Today, the U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced the open registration dates for the annual diversity visa lottery. The 2013 Diversity Visa Program (DV-2013) will begin on Tuesday, October 4, 2011, at noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), and conclude on Saturday, November 5, 2011, at noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4).
The annual green card lottery will award 50,000 visas worldwide to 100,000 winners out of approximately 15M entrants . The only requirement is a secondary high school education, no criminal record, and birth in a visa eligible country.
Visa ineligible countries for last year’s program were: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Peru, Poland, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland), and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. (Persons born in Hong Kong, SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan are eligible.)
This list will likely remain the same when the final list of ineligible countries and latest rules are published by DOS just before the start of the open registration period.
Beginning October 4, 2011 applicants can register for free at the official U.S. government website at: www.travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1318.html. Or, they can use any one of half a dozen highly rated lottery services listed at myGreencard.com.
The green card lottery is not without controversy. Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) introduced H.R. 704, “The Visa Lottery Elimination Act” ( aka “SAFE for America Act”) on February 15, 2011. The Senate version introduced by Warren Hatch (R-UT) is Senate Bill 332. Both bills seek to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990, originally sponsored by the late Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), and terminate the diversity visa lottery program.
And just last week, Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) repeated his call to end the lottery, concerned that winners from countries listed as “State Sponsors of Terrorism” could be potential terrorists or have ties to terrorist organizations.
However, the recent mood of the country seems to be moving slowly in favor of less restrictions on those without criminal records, especially for children of illegal immigrants. So the odds of eliminating the Diversity Visa Program, especially under a Democratically-controlled Senate, seem remote.
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