The US government has just recently announced the commencement of the Diversity Visa Lottery Program for 2014. Instead of completing the standard United States green card application process, entrants are able to instead submit an application and cross their fingers that they will emerge as the winner of the DV lottery.
“The visas are distributed among six geographic regions, with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration to the United States over the period of the past five years,” says the US Department of State. “No single country may receive more than seven percent of the available Diversity in any one year.”
For the Diversity Visa Lottery Program for 2014, natives from Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Jamaica, Pakistan, Peru, South Korea, Vietnam, Brazil, China, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, India, Mexico, Philippines and the United Kingdom are forbidden to apply because of the high number of immigrants, although restrictions against natives from Guatemala have been lifted and they are now once again being encouraged to apply.
Individuals can now apply to the green card lottery and need to take into account the fact that if they are selected only certain members of their family will also be eligible to come along. A family-based green card needs to be sponsored by a member of the family who already has United States citizenship. Online applications began on October 2nd and will continue until November 3rd.