A: Each year, 50,000 immigrant visas are made available through a lottery to people who come from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. None of these visas are available for people who come from countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the past five years. The State Department's National Visa Center holds the lottery every year, and chooses winners randomly from all qualified entries. Anyone who is given a visa through the Diversity Visa Lottery Program will be authorized to live and work permanently in the United States. You will also be allowed to bring your spouse and any unmarried children under the age of 21 to the United States.

A: You or your spouse must be a native of a country that is eligible to participate in the Diversity Visa Lottery. You may also be eligible to apply if your parent was born in a country that is eligible to participate. (The State Department will publish the names of countries that are eligible to participate before each year's lottery.)

You must have a high school diploma or the equivalent, defined in the United States as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education; OR you must have two years of work experience within the last five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience to perform.

A: At the last lottery which ended on November 1, 2000, the natives of the following countries were not eligible to apply, as they sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the previous five years: CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born and Macau), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, EL SALVADOR, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM. Persons born in Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan were eligible.

A: There is no fee for entering the diversity visa lottery. If you win, you must pay a fee for an immigrant visa and a separate visa lottery surcharge.

A: No. Only the winners will be notified by mail at the addresses listed on their applications. Winners will be sent instructions and information on fees. Due to the bars to entry, being selected as a winner in the diversity visa lottery does not automatically guarantee that you will be issued a visa, even if you are qualified. The number of entries selected is greater than the number of immigrant visas available, because not everyone selected will be qualified for the visa or will choose to complete the processing. Once all 50,000 visas have been issued, the diversity visa program for the year will end.

A: Only ONE entry form may be submitted by or for each applicant during the registration period. Submission of more than one entry will disqualify the person. The applicant must personally sign the entry, preferably in his/her native alphabet. Failure of the applicant to personally sign his/her own entry will result in disqualification.

A: There is no specific format for the entry. On a plain sheet of paper include the following information. The following information must appear on the entry. Failure to provide all of this information will disqualify the applicant.

1. FULL NAME, with the last (surname/family) name underlined
   EXAMPLES: Public, Sara Jane (or) Lopez, Juan Antonio
2. DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH
   Date: Day, Month, Year EXAMPLE: 15 November 1961
   Place: City/Town, District/County/Province, Country
   EXAMPLE: Munich, Bavaria, Germany
   The name of the country should be that which is currently in use for the place where the applicant was born (Slovenia, rather than Yugoslavia; Kazakstan rather than Soviet Union, for example).
3. THE APPLICANT'S NATIVE COUNTRY IF DIFFERENT FROM COUNTRY OF BIRTH
   If the applicant is claiming nativity in a country other than his/her place of birth, this must be clearly indicated on the entry. This information must match with what is put on the upper left corner of the entry envelope. (See "MAILING THE ENTRY" below.) If an applicant is claiming nativity through spouse or parent, please indicate this on the entry. (See "REQUIREMENTS" section on page 1 for more information on this item.)
4. NAME, DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH OF THE APPLICANT'S SPOUSE AND CHILDREN
   (IF ANY)
5. FULL MAILING ADDRESS
   This must be clear and complete, as any communications will be sent there. A telephone number is optional, but useful.
6. PHOTOGRAPH
   Attach a recent, preferably less than 6 months old, photograph of the applicant, 1.5 inches (37 mm) square in size, with the applicant's name printed on the back. The photograph (not a photocopy) should be attached to the entry with clear tape--do NOT use staples or paperclips, which can jam the mail processing equipment.
7. SIGNATURE
   Failure to personally sign the entry will disqualify the applicant.

A: Submit the entry by regular or air mail to the address matching the region of the applicant's country of nativity. Entries sent by express or priority mail, fax, hand, messenger, or any means requiring receipts or special handling will not be processed. The envelope must be between 6 and 10 inches (15 to 25 cm) long and 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 inches (9 to 11 cm) wide. Postcards are NOT acceptable, nor are envelopes inside express or oversized mail packets. In the upper left hand corner of the envelope the applicant must show his/her country of nativity (see instruction 3 above), followed by the applicant's name and full return address. The applicant must provide both the country of birth and the country of the address, even if both are the same. Failure to provide this information will disqualify the entry. The mailing address for all entries is the same, except for the ZIP (POSTAL) CODE. The address is (Please note that the address changes year to year. Check with current instructions from the U.S. State Department to ensure that the address is still valid.

DV-2000 Program National Visa Center
Portsmouth, NH ZIP CODE (see below)
U.S.A.

Use the correct ZIP (POSTAL) CODE for the applicant's region of nativity. For the DV program, the regions are divided as follows: Africa includes all countries on the African continent and adjacent islands; Asia extends from Israel to the northern Pacific islands, and includes Indonesia; Europe extends from Greenland to Russia, and includes all countries of the former USSR; North America includes the Bahamas; Oceania includes Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and all countries and islands of the South Pacific; South America/Central America/Caribbean extends from Central America (Guatemala) and the Caribbean nations to Chile. The ZIP (POSTAL) CODES are:

ASIA: 00210
SOUTH AMERICA/CENTRAL AMERICA/CARIBBEAN: 00211
EUROPE: 00212
AFRICA: 00213
OCEANIA: 00214
NORTH AMERICA: 00215

A: Registrants will be selected at random by computer from among all qualified entries. Those selected will be notified by mail and will be provided further instructions. Persons not selected will NOT be notified.

A: Are there any bases upon which persons who have not been born in a qualifying country may be eligible for registration?

A: "Native" ordinarily means someone born within a particular country, regardless of the individual's current country of residence or nationality. "Native" also means someone entitled to be "charged" to a particular country under the provisions of Section 202(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Applicants for registration may under Section 202(b) claim chargeability to the country of birth of a spouse; a minor dependent child can be charged to the country of birth of a parent; and an applicant born in a country of which neither parent was a native or a resident at the time of his/her birth may be charged to the country of birth of either parent.

A: Diversity visas are intended to provide an immigration opportunity for persons from countries other than the main source countries of immigration to the U.S. The law states that no diversity visas shall be provided for "high admission" countries, that is, countries from which during the previous five years there were more than 50,000 immigrants in the Family-Sponsored and Employment-Based visa categories. Each year, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) adds the family and employment immigrant admission figures for the previous five years, to identify the countries which must be excluded from the annual diversity lottery. Because there is a separate determination made prior to each lottery application period, the list of countries which do not qualify is subject to change from one year to the next.

A: Yes, an applicant may be in the U.S. or in another country, and the application may be mailed in the U.S. or abroad.

A: Yes, if otherwise qualified, a husband and a wife may each submit one application for registration; if either is registered, the other would be entitled to derivative status. Note: They may not sign for each other, i.e. the husband must sign his application and the wife must sign hers.

A: There is NO minimum age for submission of an application for registration, but the requirement of a high school education or work experience for each principal applicant at the time of visa issuance will effectively disqualify most persons who are under age 18.

A: No. Applicants are subject to all grounds of ineligibility specified in the Immigration and Nationality Act and there are no special provisions for the waiver of any ground of visa ineligibility other than those ordinarily provided in the Act.

A: Yes, such persons may seek diversity visa status through this registration as well.