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DV-2011 green card lottery rules and instructions are now available
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Win the Green Card Lottery
The U.S. State Department finally announced the instructions for the calendar year 2009 diversity visa lottery (DV-2011).
The rules were made public on September 29, just two days before the start of the lottery on October 2. There were no rule changes this year. Why they waited so long to publish the instructions is unclear since the lottery is so popular that we expect over 17 million entries.
As a reminder, registration for a “diversity visa” is only permitted from natives of countries with less than 50,000 immigrants to the USA within the past 5 years. Most countries qualify except: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. These same countries were ineligible last year for DV-2010.
You can still enter if you are from a visa ineligible country, like Mexico, if your spouse was born in a visa eligible country, such as Spain. Another route is if you were born in a visa ineligible country while your parents were visiting. Of course, at least one parent must be from a visa eligible country.
To qualify, you must not only meet the nativity requirement, but you must meet minimal educational or occupational requirements. You must either have the equivalent of a U.S. secondary (high school) education or have at least 2 years of experience in an occupation defined in the O*Net database. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these occupations usually require a college degree, so from a practical matter, a 12-year diploma is required by the primary applicant. You must graduate by the time the U.S. government announces the winners. For DV-2011 this means you must complete your secondary education between May and July of 2010.
You can either enter yourself, or use a paid lottery service or licensed immigration attorney to help you prepare your application. In response to complaints about poor service and outright fraud, myGreencard.com has been rating lottery services, including those to avoid, for the past several years. If you enter yourself, my annual booklet, “Win the Green Card Lottery!” can help guide you through the entire process so you don’t make any critical mistakes.
Good luck with your entry this year and stay tuned for further information, including updates on some lottery services and a more detailed explanation of your chances of winning. If you have any questions, please comment.
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