Two weeks left before the DV-2022 green card lottery opens: how to prepare

The online registration period for the Diversity Visa Program 2022 (DV-2022) Lottery will begin on October 1, 2020 at 12:00 PM EST and will end on November 3, 2020 at 12:00 PM ET. How should you prepare to increase your chances of winning?

Photo: Shutterstock

The first thing to do is — check if you meet two key requirements to participate in the lottery. To do this, you should:

• be born in a country participating in the lottery (this includes all post-Soviet countries and Israel);
• have completed secondary education or 2 years of work experience within the last 5 years in a specialty that requires 2 years of vocational training. If you do not have secondary education (that is, you have not completed secondary school), but you can prove your work experience, we told on how to do it right.

Documentary evidence of education or work experience does not need to be attached to the registration application, but they must be shown to the consular officer during the interview for an immigrant visa. If you cannot prove your education or work experience, your profile will be disqualified even after winning.

If you were born in a country whose citizens are not eligible to participate in the lottery, there are two other cases when you can apply for a DV visa:

• Were your spouse born in a country whose residents can participate in the lottery? If so, you can indicate in your application the country of birth of your spouse instead of your country of birth, provided that you and your spouse receive visas and enter the United States at the same time.
• You were born in a country whose residents do not have the right to participate in the program, but not one of your parents was born in this country, nor was it a permanent resident at the time of your birth? If yes, then you can indicate that the country of origin is the country of birth of one of the parents, if the natives of the latter can take part in the DV-2022 lottery.

On the subject: DV-2021 lottery: how many green cards have citizens of post-Soviet countries won

How is participation in the lottery

Fill in the form

This is the main stage of participation in the lottery, so you need to approach it as carefully and carefully as possible. You can fill out the questionnaire from October 1 to November 3 2020.

You can fill out the form only on the site www.dvprogram.state.gov... Please note: the site must have the .gov extension, because sometimes scammers create fake sites with the .net, .com and others extensions. The site used to be called www.dvlottery.state.gov - both are correct and safe.

Remember that participation in the lottery is free. You do not have to pay for registration, or for filling out a questionnaire, or for anything else, until you win. We also strongly do not recommend using the services of intermediaries: the questionnaire is simple, accessible even for people with a minimum level of English, filling out takes about 20 minutes.

As soon as you start filling out the form, you will have exactly 1 an hour to enter all the information. If you are late - you have to start over.

You must include your current spouses, even if you do not live together, with children up to 21. In addition, each spouse can fill out a questionnaire separately. Thus, the chances of winning the family will increase. For more information on how to indicate relatives in the questionnaire, read in material ForumDaily.

The photo for the questionnaire must be taken within 6 months before submitting it and show how you look now. A detailed description of the photography requirements can be found in our material. Additionally, here You can customize your photo to the right proportions.

IMPORTANT: When you complete the questionnaire and click the Submit button, you should receive a notification with a confirmation number. It is imperative to save it - without it you will not know whether you won the green card or not.

How and when to find out about winning

The only way is from May 2021 to September 30, 2022, using your confirmation number, you can check the status of the application on the website: www.dvprogram.state.gov

The Department of State will not send any emails or letters. The only email you can receive from the US Department of State is a reminder to check your status after the lottery has taken place. Moreover, an official institution never asks to make money transfers. Be especially careful in this if you applied through an intermediary.

If you won the Green Card

ForumDaily previously published step-by-step instructions for those who won the Green Card. Here are the key points you'll need to make.

The site Consular Electronic Application Center you need to complete (in English) an immigration visa application form - form DS-260... In it, you need to indicate personal data, marital status, provide information about the place of work, study, criminal records.

Necessary documents to be collected before the interview: the full list is listed here. All documents that are not in English should be accompanied by a certified translation. No notarization or apostille is required.

Medical examination can only be carried out in special certified centers, the addresses of which are indicated on Online... The cost of this procedure is on average $ 215 from each family member planning to immigrate (in different countries it can differ by $ 10-15), vaccination is paid separately. More about this Read in our material.

Interview. You will need originals and translations into English of all documents, the results of the medical examination and the invitation to an interview itself. On the spot, at the embassy, ​​you have to pay the visa fee for each family member. But this is not a guarantee that the coveted visa to the United States is in your hands. An interview is no less important stage than the preparation of documents or a medical examination. The main goals of the interview are: to make sure that the people who came for the interview applied; take fingerprints and check them against the database; see the results of the medical examination and check the availability of all documents.

On the subject: Contrary to Trump's ban: the court allowed the winners of the DV-2020 green card lottery to immigrate to the USA

After coming to the USA

In addition to thousands of questions that will immediately arise before the new residents of the United States, do not forget about the paperwork. What already писал ForumDaily, it’s worth making a few basic documents: apply for bank cards, social security number and American ID.

You have not won — do not despair

Given that not everyone who won can go through the full range of procedures, the US State Department over time adds new lucky ones and possible green card holders.

Therefore, even if you receive a notification that you were not selected, over time, you should check your result again - the data may change. For verification, you must enter your confirmation number on the site, issued after registration in the lottery. If on the page that opened, you see a letter with a barcode and your data - you won! However, before receiving the coveted green card, you need to go through several stages as quickly as possible. More about them — в special material ForumDaily.

If you are in doubt about any details or have questions, be sure to read our detailed material, which is entirely based on official data: Green Card Lottery in questions and answers.

Read also on ForumDaily:

State Department explained how winners of DV-2020 green card lottery immigrate to the USA

U.S. Embassy releases registration dates for DV-2022 green card lottery

13 pluses of living in the USA according to a Russian-speaking immigrant

US National Visa Application Center: what it is for and how it works

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