2011 U.S. Diversity Visa Lottery Program Registration Opens
2011 U.S. Diversity Visa Lottery Program Registration Opens
The Department of State announces the opening of the registration period for the DV-2011 Diversity Visa lottery. Entries for the DV-2011 Diversity Visa lottery can only be submitted electronically. It is not possible to mail or submit paper entries. The registration period for the DV-2011 program begins at 1800 hours Zimbabwe time, Friday, October 2, 2009, and ends at 1800 hours Zimbabwe time, Monday, November 30, 2009.
Applicants may access the electronic Diversity Visa entry form (E-DV) and submit their entries free of charge at www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period. Applicants are strongly encouraged not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter. Heavy demand may result in website delays. No entries will be accepted after 1800 hours Monday, November 30, 2009.
In the DV-2010 program, 170 Zimbabweans were selected and will be processed through the U.S. Embassy in Harare. The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered on an annual basis by the Department of State and conducted under the terms of Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Section 131 of the Immigration Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-649) amended INA 203 and provides for a class of immigrants known as “diversity immigrants.” Section 203(c) of the INA provides a maximum of 55,000 Diversity Visas (DVs) each fiscal year to be made available to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.
The annual DV program makes visas available to persons meeting simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. A computer-generated, random lottery drawing chooses selectees for DVs. The visas are distributed among six geographic regions, with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, and with no visas going to nationals of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the period of the past five years. Within each region, no single country may receive more than seven percent of the available DVs in any one year.
No countries have been added or removed from the list of eligible countries. The list of eligible countries remains the same as for DV-2010.
The Department of State implemented the electronic registration system beginning with DV-2005 in order to make the DV process more efficient and secure. The Department utilizes special technology and other means to identify those who commit fraud for the purposes of illegal immigration or those who submit multiple entries.
For detailed information about entry requirements, along with frequently asked questions about the DV lottery, please see the instructions for the DV-2011 DV lottery available at www.dvlottery.state.gov or write to consularharare@state.gov
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Issued by Tim Gerhardson, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy Harare, October 1, 2009. Previous statements and reports from the U.S. Embassy can be accessed at http://harare.usembassy.gov
October 1, 2009.