Do you qualify to enter the American DV-2018 Green Card Lottery?

 

Enrolment into this years USA Diversity Visa Green Card Lottery program is open to all individuals world-wide, who meet the two entry requirements specified below. If you meet these two entry requirements, you can enter the USA Green Card lottery here: Register for the DV-2018 Lottery. Note: This years lottery is called the DV-2018 Lottery, where 2018 means the year where successful applicants can enter the United States of America in January, 2018 after they have won a permanent resident card in the lottery, submitted their immigration forms and participated in a successful green card interview at the Embassy closest to where they live.

1. To be Eligible to enter the Green Card Lottery you must be a native of a qualifying country

To qualify for the USA Diversity Visa Lottery, you must be a foreign citizen or national not born in the United States of America, from a country with a low immigration rate to the United States. People born in countries with high US immigration are excluded from this immigration program. Please see the table below, for countries whose natives are currently excluded from this years immigration lottery program. Please note, eligibility is determined only by the country of your birth, it is not based on country of citizenship or current residence. This is the most common misperception that applicants make when entering this immigration program.

Natives from the following countries are excluded from participation in the Green Card lottery program this year
Bangladesh	Brazil	Canada	China (mainland only)	Colombia
Dominican Republic	El Salvador	Haiti	India	Jamaica
Mexico	Nigeria	Pakistan	Peru	Philippines
South Korea	United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland)	Vietnam

Natives from all other countries may register and apply for a USA Permanent Resident Card, also known as a green card in this immigration program, if they also meet the second eligibility requirement described below.

If you were born in one of the non-qualifying countries in the table above, you may still be able to participate in the USA Diversity Visa Lottery based on the country of birth of your parents or spouse,  to see how you can charge your eligibility to either your spouse or parents country of birth.

The United Kingdom includes the following dependent areas: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn, St. Helena, and Turks and Caicos Islands. Note: Northern Ireland does qualify.

Natives born in the Gaza Strip are chargeable to Egypt for the USA Diversity Visa Lottery this year and should use Egypt as their country of birth.
Natives born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan are eligible to enter this years DV immigration program.

2. Education or Work experience that qualifies for entry into the Green Card Lottery

For a foreign citizen or national not born in the United States of America to qualify for the USA Diversity Visa Lottery, the applicant must be born in a qualifying country (see requirement 1. above) and in addition, the applicant must comply with one of the following two requirements (Option 1 or Option 2 below):

OPTION 1:

The applicant must have completed a US High School education or a foreign equivalent of a US High School education. “High School education or its equivalent” means the successful completion of a twelve year course of elementary and secondary education in the United States of America or successful completion in another country of a formal course of elementary and secondary education comparable to completing a 12 year education in the USA. Passage of a high school equivalency examination is not sufficient. It is permissible to have completed one’s education in less than twelve years or greater than twelve years if the course of study completed is equivalent to a US High School education; or

OPTION 2:

The applicant must have worked in one of the following occupations for at least two years within the last five years.

Proof that you satisfy these requirements should NOT be submitted when entering the USA Diversity Visa Lottery, but will be requested by a consular officer after your name has been selected in the draw and you formally apply for your permanent residence (Green Card) visa via the three immigration forms that you will receive, if selected. Individuals who do not meet the two requirements outlined above, should not apply for a permanent resident card in this immigration program, since they will be disqualified. You need to provide proof of education, work experience and native country only if you are selected. For this reason we do not request this documentation in the online application form.