Annual Visa Lottery Begins 10/2

Every year 50, 000 diversity visas are available through the Diversity Visa Lottery Program pursuant to Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The visas are made available to persons from countries that have historically low rates of immigration to the United States. Winners are selected through a random computer-generated program. No single country may receive more than seven percent of the available Diversity Visas. Further, persons from countries with more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the past five years are not eligible for the Diversity Visa Program. People that have work visas or are in the Green Card process are eligible to enter the lottery, if they otherwise qualify.