DV Birth Certificate and Alternatives

In this post, we will learn the differences between the country of birth and the country of citizenship, when entering the DV Lottery, and also the importance of Country of Birth and Country of Eligibility in DV Lottery.

These two terms are very important and understanding them will help you avoid many mistakes that could emerge during the application of the diversity visa.

• For DV-2025, natives of the following countries and areas are eligible to apply…..view list
• For DV-2025, natives of the following countries and areas are not eligible to apply…..view list

Importance of Country of Birth and Country of Eligibility in DV Lottery

In the application form you will find this page below.

This means that the first item that we are going to cover will be the country of birth. The country of birth is that country in which you are born. To be specific, it is that country that is indicated on your birth certificate, and that is how important you should have your birth certificate during application.

The country indicated on the birth certificate, that is the country of your birth and that is the country that you insert in item number five, in the application, i.e the place where it says country where you are born.

Don’t make any mistake in choosing the country in which you are born. Select the country indicated on the birth certificate, this is regardless of whether you are living in that country or you immigrated to a different country. Even if you took the citizenship of a different country, the birth country remains as it is on the birth certificate.

In most cases, majority of the cases, the country of birth is what country qualifies you for eligibility in the DV Lottery. It is the country of birth that qualifies many people into the DV Lottery.

Also, in this second part country of eligibility. If the country in which you are born is eligible to enter into the DV Lottery for that year, then selecting the correct country of birth will also qualify you in the eligibility category.

Therefore, in that case, you would select the same country of your birth. But remember, you can qualify based on a country of chargeability of either your spouse or your parents. So it’s not a must that the country of your birth be the country of eligibility. That is the importance of the country of birth.

Country of citizenship

From the image below, in item number nine in the DV Lottery application form, and it says mailing address.

The country of citizenship is that country in which you have immigrated and taken citizenship. It might also be the country of your birth if you have not immigrated.

But if you have attained citizenship of a different country from that of your birth, and you are currently living and working in that country of citizenship, which is not your birth country, then it comes in handy when filling in the mailing address.

In the mailing address, you indicate your current address, in whichever country you are in and you are living at the moment.

So the mailing address is not based on the country of birth. It is based on where you are currently residing and this helps KCC to know where to schedule your interview. This is also important to note, that if you are currently living in a certain country, you cannot select the mailing address of a different country in which you are not living in, as at present.

Some people can decide to select some other country because they had their embassies work faster. No, don’t do such mistake. If you do that mistake, then you risk being denied the visa.

The current country in which you are living in at the time you are making your application that is the country that you will use in filling in the mailing address.

Country where you live today section

This can be the country of your citizenship, it can also be the country where you are working, even though you are not a citizen there. It can also be your country of birth if you are still living in the country where you are born in.

So, the country of citizenship may also be important in this area. The country of birth may also be important in this area, only that you are currently living in that place in which you are indicating here.

I hope the information about Importance of Country of Birth and Country of Eligibility in DV Lottery is clear.

Question: What if I did a mistake during the process of typing my place of birth can I correct it before the results comes out and please how?

Answer: You will do it on DS-260, if selected.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

DV-2025 Application: Doubling your chances of getting selected in the DV2025 lottery or tripling your chances of getting selected is exactly what this guide will focus on.

At the time of posting this guide, we have exactly one month to the DV Lottery 2025 application.

To apply for DV2025 lottery, you need to be well prepared and by preparation, have your photo ready. Your photo as the principal applicant together with all those members of your family that you will apply with.

Make sure you get your photo ready and because that is one major requirement. You don’t need to have a passport, only the passport photo that meets the requirements for you to apply the DV2025 lottery.

But remember, it is good also to have by your side the birth certificate, and this is not a requirement, but it is a good item, a piece of document that will guarantee you that you fill in the correct information.

Some people messed up with their place of birth or the city of birth. Others also messed up with their names and many other minor mistakes and they ended up not getting their visa.

So having the birth certificate by your side as you’re filling the DV lottery, together with those birth certificates of your derivatives, it is of great help. It will help you eliminate such errors, those mistakes that will cost you your visa.

How do you double or triple your chances of getting selected for DV2025?

Let discuss two sets of people:

1. The couples or the parents, and number two, the children.

Every person from a qualifying country, an eligible country, and has met all their requirements, and they are simple requirements, having achieved a high school education or if not, have a qualifying work experience within the past five years, and that is a two-year work experience within the last five years. That is the only requirement.

Remember, it is either of the two, either a high school diploma or if you don’t have a high school diploma, then a two-year work experience within the last five years and you should be coming from an eligible country.

If you are a couple, that is to mean you are married, you can double your chances, the both of you. This is by you applying for the DV2025 lottery and including your spouse.

If you are the husband, you apply and then include your wife or your wife applies and includes the husband. That is how you double the chances, both of you apply, including one another.

2. The Children

If you have children that are not married yet, they should be under the age of 21 years, then you also include. Also, if the wife fills as the principal applicant, she should includes the husband and the kids. The husband applies, includes the wife and the kids. All those kids that have fulfilled those qualification.

Remember, even if your kid is under 21 years of age but he or she is married does not count as a qualified derivative. The child must be under 21 and not married. By you doing that, you’ve doubled your chances of getting selected as the couple.

For tripling your chances of getting selected for DV2025 : How does it happen?

Your parents, both of them and each one of them applies and includes you as their kid. That is the father applies, includes the mother and you.

Again, the mother applies includes the father and you, those are two, and you also apply, that is three. So long as you have the high school diploma or certificate or you are just about to do your final exam in the high school education.

So if you are about to sit for your final exam, let’s say, for example, you will be doing your final exam at the end of this year. If you are there and you will be sitting for your high school final exam within this year, then you are qualified to apply for it because by the time the results will be out, that is May next year, you will have already sat for your exam and you will be having your certificate, that is the diploma.

So if you are in high school and you will be sitting for your final exam this year, just go ahead and apply.

In summary

How do you triple your chances as a kid?

If you are a kid and you are about to sit for your exam or you are under the age of 21 and you have your diploma, that is the high school certificate. Then you can triple your chances of getting selected by you applying for the DV lottery and then let your father apply and include you, because that is what is required, and your mother apply and includes you and the family.

By so doing, you will have a chance from your father, a chance from a mother, and a chance from you yourself. That is triple the chance of getting selected.

For doubling chances

If you are a couple, ensure that you apply the both of you, including each other in the application.

I hope that the information is clear and well understood.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

In this guide, we will learn specific things that you must do for you to have a smooth and successful first DV interview and get your Diversity Visa approved.

It will focus mainly on the tips that you can use in preparation for the interview and also during the interview process to get your Diversity Visa approved.

As a first timer in the DV lottery interview or it’s your first time to attend the DV interview, there is a great tendency of panicking or missing some things in the preparation or during the interview.

Tips To Prepare For DV First Interview

1. You need to familiarize yourself with the whole interview process.

You’re going for the interview, just as the other normal interviews, the work interviews, or any other interview, you need prior preparation, you need to familiarize yourself with what it takes for the interview.

How do you do this?

You do this by simply consulting the previous interviews. Those people that have undergone through the interviews, and how do you consult with those interviews?

It is by going through the interview experiences. People are very generous with their information. Many that have gone to the United States, many that have passed through the DV interview, they have shared their interview experiences all over the internet and they are all different experiences.

You’ll find some for single persons, you’ll find some for married people, you’ll find some for married with kids, and others single with kids. When you go through those interview experiences, you’ll learn a lot of things. For example:

• You’ll know what happens during the interview.
• You’ll know what changes you can make during the interview.
• You’ll know what people to meet at the embassy.
• You’ll know what happens at the security check.
• You’ll know what size of baggage you should carry.
• You’ll know of the questions that you get during the interview, and you’ll know how to correctly go around those processes.

You need to go through the interview experiences.

Read: DV Interview Questions and Answers

Go through it, you’ll get to familiarize yourself with the whole process, and this will eliminate the panic that comes.

In other words, you will have gone through a mock interview. It’s like you’ve gone through a virtual tour of the whole interview process, and when you go for the interview, you’ll find yourself that whatever you’re meeting or encountering will be what you already know of.

So it’s very important to go through the DV interviews for you to get all this information. Go through the different interview experiences from those people.

2. You need to prepare the documents that are required correctly and they should be organized correctly.

The documents form the very important part of the DV interview because you’ll have to present those documents. What are those documents?

They are the supporting documents to the information that you field on your DS-260 form. Every document that is required, you need to have it.

Remember, there are some documents that need to be notarized. That is to certify them. They need a certified copy of the original one. So you have the original copy and a different one that is called certified.

READ: Original And Notarized Documents For DV Lottery Interview

You will get this certified from the custodian of your documents in your government. If it’s the birth certificate from the registrar of birth, for the marriage certificate from the registrar of marriage, etc.

For those documents that are listed as requiring certified documents, don’t forget to get the certified documents. Prepare your documents well, both you as a principal applicant and those of your derivatives, for a smooth interview.

3. Throughout the process, you have to be so honest.

Be honest with all information that you give. Be truthful. If you say yes, it’s a yes, and if it’s no, it’s a no.

If you don’t have these documents, don’t say you have them. Anything that you present should be true from the start to the end. Veracity is key. Lies are considered as fraud.

The principal item that will lead to your visa denial is for you speaking falsely, is for you presenting false information. That is fraud, and fraud is a definite visa refusal. So honest and truthful is what is needed in this process for a smooth interview.

4. You need to stay calm and be self-composed during the interview.

Fear can arise, the fear of unknown, not knowing whether you’ll be successful or you will fail and that can create anxiety. Fear can cause you not to be at ease.

Therefore, one thing that you need to do and you need to exercise is to be calm and to be self-composed. By this, you’ll have the confidence to answer the questions that are forwarded to you.

You create this confidence and calmness by going through the interview experiences for you to at least have the prior information of the process. Panicking can mess you up, be self-composed and calm when you are going through your DV interview.

5. You need to attend the interview with all your derivatives.

Derivatives must be present during the interview, if you leave the derivatives out then be sure you will not get your visa. All people that you included in your DV application as your family members (your spouse, your biological children, legally adopted children, stepchildren) you need to attend the interview with them, and they must be present there.

They should also have all the documents that they are required to have, e.g birth certificate, their passports, the police clearance certificate for all that are above 16 years of age. Every document that is attached to the derivatives must also be present.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

Original And Notarized Documents: This is a deep guide regarding the documents that you’re supposed to have during the DV interview. You will understand the difference between original documents and the certified document, the notary certified document.

What is the distinction between original documents and the notary certified document? Why are you required for some documents to have the both the original and the notary certified document?

What are original documents?

Original documents are the documents that you are issued with the documents that you have. For example, your academic document issued by that institution that governs your education, the education board, the certificate that you got from them, that is an original document.

If you are married, the marriage certificate that you are issued with the one that you have, that is called an original document.

Same case applies to the birth certificate. The birth certificate that you have, the document that you are holding now, that is called the original document.

What is the notary certified document?

When we come to the notarized document, every document that you have that is original, every original document that you have means that the government office, that is the civic department or the registrar’s department, or the vital statistics department of your government has your details.

So the original document simply says that the government has your details pertaining that original document. And that means that all your information is in that government’s office, that particular government’s office.

Since your details are with that office, then whenever you are requested by a certain organization to prove the originality of that original document, e.g if an organization requests that you prove that the original document that you’re holding is true, is legit and is original.

What you are supposed to do is, you are supposed now to visit that registrar’s office or the vital statistics office or the government office, or whichever name that you call in your country.

Once you visit that office, you request them of a certified copy to prove that this document you’re holding is true and legitimate. So that is the whole purpose of the notary of certified document.

Notary certified document is a proof of the originality of the document that you’re presenting to an organization. The same case applies to the embassies, the DV program, and all the types of visas.

You are required to prove the certification or the notarization of specific documents that will be explained in this guide. You cannot go through the diversity visa interview successful, without you providing copies of the notarized document of the following:

• The birth certificates

All of your dependents have their birth certificates, and all of them will have to get their notarized certified document of the birth certificate. So when you attend the interview, you will present your original document, the one that you are holding currently, plus that notarized document of the birth certificate that was issued by your civil department.

The notarized document are usually an advanced one of the original one. For example, they will have an embossed seal that is multicolored, or it might have watermarks just to enhance the validity of the document that you have.

So it will look totally different from the original. The same information, but with some additional proof of stamp. It will have embossed seams, for example, with multiple colors, or it might have any other type of seal and also water marks, just to prove that what you’re holding is true.

Simply because this comes from the civic department, then it stands as a surety. It proves to that body, and for this case, the embassy, that it’s true and it’s indeed that you are the holder of that birth certificate and it’s not fake.

So for the birth certificate, you need the original document together with the notarized document.

• Marriage Certificate

Another document that you need to have both the original and the notarized is the marriage certificate. The marriage certificate that you’re holding, the original, is not enough. You need to prove the validity, the originality, the legitimacy of that marriage certificate.

Therefore, you need to visit the Register of marriage Office and tell them to produce or to give you the notarized copy and they’ll give you that one. This is the second document that you’re supposed to present, both the original and the notarized document.

• Marriage Divorce Certificate

The other document that need notarization is the termination of your marriage or the divorce certificate. They also need to have the notarized document as an accompanied.

If you are separated or divorced, then the separation document or the divorce papers, they should be accompanied by notarized documents.

• Academic Documents

Another document that needs notarization are the academic documents. The academic documents, especially the high school diploma.

The high school diploma has to be notarized. That one must be presented during the interview, the original plus the notarized copy of the academic certificate.

In some countries, e.g Kenya, the notarization of the high school diploma is normally done online. You book online and the certified document will be sent directly to the embassy.

The academic document, especially the high school diploma, has to have the notarized copy.

• Translation Documents

Another documents that generally need to have notary certified document, they are the translation documents. For example, maybe your certificate or your documents, they are not in English.

Remember that all documents that are not in English, they are supposed to have their translation into English.

Those documents translations, they have to have the seal of approval of originality, and that means they need to be notarized. The translation document have to be notarized, be it translation of the birth, be it the translation of the academic documents, be it the translation of marriage certificate, court records, or every other.

All translations into English for your documents, they have to be notarized. If you don’t present a notarized one, then they will not be accepted.

So all translations have to be notarized.

Other documents like police clearance certificate, the passport, you don’t have to get the notarized one. The one that you presented with is enough, just go with that to the interview.

Some Frequently Asked Questions About Original and Notary Certified Document For DV Lottery Interview

Question: Do I need to have notarized documents by the time am filling in the DS-260 or I can get them ready by embassy interview.

Hint/Ans: No, when filling DS-260 you don’t need them, only during the interview.

Question: Can the copies be certified by the lawyer?

Hint/Ans: No, you have to do it from your government department dealing with it

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.

If you have any questions about the DV lottery, please contact an immigration professional/officer or a licensed attorney.

This guide will specifically tackle the issue about the birth certificate and other alternatives for DV interview. Birth Certificate is very important in green card lottery.

The birth certificate is very important in many things in your life and more so during the diversity visa process. This is one of the documents and very important documents that are required during the DV interview.

You are supposed to produce original copies of your birth certificate and those of your derivatives, and if not, get the certified copies of the same. Also go along with the photocopy of them as well.

There are some individuals in several countries that are unable to obtain a birth certificate, maybe because of one reason or the other.

One reason as to why some may not be able to get an original or certified birth certificate is because of governmental issues and problems.

Another reason could be that the official record of your birth has been lost by the government institution or the civil institution, and those things happen.

If they cannot retrieve your birth records, then it might be hard for them to produce a birth certificate for you.

In all these cases, if you are unable to obtain a birth certificate for the DV lottery process, there are alternatives for this.

The DV Birth Certificate and Alternatives

1. The Baptismal Certificate

The first alternative for this is you might get a baptismal certificate. The baptismal certificate can stand in for the birth certificate, in this case, where you cannot obtain your birth certificate. But for the baptismal certificate to be legitimate, to be sufficient for this process, it should contain the date of your birth.

It should also contain the place where you were born, and it should also contain the names of both of your parents. These names must be in full.

So it should contain your names, the place of birth, the date of birth, the name of the parents, and they should be in full. In that case, it should stand in for the birth certificate.

2. Affidavit Certificate

If you cannot get the baptismal certificate, the other option is you get an affidavit certificate of your birth from a close relative and if possible, from the mother.

The affidavit of birth can stand in for the certificate of birth. The Affidavit certificate should state your names, it should state the date of birth, it should state the names of the parent, and the middle name of the mother should be in that affidavit of birth. The affidavit of birth also qualifies as a support document in place of the birth certificate.

3. Legal Adoption Papers

There’s also another option if these two are not possible. This is specifically for adopted children. So if you have an adopted child and you cannot retrieve the birth certificate, but you have the adoption papers, the legal adoption papers, they can stand in for the birth certificate.

The adoption papers should contain the full names of the child. It should contain the date of birth, the place of birth, if possible, the names of the parents, and the adoption details.

Legal adoption papers can stand in as a birth certificate for that adopted child.

Those are the papers that can replace the birth certificate. In case the original birth certificate or the certified birth certificate is unobtainable because of one reason or the other.

So nothing should hinder you from getting a successful DV interview because of the reason of lacking the birth certificate. Obtain one of those mentioned documents and you will be safe to proceed.

Question: What if I did a mistake during the process of typing my place of birth can I correct it before the results comes out and please how?

Answer: You will do it on DS-260, if selected.

Thanks for reading this guide. I hope the information is helpful.

DISCLAIMER: This post and content is designed for general information only and is NOT legal advice. This site is not offering any Diversity Visa and is not the official site for DV Lottery program. The information presented in this post should not be construed to be formal legal advice.