2016-05-03

Diversity Visa is indeed one of the easiest and cheapest ways to obtain permanent residency known as Green Card in the United States. The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered annually by the Department of State.  Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides for a class of immigrants known as “diversity immigrants” from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States.

According to the U.S. Department of State, DV-2017 Entrants may enter their confirmation information through E-DV website starting at noon (EDT) on May 3, 2016.

Entrant Status Check is the sole means by which entrants will be notified if they are selected, provided further instructions on their visa application, and notified of their immigrant visa interview appointment date and time.

The Department of State will not send any notification letter.  The U.S. government has never sent emails to notify individuals that they have been selected, and there are no plans to use email for this purpose for the DV-2017 program.  If you are a selectee, you will only receive email communications regarding your visa appointment after you have responded to the notification instructions on Entrant Status Check.

For Fiscal Year 2017, 50,000 Diversity Visas (DVs) will be available. There is no cost to register for the DV program.

Applicants who are selected in the program (“selectees”) must meet simple, but strict, eligibility requirements in order to qualify for a diversity visa.  Selectees are chosen through a randomized computer drawing.  Diversity visas are distributed among six geographic regions and no single country may receive more than seven percent of the available DVs in any one year.

U.S. immigration law and regulations require that every DV entrant must have at least a high school education or its equivalent or have two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience.



A “highschool education or equivalent” is defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education in the United States OR the successful completion in another country of a formal course of elementary and secondary education comparable to a high school education in the United States.

Only formal courses of study meet this requirement; correspondence programs or equivalency certificates (such as the General Equivalency Diploma G.E.D.) are not acceptable.  Documentary proof of education or work experience must be presented to the consular officer at the time of the visa interview.

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