COSTA RICA NEWS — Every year the US Diversity Visa Lottery visas to individuals and families all over the world, winners are issued a US Green Card to live, work and study in the US.
The 2016 Diversity Visa Program will open at noon (EDT, Wednesday, October 1, 2014 and will close at noon (EDT), Monday, November 3, 2014, awarding a maximum of 55.000 permanent resident visas to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the US, within which is Costa Rica; however, since DV-1999, the U.S. Congress has set aside 5,000 of this annual allocation to be made available for use under the Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA).
The US Embassy San José sent the Q a note to pass along to the interested that this is a free service offered by the US State Department, which does NOT require brokers; and the US Embassy has no direct connection with the process.
The annual DV program makes visas available to persons meeting the simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. A computer-generated, random drawing chooses selectees for Diversity Visas. The visas are distributed among six geographic regions, with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, and with no visas going to nationals of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the period of the past five years. No single country may receive more than seven percent of the available Diversity Visas in any one year.
Applicants must submit entries electronically during this registration period using the electronic DV entry form (E-DV) at dvlottery.state.gov. Paper entries will not be accepted.
The US State department website strongly encourage applicants not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter. Heavy demand may result in website delays. No entries will be accepted after noon EST on November 3, 2014.
For detailed information about entry requirements, along with frequently asked questions about the DV program, please see the instructions for the DV-2016 program available at http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/immigrate/diversity-visa/instructions.html.
