Installment One Hundred Nineteen
This Ask the Consul article addresses services offered to U.S. Citizens present in Guyana, as well as Guyanese and nationals of other countries interested in traveling in to the United States or its territories.
What is the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program?
The Congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program makes available 50,000 diversity visas (DV) annually, to randomly selected applicants who meet strict eligibility requirements from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.
What are the requirements to enter the DV lottery?
You must be a native of a qualifying country and you must meet either the education or work experience requirement of the DV program. You must have either a high school education or its equivalent, defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education; OR two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform. The U.S. Department of Labor’s O*Net OnLine database will be used to determine qualifying work experience.
Can my family also get visas if I am selected?
A selectee’s spouse and unmarried children under age 21 may also apply for visas to accompany or follow-to-join the principal applicant. Failure to list an eligible spouse and all eligible children on the application will result in disqualification of the principal applicant and refusal of all visas in the case at the time of the visa interview.
How do I apply?
There is only one way to enter the DV-2013 lottery. You must submit the DS 5501, the Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form (E-DV Entry Form), which is accessible online at the EDV website at http://www.dvlottery. state.gov. The registration period for DV-2012 is currently open and ends Saturday, November 5, 2011 at 1 p.m. Atlantic Time. You may only enter once. All entries by an individual will be disqualified if more than ONE entry for that individual is received, regardless of who submitted the entry.
How will I know if I’ve been selected?
A successfully registered entry will result in a confirmation screen containing your name and a unique confirmation number. You should print this confirmation screen for your records and ensure that you retain your confirmation number. Starting May 1, 2012, you will be able to check the status of your DV-2012 entry by returning to the http://www.dvlottery.state.gov Entry Status Check and entering your unique confirmation number and personal information. Entry Status Check will be the sole means of informing you of your selection for DV-2012, providing instructions to you on how to proceed with your application, and notifying you of your appointment for your immigrant visa interview, so it is essential you retain your confirmation number. U.S. embassies and consulates will not provide a list of selectees, and there will not be notification by letter or e-mail.
When will DV-2013 visas be issued?
DV-2013 visas will be issued between October 1, 2012, and September 30, 2013.
NOTE: The Department of State strongly discourages applicants from using “visa consultants,” “visa agents,” or other individuals to submit an entry on their behalf. “Facilitators” may withhold confirmation numbers in order to make an unlawful demand for money in exchange for notification information that should have been directly available to you. Also, there have been instances of fraudulent websites posing as official U.S. Government sites and companies posing as the U.S. Government, seeking money in order to “complete” lottery entry forms. There is no charge to download and complete the Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form.
Beginning November 1, 2011, the Embassy will no longer accept the old national ID cards for entry, you must obtain a new Voter ID card before your appointment.
For further information on DV-2013, please see the Diversity Visa Lottery Instructions webpage at: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1318.html
and the Diversity Visa Lottery Program webpage at: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1322.html.
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“Ask the Consul” is a fortnightly column from the U.S. Embassy answering questions about U.S. immigration law and visa issues. If you have a general question about visa policy please email it to us at AskGeorge@state.gov. We select questions every other week and publish the answers in Stabroek News and on our website at http://georgetown.usembassy.gov/ask-the-consul.html. Information about visas and travel can be viewed at http://georgetown.usembassy.gov, http://travel.state.gov, and at http://www.dhs.gov. Applicants are strongly encouraged to prepare their own documents and avoid third-party advice from “visa consultants” or “visa agents.” U.S. Consular rules change frequently and non-US government advisors often provide inadequate or inaccurate information.
Other than the questions we select, we DO NOT respond to questions sent to Ask the Consul. Please contact the visa inquiries unit (email visageorge@state.gov or call 225-7965 between 8 am and 4 pm Monday through Friday) if you have questions about a specific case.