The acceptance of applications for the Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery for 2018 started last month and will come to a close on Monday, the US Department of State has announced. As from October 4, 2016, applications for the green card lottery scheme can now also be made by people from Ecuador.
Visa applicants have only until noon on Monday, November 7 to submit their entries electronically. As in previous years, there are 50,000 Diversity Immigrant US visas up for grabs, which the Department of State administers on an annual basis. The green cards are made available to people from nations with a low level of immigration to the US, although, as the lottery term suggests the chances of a successful application are small.
The US visas will be distributed among half a dozen geographical regions, with the highest proportion to be given to the regions that have the lowest rates of immigration to the US. There are no US visas being made available to people from nations that have had a minimum of 50,000 immigrants enter the US over the course of the last five years.
Countries whose citizens are not eligible to apply for these US visas include Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia, El Salvador, India, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, Brazil, mainland China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Nigeria, Peru, South Korea, and Vietnam. Qualifying applicants will also need to have the equivalent of a high school education.