The annual Diversity Visas (DV) program makes permanent residence visas available to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) makes available up to 55,000 visas each fiscal year to these "diversity immigrants". Please visit www.dvlottery.state.gov

A computer-generated random lottery drawing chooses eligible candidates for diversity visas. The visas are distributed among six geographic regions. Greater number of visas go to regions with lower rates of immigration.Within a region, no one country may receive more than seven percent of the available Diversity Visas in any one year.

Nationals of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the period of the past five years are NOT eligible to apply. For DV-2008, natives of Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Peru, Poland, Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam are not eligible.

Registration Procedure:
Entries for the DV-2008 Diversity Visa lottery must be submitted electronically between 12:00 noon EDT Wednesday, October 4, 2006 and 12:00 noon EST Sunday, December 3, 2006. Applicants can access the electronic entry form at www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period. Paper entries are not accepted.