The US Government's annual visa lottery provides an opportunity for 50,000 people to obtain visas for permanent residence in the United States.
The Green Card Lottery is an annual draw of 55,000 US residence permits (the very "green cards") held by the US Department of State since 1995. You can also find another name for this event - "Diversity Visa Program" or "Diversity Visa Lottery" (Russian equivalent - "diversification lottery"). The lottery is held among countries with historically low levels of legal migration to the United States.
What does the Green Card give?
To put it very simply, this is a document that allows its holder to fully live in the United States of America. Thanks to the green card, a person can legally work in the country, study, receive a range of medical and social services, open a business, purchase real estate, etc.
Thus, the winner of the Green Card lottery in 2022 will have all possible rights almost on a par with American citizens. Officially speaking, a green card represents a residence permit in the United States.
Ways to get Green Cards
There are only a few legal ways to immigrate to the United States and get a Green Card in 2022:
- Family reunification with a US citizen.
- Marriage to a US citizen.
- Employment and investment in the US economy.
- Obtaining political asylum in the United States.
- Winning the Annual Green Card Lottery
Important! Participation in the Green Card 2022 lottery is absolutely free.
Who can become a member?
On the one hand, the requirements for participants are quite simple.
The main thing is to be a native of one of the countries listed in the lottery rules. In 2020, they included all the countries of the post-Soviet space, including:
- Russia;
- Belarus;
- Ukraine;
- Kazakhstan;
- Uzbekistan;
- Azerbaijan.
It is important that the applicant must be born in one of these countries (not have citizenship, not live, but be born).
If the applicant is not a native of a state participating in the DV program, he can still take part in the lottery if his spouse was born in one of the listed countries. In this case, the condition must be met that both spouses receive visas and enter the United States at the same time. You can also bypass the country of origin rule if at least one of the parents was born in the country included in the list of participants.
Also, the applicant is required to:
- higher than secondary education (or work experience in the specialty for at least 2 years),
- availability of a passport,
- no criminal record and no facts of violation of the US visa regime.
Important! During the selection, the level of knowledge of the English language, age, as well as the profession of the participant do not matter.
There are a number of other requirements that do not interfere with filing an application, but will become an insurmountable barrier when passing an interview with an immigration officer if you win. This includes, among other things, the applicant's state of health (for example, tuberculosis or an active cancer will become an obstacle to obtaining a visa).
The selection of winners is carried out by a computer system on the basis of a lottery, and is distributed among six geographic regions, giving preference to natives of the countries of which the percentage of immigration to the United States is the lowest. The selection of the winners is carried out by name, and the winners are given the opportunity to move on to the next stage in the visa application process.
His spouse (even if the marriage was concluded after winning) and their children under the age of 21 can travel with the winner in the Green Card lottery in the United States. It is impossible to transfer the "green card" to other family members within the framework of the lottery.
Dates of the
To receive a Green Card in 2022, it was necessary to submit an application in advance, because the timing of the DV-2022 lottery involves the following stages:
- accepting applications from October 7 to November 10, 2020;
- holding a lottery - May 8, 2021 on the E-DV website.
But don't worry if you missed the application period for the Green Card 2022 lottery, as the program will continue in 2023. It will be possible to fill out the form for participation in DV-2023 from October 05 to November 10, 2021.
How do I apply?
A person wishing to take part in such a lottery must go to the site dvprogram.state.gov and fill out a questionnaire on it. The filling language is English.
The online application will contain a list of questions that the applicant must honestly answer. The range of the survey is different, for example, you will need to indicate your date of birth, the composition of your family, the purpose of the move, etc. At the end of filling out the online questionnaire, you need to upload your photo.
It is important to enter all the data in the questionnaire correctly, since the applicant will not have the opportunity to re-fill it. If a person tries to get around the ban on re-filling an online application, then he will be disqualified and he will no longer be able to take part in the lottery.
The reason for disqualification will be making mistakes when entering data into the questionnaire. What are the most common errors in practice:
- Incorrect translation of personal data into English. For example, a person has mistakenly translated his name. When translating words into English, it is very important to follow the transliteration rules.
- Incorrect photo design. It is important that the photo meets the specifications. You also need to take into account that it is not allowed to present family photos, as well as a photo of the applicant in a swimsuit or glasses.
Photo requirements
Requirements for a photo on a Green Card in 2022 have not changed:
- the photo must be in color;
- the photo should be no older than 6 months, ideally as fresh as possible;
- the photo should reflect your current appearance;
- its shape is square, the minimum resolution is 600 x 600 pixels, the maximum is 1200 x 1200;
- extension - JPEG.webp, size - no more than 240 KB, color palette - sRGB;
- the head (from the top of the head to the chin) should occupy from 50 to 69% of the total height of the photo;
- eyes should be located between 56 and 69% of the image, counting from the bottom of the photo
- the background should be light and neutral, without shadows, patterns, foreign objects or highlights;
- the gaze should look clearly into the camera, the facial expression is natural and neutral, the eyes are open;
- you should be wearing normal everyday clothes (any uniform is prohibited);
- hats are prohibited;
- glasses are prohibited (even if you wear them all the time);
- scans of photographs from other documents are prohibited;
- when compressing a file with a photo, the compression ratio should be no more than 20: 1.
What to do if you won a Green Card
This block will be useful to those who take part in the drawing of 2022.
It should be understood that even if your profiles are taken away, you should not count on a quick move to America. To get the right to permanent residence in this country, you need to go through an interview, practice shows that about half of the applicants are eliminated after it.
The interview is the main and decisive step in obtaining an American Green Card in 2022. Those applicants whose profiles have been selected for the survey will be able to take it in September or early October. The program participants will talk with the visa officer at the American Consulate.
A positive response will be received by candidates who:
- Have a high level of English proficiency.
- They will give worthy arguments in favor of the necessity of their move to America.
The American government is interested in the fact that worthy members of society, with talent and qualifications, study and work in the country. Therefore, if the applicant is confident in his usefulness and in his personal professional abilities, he can only convince the visa officer of this, after which he will receive a positive answer.
For what can they be disqualified?
According to statistics from the US Department of State, about 35% of questionnaires are disqualified each year. The reason is standard - incorrect filling out of the questionnaire.
In addition to commonplace mistakes and re-filling the questionnaire, they can be disqualified if:
- The person was convicted of a fictitious marriage. In this case, each of the spouses is assigned a cross interview.
- The applicant collected an incomplete package of documents.
- The man was convicted of violating American law. Also, the applicant's conviction may become the reason for disqualification.
- Subject was seen violating visa application center regulations during the prior US visa application.
- At the moment, the applicant is banned from entering America.
- A person cannot prove their solvency. For example, he has no official job.
- The person has serious health problems.
For more information about the Green Card lottery, see the video:
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