Diversity Visa
The results of the selection process for the 2012 Diversity Visa (DV-2012) program have been voided. Results previously available via the Entry Status Check (ESC) function on the Department of State website, www.dvlottery.state.gov, were posted in error and are now invalid. The results were not valid because they did not represent a fair, random selection of entrants, as required by U.S. law.
Any information that appeared on the Entry Status Check website between May 1 and May 6, 2011 is void and invalid. This means that if you checked your status via the Entry Status Check function on www.dv.lottery.state.gov after May 1, 2011, and were told that you had been selected for DV processing, that information is no longer correct.
A new random selection process will be conducted based on the original entries for the DV-2012 program. If you submitted a qualified entry from October 5, 2010 to November 3, 2010, you do not need to reapply. Your entry will be included in the new random selection. Your confirmation number, which is required to determine the status of your entry, remains the same. We are not accepting new entries for the DV-2012 program.
We expect the results of the new random selection process to be available by July 15, 2011, via the Entry Status Check function on www.dvlottery.state.gov.
We strongly recommend that each DV applicant review the specific DV
requirements listed here before submitting a DV application. The annual DV program makes visas available to persons meeting the simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. Successful DV entrants must be eligible to receive a visa by qualifying based on education, work, and other requirements. The law requires a high school education or its equivalent or two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years' training or experience. Applicants who do not meet the educational or work experience requirement will be disqualified. You and only you are responsible for your entry, even if someone else submits it on your behalf. If the names, information, or photographs in your entry are incorrect, your entry will be disqualified.
A computer-generated, random lottery drawing chooses selectees for Diversity Visas. The visas are distributed among six geographic regions, with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower historical rates of immigration to the United States, and with no visas going to nationals of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the past five years. Within each region, no single country may receive more than seven percent of the total available Diversity Visas in any one year.
In U.S. Fiscal Year 2010, the Department of State received more than sixteen million fully electronic applications for the DV lottery program. Of that number some 200,000 entrants were selected worldwide, including 5,200 Ethiopian citizens, to further pursue a Diversity Visa. As in years past, the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia issued more than 3,000 visas to lottery winners from this group.
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). Beginning in 2005, the Department of State implemented an electronic registration system in order to make the DV process more efficient and secure. Special technology and other means are used 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-2012 Diversity Visa lottery on the U.S. Department of State Electronic Diversity Visa Lottery Website (http://www.dvlottery.state.gov/)