DV2015 Instructions

DV 2015 Program: 
Online registration for the DV 2015 Program will begin on
Tuesday, October 1, 2013 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), and conclude on Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4).

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE 2015 DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM (DV-2015)
You may download the Instruction on PDF file from this website:
http://travel.state.gov/pdf/DV_2015_Instructions.pdf


Program Overview
The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered annually by the Department of State. Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides for a class of immigrants known as “diversity immigrants,” from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. For fiscal year 2015, 50,000 diversity visas (DVs) will be available. There is no cost to register for the DV Program.

Applicants who are selected in the lottery (“selectees”) must meet simple, but strict, eligibility requirements in order to qualify for a diversity visa. Selectees are chosen through a randomized computer drawing. Diversity visas are distributed among six geographic regions and no single country may receive more than seven percent of the available DVs in any one year.

For DV-2015, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply, because more than 50,000 natives of these countries immigrated to the United States in the previous five years:
Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan are eligible.
Changes in eligibility this year: For DV-2015, natives of Nigeria are no longer eligible


Eligibility
Requirement #1: Individuals born in countries whose natives qualify may be eligible to enter.

If you were not born in an eligible country, there are two other ways you might be able to qualify.

Was your spouse born in a country whose natives are eligible? If yes, you can claim your spouse’s country of birth—provided that both you and your spouse are named on the selected entry, are issued diversity visas, and enter the United States simultaneously.

Were you born in a country whose natives are ineligible, but in which neither of your parents was born or legally resident at the time of your birth? If yes, you may claim nativity in one of your parents’ countries of birth if it is a country whose natives are eligible for the DV-2015 program. For more details on what this means, see the Frequently Asked Questions.

Do not submit an entry to the DV program unless you meet both of these requirements.

Source: http://travel.state.gov/pdf/DV_2015_Instructions.pdf.