What is the Purpose of Green Card Lottery?

The Green Card lottery which is officially known as the Diversity Visa lottery is an annual lottery program administered by the US Department of State. The green card lottery offers 50,000 visas to people every year through the lottery program. The main purpose behind the lottery program is to provide permanent residence to people from various regions that have low immigration rates to United States.

You may enter the United States to obtain legal permanent residence status through the lottery program. Unlike other ways of obtaining the green card, green card lottery program has the minimum eligibility requirements. The first and foremost requirement is that you must be a native of one of the qualifying countries. Nativity simply means you must have been born in one of the qualifying countries and it does relate to the country which you live in.

What if you are not born in one of the qualifying countries? You may still qualify through your spouse's country of birth provided your spouse is from an eligible country or if one of your parents was born in an eligible country, then you may claim your parent's country of birth.

The other requirement for the lottery program is that you must have a high school education or its equivalent. Or you must have a minimum of two years of working experience in the last five years. There is no age limit to participate in the lottery program. But the requirement of a high school education or work experience will effectively disqualify many people who are under the age of 18.

Once you find you satisfy the eligibility requirements, you are then set to participate in the green card lottery program. You will have to fill in the application and submit digital photos for each member included in your application. On your entry form you must list your spouse, that is husband or wife, and all unmarried children under 21 years of age, with the exception of a child who is already a U.S. citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident.

After submission of the applications, the computer at Kentucky Consular Center will randomly pick applications from all the entries. Those who have been selected in the draw will be notified by mail with instructions on the next step and details of the fees.

Why is a green card necessary?

A person with a green card is authorized to live permanently in the United States. You may apply for government – sponsored financial aid for your education. You may work in any of the companies located in the US territory regardless of the job function and the hours of work. Many US companies require a security clearance without which it is impossible to get employed with them. US Citizens and permanent residents are given the security clearance and hence you are provided with a lot of job opportunities in United States.