Wen Wu Law Firm

The DV Immigration Lottery makes available 55,000 permanent resident visas each year to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The qualified nations are those with less than 50,000 individual immigrated to the U.S. in the past 5 years.

The annual DV program makes permanent residence visas available to persons meeting the following requirements: (a) the applicant or his spouse must be a native of a qualified nation. However, the applicant may be eligible if his parent was born in a qualified nation; (b) the applicant has a high school education, or its equivalent, or two years work experience within the last five years in a job which demands two years training.

Application for Diversity Visas are chosen randomly by a computer generated lottery drawing. Lucky ones are chosen to receive the U.S. immigration visa by chance, not by merit.

Each year, the Department of State publishes specific instructions on how to apply for the Diversity Visa. These instructions are typically made available in August, and the registration period usually begins in early October.

For DV-2004 program, on August 21, 2002, the Department of State (DOS) published instructions for the green card lottery. All applications must be submitted to the Kentucky Consular Center. The period to accept the applications will begin at noon on Monday, October 7, 2002, and end at noon, Wednesday, November 6, 2002. Applications not received during this period will be rejected, regardless of when they are postmarked. Applicants who are selected will be eligible to become permanent residents during the 2004 fiscal year (October 1, 2003 to September 30, 2004).

For DV-2004 program in year 2002, the natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply:

Canada, China (mainland born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.

Applications are accepted from Monday, October 7, 2002 to Wednesday, November 6, 2002.

The application does not have a fixed form. Usually, it requires a letter detailing the applicant's and his or her family members' (if any) personal information. However, the directions given by the Department of State must be strictly and exactly followed. Any mistake or deviation may result in disqualification. Details on this year's DV Immigration Lottery Program can be obtained either through a consultation with our qualified U.S. attorneys, or by contacting the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.

DV-2004 visas will be issued between October 1, 2003 and September 30, 2004. Winners must either file an application for adjustment of status or start the process of obtaining an immigrant visa at a U.S. Consulate and Embassy overseas in order to get a green card after being selected by the computer generated lottery.