The Department of State has announced that the online registration period for the DV-2020 diversity visa lottery program begins on Wednesday, October 3, 2018, at 12 noon EDT (GMT-4), and concludes on Tuesday, November 6, 2018, at 12 noon EST (GMT-5). Individuals who submit more than one entry during the registration period will be disqualified. The Department advises applicants not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter because heavy demand may result in website delays. No late entries or paper entries will be accepted.

There are no changes concerning eligible countries from the previous fiscal year. For DV-2020, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply, because more than 50,000 natives of these countries immigrated to the United States in the previous five years: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, 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.

There are two other ways in which those who were not born in an eligible country might be able to qualify, the Department said:

  • Was your spouse born in a country whose natives are eligible? If yes, you can claim your spouse’s country of birth—provided that both you and your spouse are named on the selected entry, are found eligible and issued diversity visas, and enter the United States simultaneously.
  • Were you born in a country whose natives are ineligible, but in which neither of your parents was born or legally resident at the time of your birth? If yes, you may claim the country of birth of one of your parents if it is a country whose natives are eligible for the DV-2020 program.

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