American Green Card: Diversity Lottery Program

The Diversity Lottery Program helps 50,000 people a year obtain permanent residency (a Green Card) if they are from of a country with low rates of immigration to America.

The program is based around a lottery-style selection process and run by the State Department's National Visa Center. Qualifying entrants selected from the lottery pool will be invited to apply for permanent residence, allowing them to live and work in America permanently.

Applicants must be from a country which has not sent more than 50,000 immigrants to America in the past five years, and if invited to apply for permanent residency they will be allowed to bring their spouse and any unmarried children under the age of 21 to America.

Free Online Diversity Lottery Assessment

To be eligible for the Diversity Lottery:

You or your spouse must be a native of a country that is eligible to participate in the Diversity Visa Lottery; and
You must have a high school diploma or the equivalent, defined in the United States as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education; or
You must have two years of work experience within the last five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience to perform.

Diversity Lottery Program
Nationals from these countries are not eligible to enter the Diversity Lottery
Bangladesh	Brazil	Canada	China (Mainland born)
Colombia	Dominic Republic	Ecuador	El Salvador
Guatemala	Haiti	India	Jamaica
Mexico	Pakistan	Peru	Philippines
South Korea	United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories	Vietnam
Nationals from all other countries are eligible to enter the Diversity Lottery, including those born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan.

Being selected as a winner in the diversity visa lottery does not automatically guarantee a visa, even if the applicant is qualified. The number of entries selected by the National Visa Center is always greater than the number of immigrant visas available, because not everyone selected will be qualified for the visa or will choose to complete the processing.

Apply Here For Diversity Lottery

Instructions listing information relevant to the Diversity Lottery Program is usually made available in August, and registration for the lottery is usually held in October each year. Once all 50,000 green card visas have been issued, the Diversity Visa Program for the year will end.