Online registration for participation in the Green Card 2021 lottery started on 2 on October 2019 of the year 12: 00 Eastern Standard Time (EDT) and will continue until 12: 00 on November 5 Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Фото: Depositphotos

In 2021, 55 will play thousands of green cards, it says official website of the State Department.

ForumDaily has collected everything that applicants need to know about the Green Card lottery

How to find out if you can participate in the lottery

There are only two main conditions that all participants must comply with:

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

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

Important: working in the field of marijuana production, consuming “grass” or even admitting that an immigrant has tried it at least once in his life may shut the doors to him in the USA forever.

About 10 the most common mistakes when applying for participation in the lottery, read our material.

ForumDaily also wrote answers to the most common questionsthat arise when participating in the Green Card lottery.

How to fill out a 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 2 to November 5 2019.

ForumDaily posted detailed instructions for completing the questionnairealready translated into Russian. BUT here You can review the original in English on the US Department of State website. There are no official translations yet.

You can fill out the form only on the site: www.dvlottery.state.gov. Please note that the site has the extension .gov, because sometimes fraudsters create fake sites with the .net extension, .com and others.

remember, that participation in the lottery is free. You should not pay for registration, nor for filling out the questionnaire, or for anything else until you win. It is also strongly recommended not to use the services of intermediaries: the questionnaire is simple, accessible even for people with a minimum level of English, filling takes about 20 minutes.

As soon as you start filling out the questionnaire, you will have exactly 1 hourto enter all the information. If you are late, you have to start all over again.

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.

How to write your name

The name and surname must be specified in the variant of writing from the international passport.

If you have several international passports (for example, different citizenships) valid on the date of registration of the electronic application, you can choose to write from any of them. If in one of them or in several spellings coincides with the birth certificate - use it, and not others.

If you do not have a valid passport, but there is one or more expired, use the spelling of any of them. If in one of them or in several spellings coincides with the birth certificate - use it, and not others.

If you do not have any passports, neither valid nor expired, use the spelling on the birth certificate, or marriage, if they are in Latin.

How to prepare the correct photo

A new (i.e., captured within the last 6 months) digital photo or a new (i.e., captured within the last 6 months) photograph scanned with a digital scanner must comply with the composition and specifications set out below.

Before submitting an application, the sender can check the quality of the photo on the E-DV website by clicking on the “Photo Validator” link. The photo quality control program will help to identify discrepancies with technical requirements, as well as show examples of “right” and “wrong” photos. Do not submit an old photo. Submission of the same photo as in the previous year, as well as photos that have undergone any processing, will disqualify your application.

Examples quality and relevant photos can be viewed here to register:.

The photograph or digital image must be:

• colored;
• focused
• the size of the head (from the chin to the top of the head) in the photo should be 22 mm to 35 mm, or 50% -
  69% of total snapshot size. Detailed information about the size of photos posted on Photo Composition Template;
• made in the last 6 months;
• made on a white or light neutral background;
• a person should look directly into the lens;
• facial expression should be neutral, both eyes open;
• the person in the photo should be dressed in casual clothes;
• the person in the photo should not be dressed in uniform, with the exception of religious clothing that he wears daily;
• a person should be depicted without a hat, with the exception of religious clothing that he wears daily. The face should be completely open, and the headgear should not cover or obscure the face;
• headphones, wireless hands-free headsets and similar devices are not allowed in the photo
• Do not take pictures with glasses;
• if you use a hearing device or other similar items daily, they may be in your photo.

Check out sample photos page Photo Requirements.

Photos that have been scanned from a driver’s license or from other official documents are not allowed. In addition, photographs from magazines, selfie photos, as well as those taken in photo shooters or a mobile phone camera, as well as full-length photographs, are not accepted.

When filling out an application, you will need to upload your photo. Your electronic image should be:

• JPEG format (.jpg);
• have a file size of not more than 240 kB (kilobytes);
• have an aspect ratio like a square (height equals width);
• Resolution 600 × 600 pixels.

If you want to scan a photo that you already have, in addition to the existing requirements, your photo should be:

• 51 x 51 mm;
• scanned at 300 dpi (12 pixels per millimeter).

Pictures of children or babies

When photographing a child or baby in the photo there should be no unauthorized persons; the child should look straight into the camera and have open eyes.

• Tip # 1: Lay the child on his back on a plain white or light-colored fabric. This will support the child’s head and have a solid background for the photo. Make sure that the child’s face is not shaded, especially if you are taking a photo, standing over the child, and the child is lying at this time.
• Tip # 2: Cover the seat of the car with a plain white or light-colored cloth and take a picture
  baby in that chair. This will also support his head for the shot.

IMPORTANT: After you fill out the questionnaire and click the Submit button, you should receive a notification in which the confirmation number will be indicated. It must be preserved - without it, you won’t know whether you won the green card or not. Don’t settle if anyone offers to keep this information for you. You must also retain access to the email address provided when submitting the application.

How to know the results

С 5 May 2020 years it will be possible to check the status of the application for DV-2021 on the site www.dvlottery.state.gov in the Entrant Status Check section, using this individual number and personal information for access. You must enter an individual registration number to verify your status and date of interview for an immigrant visa.

The Department of State will not personally notify you of the winnings.

The Entrant Status Check section is the only source of information about your DV-2021 program winnings, providing further instructions on how to work with the application.

The State Department will not send any electronic or regular letters. The only email you can receive from the US Department of State is a reminder to check your status after the lottery. Moreover, the official institution never asks to make money transfers. Be especially attentive if you submitted an application through an intermediary.

If you won the Green Card: the next steps

ForumDaily previously published step-by-step instructions for those who won the Green Card. Here key points you will need to do.

In addition, we previously also published material describing major mistakes you should not make after winning.

The site Consular Electronic Application Center you need to fill out an immigration visa application form - form DS-260. It is filled in English. In the questionnaire you need to specify personal data, marital status, provide information about the place of work, study, criminal record.

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 examinations can only be taken at special certified centers whose addresses can be found at Online. The cost of this procedure is on average $ 215 for each family member planning to immigrate (in different countries the price may differ by $ 10-15), and vaccination is paid separately. More on this. Read in our material.

Interview. You will need the originals and translations into English of all documents, the results of the medical board and the very invitation for an interview. At the site, at the embassy, ​​you need to pay a visa fee for each family member. But this is not a guarantee that the cherished US visa in your hands. Interviews - no less important stage than the preparation of documents or medical board. The main goals of the interview are to make sure that the people who came for the interview applied, take fingerprints and check them with the database, see the results of the medical board and check that all documents are available.

After coming to the USA

In addition to the thousands of questions that will immediately face the new residents of the United States, do not forget about the paperwork. What already писал ForumDailyIt is worth making a few basic documents: arrange bank cards, social security number and US ID.

And also worth a look at the list of your rights and obligations as a holder of a green card and with the most common fallacies and errorswho make the winning lottery.

From June 1 to 2019, applicants who participate in the lottery will be required to provide access to social networkswhich they used in the last 5 years preceding the filing of the application. We are not talking about logins and passwords, immigration agents are asked to provide them with simple links to accounts or username.

But if you not lucky enough to get a U.S. green card win notificationDo not worry. Given that not everyone who wins can usually go through the full range of procedures, the US Department of State will eventually add new lucky and potential green card holders.

Read also on ForumDaily:

A few days before the DV-2021 green card lottery opens: what you need to know to increase your chances of winning

10 reasons for refusing a US visa: what to do next

10 US Citizenship Requirements

How to apply for US citizenship and a green card online

Sale of visas and citizenship: which countries trade their passports

Advantages and disadvantages of US citizenship

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