2004 Press Releases
Diversity Immigrant Visa Program DV-2006
Bratislava, November 9, 2004
Registration for the 2006 Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery is now underway. Registration began at noon on Friday, November 5, 2004, and continues until Friday, January 7, 2005. Applicants may access the electronic diversity visa entry form at http://www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period. Paper entries will not be accepted. Applicants may submit only one entry to the Lottery.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to not wait until the last week of the registration period to enter, as heavy demand may result in delays. No entries will be accepted after noon on January 7, 2005.
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). The Act makes available 50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The annual DV program makes permanent residence visas available to persons meeting the simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. Applicants for Diversity Visas are chosen by a computer-generated random lottery drawing.
No fee is charged to enter the annual DV program. The U.S. Government employs no outside consultants or private services to operate the DV program. Any intermediaries or others who offer assistance to prepare DV casework for applicants do so without the authority or consent of the U.S. Government. Use of any outside intermediary or assistance to prepare a DV entry is entirely at the applicant's discretion.
A qualified entry submitted electronically directly by an applicant has an equal chance of being selected by the computer at the Kentucky Consular Center as does an entry submitted electronically through a paid intermediary who completes the entry for the applicant. Every entry received during the lottery registration period will have an equal random chance of being selected within its region. However, receipt of more than one entry per person will disqualify the person from registration, regardless of the source of the entry.
The Department is aware that websites and email have masqueraded as official Diversity Visa Lottery facilitators. Registration for the Diversity Visa Lottery through the official, U.S. government web site, http://www.dvlottery.state.gov is free of charge. Notifications of winning entries are sent by mail only.