Do you want to live in the United States? Registration opens next Wednesday, October 5, 2022.
The US government has announced that online registration for the 2024 Diversity Visa Program, known as the “Visa Lottery or Visa Lottery”, will begin at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, October 5, 2022 until the same time on Tuesday, November 8, 2022.
What is the visa lottery?
The program was created in 1990 to welcome immigrants from countries that have historically had very low rates of immigration to the United States. It is often referred to as the Green Card Lottery because those who receive green cards are randomly selected from a list of eligible applicants.
The Department of State, which administers the program, announced that 55,000 immigrant visas or green cards will be issued by 2024. Registration for the Diversity Visa (DV) program is free.
Prospective applicants must register through the portal dvprogram.state.gov, but first they must meet strict eligibility requirements. Only some countries will be able to participate.
Which countries will participate in the 2024 visa lottery?
The Department of State issues diversity visas in six geographic regions, and no state is eligible for more than 7 percent of available diversity visas.
The eligible countries this time are:
From the African continent:
Angola, Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Swaziland, Ethiopia, Gabon , Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, St Petersburg Tome and Prince, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Lion, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In the old continent (Europe):
Albania, Germany, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia and Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao EEZ, North Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and the Vatican.
Insular America
Bahamas
Oceania
Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.
Central and South America and the Caribbean
Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, St. Kitts and Snows, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname , Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay.
Which countries cannot participate in the visa lottery?
The United States does not allow people from high immigration countries to participate. Citizens of the following countries are not eligible to apply for the 2024 edition, as more than 50,000 people have immigrated to the United States from these countries in the last five years:
Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong Special Administrative Region), Dominican Republic, Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea (South Korea) , United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, Venezuela and Vietnam.
If you are from a high immigration country, how can you participate? If your country is not eligible, there are still two ways to participate in the Diversity Visa program.
1) If your spouse is from a country with a historically low US immigration rate, you may include your spouse’s country of birth, as long as you apply at the same time.
2) If your parents were born in the respective country at the time of birth, you can also apply for courses with this nationality.
Requirements to register in the 2024 Green Card Lottery
According to information provided by the US Department of State, the eligibility requirements are:
- At least a high school diploma or equivalent, i.e. received 12 years of formal primary and secondary education.
- Two years of work experience in the last five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training.
How to register for the 2024 visa lottery?
To register in the program you must access the portal https://dvprogram.state.gov/ on the indicated date (between October 5, 2022 and 12:00 pm on Tuesday, November 8, 2022). Due to the large number of requests received, it is recommended to register as soon as possible; 14 million people participated between 2016 and 2018, according to records from the US State Department.
What happens if I am selected for a diversity visa?
The results will be available from May 6, 2023 until at least September 30, 2024.
The lucky ones must file a Green Card application using form DS-260 and will then participate in an interview.
Additionally, they must have sufficient financial means to live in the US in the year the visa is issued (2024).
Only one entry per person is allowed; additional participation will be disqualified.
