How do I get a Green card in the lottery?

What is the Green Card?

The Lawful Permanent Resident Card, more commonly known as the Green Card, is a document that functions like an identity card, giving its holder the right to work and live permanently in the United States. This is an American immigration visa that can be obtained, for example, through the annual Green Card lottery. People who already have an American visa, or who meet certain conditions, can also obtain a green card via other procedures.

The Green Card Lottery, officially known as the “Diversity Visa lottery”, takes place once a year, in October. In some cases, winners can already emigrate to the USA just a few months after winning their Green Card.

Enter the Green Card lottery

Every year, the U.S. government draws more than 100,000 potential winners of the USA Green Card. Only 50,000 will have the document at the end of the procedure, which takes just under a year.

Green Card lottery eligibility requirements

Virtually any country in the world can take part in this green card lottery: however, they must have sent fewer than 50,000 emigrants to the USA over the previous five years, so citizens of countries such as Mexico, Canada, China and the UK are no longer eligible for the lottery for the time being. There is, however, a way of overriding this first condition:

• your spouse was born in an eligible country: both your names must appear on the selected application;
• if you were born in a non-eligible country, but neither of your parents was born there and had a legal residence: you can then use the country of birth of one of your parents (provided it is eligible).

All Green Card lottery applicants must also meet at least one of the following two conditions:

• a baccalaureate (12 years of study in primary, intermediate and secondary education);
• provide proof of two years’ professional experience within the last five years.

If these eligibility conditions are not met, you are advised not to participate in the lottery.

Registration form to fill in

Applications for the Green Card lottery are made online only, and registration generally opens in October of each year. To do this, you need to fill in your E-DV Entry Form for the diversity visa on the official website dvlottery.state.gov. There is no registration fee. Incomplete or incorrect entries will not be processed.

We recommend that you fill in the form yourself, and check that the data you provide is correct. There’s no way to increase your chances of getting your Green Card, so we strongly advise against using spurious independent sites.

There’s an explanatory video on the official website to help you fill in the form correctly.

How to obtain a Green Card

To complete your Green Card Lottery registration, you must enter the following information:

1. your first and last names, in the order in which they appear on your travel passport;
2. your date of birth ;
3. your place of birth ;
4. your native country ;
5. your country of eligibility (which should normally be the same as your country of origin);
6. A recent photo of yourself that respects the format and technical requirements of the form;
7. your postal address ;
8. your current country of residence ;
9. your telephone number ;
10. an e-mail address to which you have access;
11. your highest level of education ;
12. your current marital status ;
13. your living biological and adopted children (number, first and last names, dates and places of birth, gender, and passport photos).

Once you have submitted your registration, be sure to save your confirmation page and confirmation number. These two documents will later give you access to the verification system for selected entries, so it’s essential not to lose them. We recommend that you print out your personal confirmation number.

You’ll then have to wait until May to find out if you’ve been shortlisted for the Green Card lottery, which will allow you to work in the United States. You’ll then need to go to the official website, click on the “Entrant Status Check” tab and enter the aforementioned confirmation number. This is the only way to find out whether or not you’ve been selected: you won’t receive any confirmation, either by e-mail or post, from the American authorities.

Candidates selected for a Green Card

Candidates for the Green Card Lottery are selected randomly and electronically from among those whose applications are complete and eligible according to current standards.

Selection is also based on quotas, taking into account the number of visas available for each region of the world (Africa, Asia, Europe, etc.) and each country. For example, nationals from Oceania are more likely to win their Green Card, as they are under-represented in the USA compared to other regions of the world.

As explained, you’ll need to visit the official website to check your status (selected or not). If you have been selected, you will be directed to a new confirmation web page with all the information relating to your visa application, as well as the immigration fees to be paid.

In order to immigrate, the selected candidate must be able to demonstrate his or her admissibility to the USA, and must complete form DS-260 (Online Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration Application). He will also have to pass an interview at the American embassy in his country, provide a large amount of information about himself and undergo a medical examination by a doctor approved by the American government.

Your children under 21, as well as your spouse, can benefit from your Green Card if you obtain it. This will enable them to immigrate to the USA, find work there, study at an American university or do an internship in the USA.

If you are selected, but not married to your spouse, you can join forces so that the one you love can also live in the USA alongside you.

Green Card lottery summary

Every year, the U.S. Green Card Lottery enables thousands of expatriates to live their American dream. In this way, they can become legal permanent residents by drawing lots that entitle them to live and work in the USA.

However, you need to be sure you want to leave everything behind to expatriate to the USA, because once you’ve obtained your green card, you’re obliged to reside in the USA very soon afterwards, and are not allowed to leave the country for more than 364 consecutive days. It’s a lifestyle choice, but if you win you won’t regret it! We wish you the best of luck!