The DV-program is open to most citizens of the world, except for some countries. The list of eligible countries is determined and published by the U.S Department of State each year with the announcement of the Diversity Visa program. Visas are made available to persons meeting the simple but strict edibility requirements. 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 U.S over the period over the past five years. Within each region, no single country may receive more than seven percent (7%) of the available Diversity visas in any year. For example, for the

DV-2010 Diversity Visa Program "Green Card" lottery, natives of the following countries were not eligible:
BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, PERU, POLAND, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM and its dependent territories, except Northern Ireland, and VIETNAM.

Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan were eligible. For DV-2010, Russia has returned to the list of eligible countries. Kosovo has also been added to the list of eligible countries.

Any country not listed above was eligible for the DV-2010 Green Card Lottery

To enter the DV- program "Green Card Lottery", you must meet all these simple but strict requirements:

1. You must be a native of an eligible country
2. You must meet either the education or work experience requirement of the DV- program.
   • You must have :

     Either Education

     a high school education or its equivalent, defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education;

     OR

     Work Experience

     Two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform.

   
   
   If you don't meet one of these requirements, you should not submit an entry to the DV program.