"GREEN CARD" LOTTERY INFORMATION
What is the "Green Card" Lottery?
The U.S. Congress has authorizes an annual, set allotment of immigrant visas in the DV category during Fiscal Year (which runs from October 1 to September 30). Foreign nationals who are natives of countries determined by the USCIS (according to a mathematical formula based upon population totals and totals of specified immigrant admissions for a 5-year period) are eligible to apply. Applicants can submit their forms themselves or they have a representative, such as a lawyer, submit the application on their behalf.
The DV lottery is designed to increase the diversity of the overall pool of immigrants coming to the US. Countries that are proportionately over-represented in the immigrant population are excluded. Countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the US in the past five years are put on to the list above.
The world is divided up into high and low admission regions and each of the six regions is divided into high and low admission states. A greater portion of the visas goes to the low admission regions than to high admissions regions.
High admission states are entirely excluded from the lottery (those states are listed above) and low admission states compete equally with other low admission states in the same region. No single state may receive more than 7% (3,500) of the 50,000 allotted visas.
The determination of which occupations require at least two years of training or experience shall be based upon the Department of Labor's O*Net Online database. Previously, when work experience was used as the equivalent of high school graduation, the employment position was compared to those in the US Department of Labor Dictionary of Occupational Titles.
The Labor Department has phased out this publication and replaced it with the O*Net online system. To reflect this change, the State Department will begin using O*Net classifications in determining whether an applicant has the equivalent of a high school education. The O*Net system is available online at http://online.onetcenter.org/. As with proof of education, documentary proof of work experience should not be submitted with the application, but must be presented to the consular office at the time of a formal immigrant visa application.
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