The US Department of State opened online registration for the 2014 Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (DV-2014), also known as the Green Card Lottery, on Tuesday, October 2, 2012. Registration will close at noon, EDT, Saturday, November 3, 2012. Applications must be submitted electronically using the electronic DV Entry Form(E-DV) during the registration period. Instructions for completing the E-DV are available here. Only electronic submissions will be accepted.

To qualify for the DV program you must:

• be a native of one of the listed countries; and
• have a high school education or its equivalent, defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education; or two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform.

This year, natives of Guatemala are eligible to enter the program. Individuals of the following countries are not eligible to apply because these countries sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the previous five years: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.

More information about the history and purpose of the Green Card Lottery can be found in our prior blog postinghere.