The U.S. Department of State has announced that the 2011 Diversity Visa (DV-2011) Lottery registration period will open on Friday, October 2, 2009 at noon (EDT, GMT-4) and will close at noon (EST, GMT-5) on Monday, November 30, 2009.

Interested applicants may access the electronic Diversity Visa entry form at www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period. All entries must be made through this website, and applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their entries prior to the last week of the registration period when high demand is expected to cause website delays.

Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides a maximum of 55,000 Diversity Visas each fiscal year to be made available to individuals from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The majority of available numbers are reserved for persons born in Europe and Africa, with much lesser numbers available for persons born in Asia, South America, Oceana and the Caribbean.

For DV-2011, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply because the countries sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the previous years:

BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PERU, PHILIPPINES, POLAND, 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.

You may find detailed information about entry requirements, as well as answers to frequently asked questions about the DV-2011 lottery, at www.dvlottery.state.gov. The Department of State does not charge a fee to apply for the DV lottery, and states that using a legal professional to help complete the application will not improve an applicant's chances of being selected. 

If you should wish to engage counsel to help with your DV-2011 application, or if you are fortunate enough to be selected in the DV-2011 lottery and need assistance with completing and filing the required immigrant visa or adjustment of status application forms, please contact our immigration attorneys, Todd Rubin and Elizabeth Gibbes.