Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery:

There is no initial fee to enter the DV Program. The U.S. Government employs no outside consultants or private services to operate the DV program. Any intermediaries or others who offer assistance to prepare an application do so without the authority or consent of the U.S. Government.

The annual DV program makes diversity immigrant visas available to persons meeting the simple, but strict, eligibility requirements.  A computer-generated random lottery drawing chooses selectees for diversity visas.  The visas, however, are distributed among six geographic regions with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, and with no visas going to nationals of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the period of the past five years.  Within each region, no one country may receive more than seven percent of the available Diversity Visas in any one year.

The registration period for visa lottery, took place between noon, (EST) on Wednesday, October 3, 2007 and noon (EST) on Sunday, December 2, 2007. Eligibility to apply for this Program is determined by a person’s place of birth not citizenship or residence. Applications must be submitted electronically during the registration period. Paper entries are not accepted. The Kentucky Consular Center will notify all applicants who are selected by mail (NOT by e-mail) of their place on the list and send out instructions. Interviews for the DV-2009 program will begin in October 2008. 

The Diversity Visa Electronic Entry Form is available from http://www.dvlottery.state.gov/.