Diversity Visas/Green Card Lottery
In spite of the popular name Green Card Lottery, winners in the Diversity Visa program do not win a green card but a chance to apply for an immigrant visa. Succesful applicants will be issued an immigrant visa and immigrant visa holders will subsequently attain legal permanent residence status- aka green card status - upon admission into the United States.
If you do not qualify for employment-based or family-based immigration, the most common way to obtain a green card is via the diversity visa lottery. Application is to be made electronically with the Kentucky Consular Center.
PLEASE NOTE: The Department of State has only one Kentucky Consular Center. Other organizations using similar names have no connection to the Department of State or KCC. There is no fee charged by the Department or KCC for sending an entry to the lottery program. Applicants selected in the Diversity Visa random drawing are notified by the Department of State, Kentucky Consular Center by letter, NOT by e-mail and are provided instructions on how to proceed to the next step in the process. No other organization or company is authorized by the Department of State to notify Diversity Visa lottery applicants of their winning entry. See our Fraud Warning and information on DV scams on the right. A Diversity Visa processing fee is only charged when a winning lottery entrant applies for the Diversity visa. At the time of the visa application at a U.S. consular office, each applicant (the DV entrant and any accompanying family members) will be charged this DV processing fee on top of the immigrant visa application fee. Both of these fees are non-refundable, even if the visa is refused.
The application period for the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (Visa Lottery) usually takes place between October and December each year. Information on the lottery usually is released early September. When information is available on the Department of State website, you can access it by clicking on the link below. After December, please note that the information may refer to the application period that has just ended, and you will no longer be able to submit an online application. In that event, try again next year.
Information on participating in this year's diversity visa lottery: DV 2014
For more information on immigrant visas, please consult the Department of State Travel Website.