The Diversity Immigrant Visa program is a law bound lottery program for receiving a United States Permanent Resident Card, also known as the Green Card Lottery, in which 50,000 permanent resident visas are issued annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The lottery is administered by the Department of State, and the immigrants are known as "diversity immigrants" (DV immigrants).
Ineligible countries
Those born in any territory that has sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the US in the previous five years are ineligible to receive a DV; the ineligible countries may change from year to year.
Exemptions
The term 50,000 "immigrants" refers only to people who immigrated via the family-sponsored, employment, or immediate relatives of U.S. citizen categories, and does not include other categories such as refugees, asylum seekers, NACARA beneficiaries, or previous diversity immigrants.
Distribution and lottery process
The visas are distributed on a regional and national basis, with each region sending fewer immigrants to the US in the previous 5 years receiving more diversity visas. Currently, Africa and Europe receive about 80% of the visas in the lottery.
Being selected from the lottery does not guarantee an immigrant visa to the U.S. as more 'winners' are selected in the lottery than there are visas available Requirements include at least a high school diploma, or its equivalent, or two years of work experience in an occupation requiring at least two years training.