DUSHANBE, October 4, Asia-Plus — 2009 diversity visa lottery registration started yesterday and registration period ends December 2, 2007, press release issued by the US Embassy in Dushanbe said.
Applicants for the United States” 2009 Diversity Visa Lottery (DV-2009) are encouraged to enter early in the two-month registration period because excessive demand might slow down the system as the deadline nears, according to the State Department.
The Diversity Visa Lottery registration period is October 3 to December 2, 2007, the State Department announced September 25.
The Diversity Visa Lottery winners are selected in a computerized random drawing. Persons whose names are selected may apply for one of 50,000 Diversity Immigrant Visas made available each year. These visas are available only to persons from eligible countries with low immigration rates to the United States, according to the rules of the DV program.
Registration for the Diversity Visa Lottery is free. Persons seeking to enter the lottery must register online through the designated Web site (www.dvlottery.state.gov/), and digital photos must be submitted with the registration form. Paper entries will not be accepted.
Applicants should be aware that there is only one official site for the diversity visa lottery registration (www.dvlottery.state.gov/), according to the State Department.
The visas will be distributed among six geographic regions, with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration. Natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply because those nations sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the previous five years: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.
Persons born in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China, Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible to apply for the DV program.
More than 6.4 million people submitted entries for the previous visa lottery, DV-2008, during the two-month registration period in late 2006.
