Oct 1 2004

DOS Will Soon Accept Applications for the 2006 Visa Lottery

The Department of State has announced it will accept applications for the 2006 Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery between November 5, 2004 and January 7, 2005. Individuals who wish to apply for the DV Lottery are required to register electronically through the following web address: http://www.dvlottery.state.gov during this apportioned registration period. Paper applications will not be accepted.

The annual DV program provides permanent residence visas to individuals who meet a few general requirements. The visas are chosen by a computer-generated random lottery drawing. These visas are distributed among six geographic regions; the majority of DV visas go to areas with lower rates of immigration to the U.S. No visas are allotted to nations that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the past five years.

For the 2006 DV program, individuals from the following nations are NOT eligible to apply, because their nations have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the past five years:

Canada, China (Mainland-Born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, 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.