U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT STATES

s15601.html
17:33:49 – 19/10/2009

The Department of State announces the opening of the registration
period for the DV-2011 Diversity Visa lottery. Entries for the DV-2011
Diversity Visa lottery must be submitted electronically between noon,
Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Friday, October 2, 2009, and noon,
Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5), Monday, November 30, 2009.

Applicants may access the electronic Diversity Visa entry form (E-DV)
at during the registration period. Paper
entries will not be accepted. Applicants are strongly encouraged not to
wait until the last week of the registration period to enter. Heavy
demand may result in website delays. No entries will be accepted
after noon EST on November 30, 2009.

The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is
administered on an annual basis by the Department of State and
conducted under the terms of Section 203(c) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act (INA). Section 131 of the Immigration Act of
1990 (Pub. L. 101-649) amended INA 203 and provides for a class of
immigrants known as "diversity immigrants." Section 203(c) of the
INA provides a maximum of 55,000 Diversity Visas (DVs) each fiscal
year to be made available to persons from countries with low rates
of immigration to the United States.

The annual DV program makes visas available to persons meeting simple,
but strict, eligibility requirements. A computer-generated, random
lottery drawing chooses selectees for DVs. The visas are distributed
among six geographic regions, with a greater number of visas going
to regions with lower rates of immigration, and with no visas going
to nationals of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to
the United States over the period of the past five years. Within
each region, no single country may receive more than seven percent
of the available DVs in any one year. No countries have been added
or removed from the list of eligible countries. The list of eligible
countries remains the same as for DV-2010.

It is important to note that winning the lottery is not a guarantee
that you will receive a visa – winners must be interviewed and qualify
for a visa.

The Department of State implemented the electronic registration
system beginning with DV-2005 in order to make the DV process more
efficient and secure. The Department utilizes special technology and
other means to identify those who commit fraud for the purposes of
illegal immigration or those who submit multiple entries.

For detailed information about entry requirements, along
with frequently asked questions about the DV lottery, please
see the instructions for the DV-2011 DV lottery available at
.