Inmigración Legal USA is a private entity that is not part of the U.S. government or any government agency, which was established years ago to help people to correctly prepare and submit their applications and photographs to the Diversity Visa Lottery (also known as the Green Card Lottery). Inmigración Legal USA is not a law firm and does not offer legal advice.

The Diversity Visa Lottery (also known as the DV-Lottery and the Green Card Lottery) is a U.S. immigration program that was established by the Congress of the United States in 1990 and which is administered by the U.S. State Department. A key goal of the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is to make the United States a more diverse country by permitting people from more countries to apply for U.S. immigration. A lottery system is used to randomly choose winners for the opportunity to apply for one of the 55,000 Diversity Visas and US Permanent Resident Green Cards that can be granted every year through this U.S. immigration program. In order to take part in the DV-Lottery, an applicant must be born in an eligible country and meet the education or work experience criteria. Furthermore, a person also needs to prepare and submit their application and photo(s) correctly to the Diversity Visa Lottery in accordance with regulations during the registration period which usually occurs in October. Applicants who are chosen in the DV-Lottery and who pass the consular interview successfully will receive a Diversity Visa and U.S. Permanent Resident Green Card to live, study and work in the USA for an unlimited length of time.

Inmigración Legal USA can let you know if you qualify to take part in the Diversity Visa Lottery Program.

The Diversity Visa Lottery has two main criteria for participation. One requirement is that a DV-Lottery applicant must have been born in a country that is listed by the U.S. State Department as eligible for participation. A list of non-eligible and eligible countries is posted by the U.S. State Department on its website every year prior to the registration period that is usually held during October. The other major requirement is that an applicant to the DV-Lottery needs to have a secondary school education as indicated by successful completion of 12 years of primary and secondary education; or he/she needs to have two years of paid work experience in an eligible occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience to carry out during the previous five years.

There is no government fee to apply for the DV-Lottery, however, many people decide to pay for the beneficial services offered by Inmigración Legal USA to assist them in correctly preparing their applications and photos so they will satisfy the strict requirements prior to the DV-Lottery submission during the registration period. This service can be convenient for anyone, but it is particularly helpful for families who will need to provide accurate information and correctly prepared photographs for multiple individuals on their DV-Lottery application, as well as people who do not have good English language abilities. Inmigración Legal USA provides services and customer service in different languages and contacts its customers promptly when they are chosen as winners of the DV-Lottery, so they can take the next step in the process for immigration to the United States. Furthermore, guidance during the consular process is offered to our customers who are chosen as DV-Lottery winners.

You can only include your legally married spouse (opposite sex or same sex) and all children who are under 21 years of age and who are not married on your DV-Lottery application.

You need to include the required details and photograph(s) for yourself and (if applicable) your legally married spouse (opposite sex or same sex) and all of your children who are under 21 years of age and not married (including your natural children, step-children, and legally adopted children), regardless of whether they live with you or will actually immigrate to the United States with you. It is important to note that if any of the necessary information changes on your application before submission (for example, you have a baby, your marital status changes, etc.), you need to update your application so that everything is correct when it is submitted to the DV-Lottery. If you submit an application to the DV-Lottery that does not have correct information, this can result in your disqualification during the consular process if you are chosen as a DV-Lottery winner, so please make sure your application and photo(s) are always up-to-date.

A “derivative dependent” is a family member of the primary DV-Lottery applicant who is included on the application, such as a legally married spouse (opposite sex or same sex is OK) and all children under 21 years of age, including natural children, step-children, and legally-adopted children, who are not married. In the event that the primary applicant is chosen as a DV-Lottery winner, the derivative dependents will also have the opportunity to apply for U.S. immigration via the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program as part of the DV-Lottery winner’s Diversity Visa application.

If both you and your legally married spouse (opposite sex or same sex is OK) satisfy the eligibility criteria for the Diversity Visa Lottery Program, you can each submit one separate application to the DV-Lottery. Each separate DV-Lottery application needs to have the required details and photograph(s) for the primary applicant and the legally married spouse and all children under 21 years of age (including natural children, step-children, and legally adopted children) who are not married. In this situation, if either eligible spouse who submitted an application to the Diversity Visa Lottery is chosen as a winner, the other spouse and the unmarried children under 21 years of age who were listed on the winning application will also have the opportunity to move forward with the process to apply for a Diversity Visa and Green Card.

You can only submit one application to the Diversity Visa Lottery under your name in the same DV-Year. In the event that you submit more than one application to the Diversity Visa Lottery with you as the primary applicant in the same DV-Year, you will be disqualified from taking part in the DV-Lottery.

People who satisfy the two key criteria for participation in the Diversity Visa Lottery Program can register on the U.S. State Department’s E-DV website for free when the yearly registration period takes place, usually in October. Inmigración Legal USA charges a fee for its application review services and relocation-related products.

The dates for the DV-Lottery registration period, along with the list of eligible and non-eligible countries, are normally posted by the U.S. State Department just prior to the start of the registration period. In the last several years, the Diversity Visa Lottery registration period has occurred in October.

The Diversity Visa Lottery results are usually available on the U.S. State Department’s E-DV website to the participants beginning in May or June. Please note that Inmigración Legal USA will promptly contact its customers when they are chosen as winners of the DV-Lottery so they can begin the next step of the process for immigration to the United States as soon as possible.

The number of participants and winners of the Diversity Visa Lottery is different each year. Generally, around 10 million primary applicants participate in the Diversity Visa Lottery each year (plus their derivative dependents/family members) and around 80,000 to 100,000 main applicants are selected for the opportunity to apply for the 55,000 Diversity Visas and Green Cards that can be granted through this U.S. immigration program each year.

If you are chosen as a winner of the Diversity Visa Lottery, this does not mean that you will automatically receive a Diversity Visa or a U.S. Permanent Resident Green Card. Being chosen as a winner of the DV-Lottery is an important first step that means you have the opportunity to move forward with the U.S. immigration process to apply for one of the 55,000 Diversity Visas and Permanent Resident Green Cards that can be granted each year through this program. Once you are chosen as a winner of the Diversity Visa Lottery, you must successfully complete each step of the consular process before you and your family can receive a Diversity Immigration Visa on one of the pages of your passport and be granted a Green Card for U.S. permanent residency.

Inmigración Legal USA will contact its customers who are chosen as winners of the Diversity Visa Lottery as part of the service that it provides, normally beginning in May or June, once the DV-Lottery results are made available. 

When a person is chosen as a winner of the Diversity Visa Lottery, the U.S. State Department will post a winning notification letter that has a long Case Number and a bar code on its E-DV website for that individual to read. A participant in the Diversity Visa Lottery must enter specific information on the E-DV website in order to check whether or not they were chosen as a winner. It is required to print out a copy of that winning notification letter and keep it in a safe place, since it will be needed later during the consular process.

A Diversity Visa Lottery winner will have to file the online DS-260 form so that the U.S. State Department’s Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) can schedule the Consular Interview at the U.S. Embassy or Consulate in the winner’s country of residence.

Prior to the Consular Interview, a winner of the Diversity Visa Lottery and his or her family members who were listed on the application must get a medical exam from an authorized physician, the fee for the Diversity Visa Application must be paid, and additional actions must be completed.

At the scheduled date and time for the Consular Interview, the DV-Lottery winner and his/her family members must bring all of the necessary documents and photographs to the U.S. Embassy or Consulate.

If approved for immigration to the United States, a Diversity Immigration Visa will be placed on a page of each family member’s valid passport for entry into the USA within a specified time frame (for example, within six months, but before the medical exam results expire).

An online Immigration Fee must be paid to the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS) agency so the U.S. Permanent Resident Green Card can be granted. The Green Card is carried by a U.S. Permanent Resident while living in the USA as identification and evidence of permanent residency status.

Inmigración Legal USA offers its customers who are chosen as winners of the Diversity Visa Lottery guidance during each step of the consular interview process to make sure all of the documents and forms are filed correctly and to make the U.S. immigration process easier for them.

The U.S. State Department will issue a long Confirmation Number with 16 characters, starting with the four-digit number for the DV-Year when a person successfully registers for the Diversity Visa Lottery. For example, a DV-2026 Confirmation Number (issued in 2024) will start off with 2026, followed by a mix of 12 unique numbers and letters of the English alphabet. It is important to save the Confirmation Number, because it will be needed to login to the E-DV website to check if the applicant was chosen as a winner when the results are made available (normally in May). Inmigración Legal USA will contact its customers when they are chosen as winners of the Diversity Visa Lottery as part of the services we provide. For the DV-2026 Green Card Lottery, the results will be made available starting in May 2025.

The winning notification letter is posted on the U.S. State Department’s E-DV website for each Diversity Visa Lottery participant who is chosen as a winner. It will have a long Case Number that is 14 characters in length as well as a bar code. The winning notification letter should be printed and kept in a safe place, since it will be needed later during the consular process. Occasionally, some DV-Lottery winners will get the 14-character Case Number and the 16-character Confirmation Number confused. The 14-character Case Number is issued only to DV-Lottery selectees (“winners”) on their winning notification letter, while the 16-character Confirmation Number is issued to confirm successful registration for the Diversity Visa Lottery.

The Diversity Immigrant Visa is a colorful visa for immigration to the United States that is granted by the U.S. State Department and is put on a page of the passport of a new immigrant who has been approved for permanent residency in the USA through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program after finishing the consular process successfully. The Diversity Visa is valid for a certain length of time (for example, six months) and is used for entry into the United States when a new immigrant is ready to move to America. The new U.S. permanent resident will also need to pay an Immigrant Fee online to the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS) agency so that the Green Card can be mailed to him/her at an address that the immigrant specifies in the United States. The immigrant will carry the Green Card as official identification (ID) and evidence of his or her status as a U.S. permanent resident.

The United States Permanent Resident Green Card is a hard plastic identification card that is issued to a Permanent Resident of the United States by the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS) agency. A Green Card serves as official identification which an immigrant carries as evidence that he/she is a Lawful Permanent Resident and has a legal right to live, study and work in the United States for an unlimited length of time. A Green Card and Social Security Card will be needed for U.S. employment and can be used for ID when establishing a bank account or applying for a driver’s license in the United States.

A U.S. Green Card holder can legally live in the United States for an unlimited amount of time.

They can live and work in any of the 50 states and they can travel from state to state.

Immigrants also have an option to open a business in the United States (many new businesses and jobs in the USA are created each year by immigrant entrepreneurs).

Permanent Residents of the United States get access to world-class educational opportunities in the USA, and have the opportunity to purchase a home and own other property in the U.S.

A U.S. Permanent Resident can sponsor family members for a visa to the USA.

Green Card holders are allowed to travel back and forth between other countries and the United States.

You can also apply for a driver’s license in the state where you live in the United States and open a bank account.

After living in the USA as a Permanent Resident for five years and meeting other eligibility requirements, a Green Card holder can apply to become an American citizen and get a U.S. passport.