What does DV Lottery case number stand for? What is it and what do you understand about it? That is basically what this guide is going to tackle.
If you’re waiting for the DV results or if you’re waiting for your DV interview, this will be very important to you to understand.
What is DV Case Number? What is Green card Lottery Number?
The case number is the number assigned to each and every winner in a DV lottery selection. This means that you only get your case number if you are successfully selected.
After the results are out, if you check the results and you are lucky to have been selected, that’s only when you will have access to see or to know your case number. You will find this on your first notification letter.
That message that you find on the entrant status check, congratulating you on your selection. On that message, you will find your DV case number and the DV case number will look something like this 2023AF00012345.
The first four digits of the case number normally indicates the fiscal year for the DV lottery. What does this mean? It means the year in which the interviews will be conducted for the DV lottery.
For example, for the DV lottery 2023, that means the first four digits in the case number is 2023, the fiscal year in which the interviews are being conducted. For the DV lottery 2024, it will be 2024 in which the DV-2024 interviews will be conducted.
The second part is the two letters which stand for the regions. For example, we have the EU for Europe region, we have OC for Oceania region, we have AF for Africa region, we have AS for Asia region, and so on and so forth.
After these two letters we have the rest of the numbers, these rest of the numbers are the actual numbers standing for your position in the case number system. For example, you have 00012345 as your position in the case number system.
The case number is unique to each and every winner. No two individuals will share the same case numbers. The case numbers are issued randomly. There is nothing, no qualification or nothing that is considered when issuing the case numbers. It all depends on luck.
Whether you get a low case number or a high case number, that depends on the luck, on the selection, random selection. Nothing is considered when issuing these case numbers to the successful winners.
Therefore, some will be lucky enough to get low case numbers, while others will get high case numbers.
Each region has its own order. That is, each region will have a case number beginning from the lowest to the highest. For example, for the EU region, you might find that we have from a 0001 up to maybe a 00023,000. This is just an example.
For AS, you might find that we have a 0001 up to a 00036,000. Each region will have its own numbering.
Interviews are scheduled in the order of these numbers. This means that the interviews will be scheduled from the lowest case number in a certain region and numerically to the highest case number in that region.
For example, you might find that we have an AF, 10,000 and also an EU 10,000. Therefore, you might find similar numbers but in different regions.
Holes in DV Lottery Case Number
If in a certain region we have a certain number of selectees, it does not mean that there are in totality those numbers. For example, if for Africa we have AF 84,000 as the highest case number, it does not mean that we have 84,000 selectees from Africa.
In between from the lowest number to the highest one, there are many vacant spaces that we call holes. You might find we have a case number 0001 and we don’t have 0002 or 0003, but we have 0004, 0005, we don’t have 0006, we don’t have 0009, but we have 00010, and so on.
Therefore, between the lowest case number and the highest case number for a specific region, there exist vacant slots that we call holes.
If we have AF 84,000 for Africa, then you might find we only have half the number of selectees from the Africa region. This is just to exemplify.
Finally, remember that the case number is unique to every individual, the case number is personal and private. But if a case number comes to be known by anyone, it is not a risk. No one can impersonate you. No one can take your number. Your number is unique to you.
Every information that regards you is attached to the case number and it is hard for anyone to impersonate you to produce a true copy of your documents. Therefore, your case number cannot be stolen.
Thank you for reading this guide. I hope the information is good and relevant to you.
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.