The U.S. Department of State recently announced that the online registration period for the Diversity Visa – 2024 Program begins on Wednesday, October 05, 2022, at 12:00 noon Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4) and concludes on Tuesday, November 08, 2022, at 12:00 noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5). Submission of more than one entry for a person will disqualify all entries for that person. Submit your Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form online at dvprogram.state.gov. There is no cost to register for the DV program. Also, an entrant may apply while in the United States or another country. An entrant may submit an entry from any location. In addition, each spouse may each submit one entry if each meets the eligibility requirements. If either spouse is selected, the other is entitled to apply as a derivative dependent. Even if you are already registered for an immigrant visa in another category you can still apply for the DV program.
The U.S. Department of State annually administers the statutorily created Diversity Immigrant Visa Program. Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides for a class of immigrants known as “diversity immigrants” from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. For Fiscal Year 2024, up to 55,000 Diversity Visas (DVs) will be available.
The Applicants who are selected in the program (selectees) must meet simple but strict eligibility requirements to qualify for a DV. The U.S. Department of State determines selectees through a randomized computer drawing. The U.S. Department of State distributes diversity visas among six geographic regions, and no single country may receive more than seven percent of the available DVs in any one year.
For DV-2024 program, natives of the following countries and areas are not eligible to apply, because more than 50,000 natives of these countries immigrated to the United States in the previous five years:
Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong SAR), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea (South Korea), United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
Eligibility for DV-2024 Program:
Requirement #1:Natives of countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States may be eligible to enter. If you are not a native of a country with historically low rates of immigration to the United States, there are two other ways you might be able to qualify.
- Is your spouse a native of a country with historically low rates of immigration to the United States? If yes, you can claim your spouse's country of birth – provided that you and your spouse are named on the selected entry, are found eligible and issued diversity visas, and enter the United States at the same time.
- Are you a native of a country that does not have historically low rates of immigration to the United States, but in which neither of your parents was born or legally resident at the time of your birth? If yes, you may claim the country of birth of one of your parents if it is a country whose natives are eligible for the DV-2024 program. For more details on what this means, see the Frequently Asked Questions.
Requirement #2:Each DV applicant must meet the education/work experience requirement of the DV program by having either:
- At least a high school education or its equivalent defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of formal elementary and secondary education;
OR
- two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience to perform. The Department of State will use the U.S. Department of Labor's O*Net Online database to determine qualifying work experience.
After you submit a complete entry, you will see a confirmation screen containing your name and a unique confirmation number. Print this confirmation screen for your records. Starting May 06, 2023, you will be able to check the status of your entry by returning to dvprogram.state.gov, clicking on Entrant Status Check, and entering your unique confirmation number and personal information. You must use Entrant Status Check to check if you have been selected for DV-2024 and, if selected, to view instructions on how to proceed with your application. The U.S. government will not inform you directly. Entrant Status Check is the sole source for instructions on how to proceed with your application. If you are selected and submit a visa application and required documents, you must use Entrant Status Check to check your immigrant visa interview appointment date.
Based on the allocations of available visas in each region and country, the U.S. Department of State will randomly select individuals by computer from among qualified entries. All DV-2024 entrants must go to the Entrant Status Check using the unique confirmation number saved from their DV-2024 online entry registration to find out whether their entry has been selected in the DV program. Entrant Status Check will be available on the E-DV website at dvprogram.state.gov from May 6, 2023, through at least September 30, 2024.
If your entry is selected, you will be directed to a confirmation page providing further instructions, including information about fees connected with immigration to the United States. Entrant Status Check will be the ONLY means by which the Department of State notifies selectees of their selection for DV-2024. The U.S. Department of State will not mail notification letters or notify selectees by email. U.S. embassies and consulates will not provide a list of selectees. Individuals who have not been selected also ONLY will be notified through the Entrant Status Check. You are strongly encouraged to access Entrant Status Check yourself.
If you are selected for the DV-2024 program, you are entitled to apply for visa issuance only during U.S. government fiscal year 2024, which is from October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2024. We encourage selectees to apply for visas as early as possible once their program rank numbers become eligible. Without exception, all selected and eligible applicants must obtain their visa or adjust status by the end of the fiscal year. There is no carry-over of DV benefits into the next year for persons who are selected but who do not obtain visas by September 30, 2024 (the end of the fiscal year). Also, spouses and children who derive status from a DV-2024 registration can only obtain visas in the DV category between October 01, 2023, and September 30, 2024. Individuals who apply overseas will receive an appointment notification from the Department of State through Entrant Status Check on the E-DV website four to six weeks before the scheduled appointment.
We regularly update our blog section to acquaint the community with to latest changes in Immigration policies. Please note the information in this blog is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be nor should it be construed as legal advice. We can promptly and efficiently represent clients located anywhere in the US or abroad on US Immigration Policies. If you seek further clarification, don't hesitate to contact SanSha Law Office at [email protected] or call us at 469-777-6161.
Comments
There are no comments for this post. Be the first and Add your Comment below.
Leave a Comment