committed prior immigration violations may not be eligible for a visa. Applicants must also be able to demonstrate that they will not be a public charge (i.e. reliant on US-government cash assistance). Furthermore, the US government does not provide any assistance to lottery winners in getting settled in the United States. Applicants are expected to make all their own arrangements for moving to the US.
While there is no initial fee for entering the DV Lottery, lottery winners must pay a non-refundable fee of $775 for each application. This fee must be paid at the Embassy and is charged for each application. A lottery winner who wishes to bring his wife and two kids would need to submit 4 applications and pay $3,100. Be sure you qualify before you apply since no application fees will be returned if the lottery winner is unable to meet all education, training, medical, security and criminal record requirements.
For additional information including the official instructions and answers to frequently asked questions, please see the Department of State website (http://travel.state.gov).