Visa Lottery
An Indian man reportedly killed himself after being left distraught over a long delay in him getting his Canadian visa in Haryana, India on Wednesday. Aug. 17. This is a representational image. Photo: Getty Images

The US State Department has announced that due to a failure in the system, it has opened a new period for the visa lottery. The 2019 Visa Lottery (DV-2019) has been rescheduled and the new dates to receive participation forms now run between Wednesday, October 18, 2017 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), and concludes on Wednesday, November 22, 2017 at 12:00 noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-4). The National Visa Center indicates that participants in the sweepstakes may enter the electronic form (E-DV) on the official page during the new enrollment period.

The program awards 50,000 permanent legal residences or green cards to all eligible participants. Contestants are first pre-selected through a random electronic lottery, and only participants from countries that meet the conditions and that meet certain requirements of studies or work experience. Participants who don't meet the requirements "must not enroll in the DV-2019 program", indicate the rules of the contest. The law allows only one entry by or for each person during each registration period. The Department of State uses sophisticated technology to detect multiple entries. If you submit more than one entry you will be disqualified.

During this period, the only non-participating countries are Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (born in the continent), Colombia, South Korea, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, The United Kingdom (excluding Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, the Dominican Republic and Vietnam, as those nations sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the last five years.

The application to participate in the 2019 Lottery of the Visa Lottery, as well as the download and filling of the registration form, is completely free and all people must always be aware of fraud, money requests, emails and Internet sites that posing as official US government sites. The official sites of the US government are those whose URL addresses end with .gov.

After you submit a complete entry, you will see a confirmation screen containing your name and a unique confirmation number. Print this confirmation screen for your records. It is extremely important that you retain your confirmation number. It is the only way you can check the status of your entry, and you will need it to obtain further instructions or schedule an interview for a visa if you are selected.

It is important to remember that selection does not guarantee you will receive a visa. In order to receive a DV to immigrate to the United States, selectees must still meet all eligibility requirements under U.S. law.

Learn more about the Electronic Diversity Visa Lottery here.

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