(Trends Wide Spanish) — The end of the period for registration for the 2024 visa lottery program is approaching. This November 8 at noon registration will close to access the Diversity Visa Program for Immigrants.
The program seeks to benefit about 55,000 people from countries with low levels of migration to the United States and is a path to legal citizenship in this country. The program grants a visa or a Green Card, which gives its holder permanent residence in the United States and, in the future, will allow these people to potentially obtain United States citizenship.
According to the formula established by law, countries that have had more than 50,000 native immigrants to the United States in the last five years are not eligible.
The visas are further distributed by region: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America, Central America and the Caribbean. The program is run by the Department of State.
Although people are selected for the visas at random, they still must meet the security and eligibility requirements that all immigrants must meet to obtain their visas.
How to register for the visa lottery?
Enrollment must be made through the Department of State website dvprogram.state.gov.
Once you enter the page (you must do it through an updated browser because those that are not, for example Internet Explorer 8, can register problems with the system), you have to fill in 14 pieces of information:
- Name and surname as it appears in your passport.
- Gender.
- Date of Birth.
- City where you were born.
- Country in which you were born.
- Country for which you apply (in general it will coincide with your country of birth, but there may be exceptions, for example if you apply for the country of your spouse. We explain these cases in this link).
- A recent photograph of you and photos of your spouse and/or children if they are included in the application. You can consult the technical details of the photo here, but in general terms it must meet the same standards as visas.
- Address.
- Country in which you currently live.
- Phone number (optional)
- Email address (it is important that you have direct access and that you will continue to have it until next year, because if you are selected, you will be sent follow-up communications for the interview that you must do as part of the process).
- The highest educational level you have reached so far.
- Your marital status (if you have a spouse, you must enter their information even if you do not plan to immigrate with him or her or plan to get divorced. The only time you do not have to add it is if your spouse is a legal resident or US citizen, for which there is an option specific).
- Information about your children, regardless of whether or not you plan to have them come to the United States with you.
Visa lottery 2024: registration date, which countries can apply and what you need to know
When can the results be consulted?
When you finish your registration, you will see a confirmation screen with your name and a confirmation number that is unique for each case. Keep these data, keep them well, since you need them to access the system where you can see the status of your application and find out if you were selected or not when the winners are announced.
The winners of the visa lottery will be able to be consulted as of May 6, 2023 on the dvprogram.state.gov page with your personal information and the unique confirmation number that you were given at the end of your registration.
