Tag Archives: DV Lottery selection process

The DS-260 form, also known as the Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration Application, is a crucial document that must be completed accurately for your Diversity Visa (DV) interview. This guide is on how to fill out the DS-260 form correctly. The principal applicant and all family members applying for a diversity visa program must complete Form DS-260. You will need to enter your DV case number into the online DS-260 form to access and update the information about yourself and your family that you included in your DV entry.

If your family circumstances have changed after you entered the Diversity Visa program, for example, if you have gotten married or had a child, you will need to add your new family members to your case. (“Family member” refers to a spouse and/or unmarried children who had not reached age 21 before you entered the DV program.) When adding family members to your case, you will need to upload a document to prove your relationship to the family member being added.

How to Fill Out the DS-260 Form Correctly

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to fill out the DS-260 form correctly:

• Step 1: Access the DS-260 Form

Go to the Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC) website. Select the option for “DS-260, Online Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration Application“ and enter your Case Number.

• Step 2: Personal Information

Provide your personal information, including your full name, date of birth, place of birth, and nationality. Enter your passport information, including the passport number, issuing country, and expiration date.

• Step 3: Address and Phone Number

Enter your current address and phone number. If your address changes before your interview, update this information in the DS-260 form.

• Step 4: Marital Status and Family Information

Indicate your marital status and provide information about your spouse and children (if applicable). Include their full names, dates of birth, and passport information.

• Step 5: Previous U.S. Travel Information

Provide details about any previous travel to the United States, including the purpose of your visit, dates of travel, and locations visited.

• Step 6: Work/Education/Training Information

Provide details about your work, education, and training history. Include your current employer or school, as well as any previous employers or schools.

• Step 7: Security and Background Information

Answer questions about your background, including criminal history, immigration violations, and other relevant information.

• Step 8: Medical and Health Information

Answer questions about your medical history, including any physical or mental health conditions that may require treatment in the United States.

• Step 9: Miscellaneous Information

Provide any additional information that may be relevant to your visa application, such as previous visa denials or other immigration issues.

• Step 10: Review and Submit

Review all the information you have entered on the DS-260 form carefully to ensure it is accurate and complete.

Click the “Sign and Submit Application” button to submit your DS-260 form. Once submitted, you will receive a confirmation page with a barcode. Print this page and bring it to your DV interview.

Be aware that KCC can only tell you if your form has been processed. KCC cannot tell you whether or not you or your family members are eligible for diversity visas. Only the consular officer who interviews you can make that decision.

Note: On the Sign and Submit page of the DS-260, you will need to re-enter your DV case number without the zeros (e.g. if the case number is 2023AF0000012345, enter ‘2023AF12345’). Entering the full case number with zeros will generate a validation error.

In Conclusion:

Filling out the DS-260 form correctly is essential for your DV interview. By following these steps and providing accurate information, you can increase your chances of a successful visa application process. Once you’ve submitted the DS-260 online, you must print the confirmation page so you can bring it to your visa interview at the U.S. consulate in your country.

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.

We have only few days remaining before the DV-2025 lottery results are out, the exact date is May 4, 2024, and that will be 12 noon the eastern time (EDT), the New York time, that’s when the results will be out. You can convert that to your local time and see when that will be.

When the result is out there will be no form of communication to you notifying you of the results, or there will not be any communication to tell you that the results are out. Neither will there be a message telling you that you have won, that you need to do such and such a thing for you to proceed. You are the one to do that. You are the one to go ahead and visit that website, Dvprogram.state.gov.

When opened, you’ll see a page there on the entrant status check, that’s where you’ll find a place to enter your confirmation number, year of birth, your last name (that is the surname) and then you get access to the result. You are the one to go and check for yourself.

Let no one come with fake emails or fake messages telling you that you have won. That is lies. You’re the one to visit the site and check for yourself. There have been many speculations out there about this selection process and people have tried to figure out how the process happens. But this guide below fully explained that.

Read: DV Lottery Program Selection Process | How DV winners are selected

The DV lottery is a free and fair program, you apply for free, you pay no charges and you also check the result yourself, for free. After checking, that’s when you get the response whether you’ve won or you’ve not won. It is very random, that’s why it’s called the diversity visa lottery.

It deals with the diverse, the diversity of the immigrants in the United States. They are just providing a free opportunity or a free avenue of immigrants to go to the United States and try their life there. It is free and the selection is very random indeed.

By random, that also means that everyone has equal chances in that program. Everyone who applied and applied correctly have equal chances of getting selected, it is not based on any achievement. Even if you had a very good profession and another person had no profession, but had qualified, once you enter into the program, the program is completely random. You have equal chances, it is not based on any achievement in life. You just meet the basic qualification, the minimum qualification, and all of you have the equal chances of getting selected.

Remember, this program is run by computer program, all the entries, they are put in a computer program that randomly selects when it runs to pick the successful selectees. Then after that, all the selected will be subjected to further screening. That is to mean the information there will be checked and especially the quality of the photo.

If the photo passes the qualifications, then you remain in the selection. But if you have some errors and especially in your photo or with your photo, then you are eliminated. That is to mean you are removed from those that were selected, leaving behind a space that is called a hole. So that’s how it does happen.

DV Selection Process

These are some of the factors that are not considered in the DV selection process:

The first factor they will not consider is the country of birth. It will not matter which country you come from. Whether you from the east, from Africa, from the Oceania, etc, that will not matter. Everyone has equal chances.

Another thing that will not matter is how many times you entered. In fact, if you entered more than once, that is considered fraud and you are instantly eliminated. You will not even enter into the first phase of selection. Once you place multiple entries, you are disqualified outrightly. So it does not depend on the number of times you applied.

Another thing is the gadget that you used. People have applied using computers and they have not been selected. Others have applied using the mobile phones, the pcs, the Mac. They have applied using different gadgets. They have not been selected. Whereas others have used the same mobile, the same laptop, the same computer and they have gotten selected. So it’s not based on the gadget that you used when it comes to selection.

Another thing is, it will not matter how many times you visited the United States. The frequency of you visiting the United States, that will not matter. It will not matter how long you have stayed in the United States. Even if you have stayed maybe doing business for like ten years or three years. If you have been there for a visit visa for about three months, it will not matter the length. It is completely not based on those facts. It is random.

It’s good that we get to know such things.

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.

This guide will clearly handle the things that you need to know as a DV applicant waiting for the DV results to be out. This guide is also very important to all those that have already been selected and are waiting for their DV interview.

As you are waiting for the DV lottery results, there are things that have never been discussed. You might not have thought of, but let’s get them one after the other.

While Waiting For The DV Results And Interview, You Need To Do these

Did you know that you need to have all the information regarding the DV lottery? This is because you applied, or you are planning to apply, or you have already been selected, and this shows that you have the interest of moving to the U.S with the DV Lottery. You need to gather all information regarding the DV Lottery. This is very important because it will lessen the chances of making mistakes. If you have information, you reduce the chances of making mistakes.

As you are waiting for the DV results to be out in the month of May, make an effort to understand the whole DV Lottery process. Know the pre-application requirements. Before you had applied, what did you need to know? You needed to know several things.

For example, how to apply, how to do it, because there are things that you need to do or to have not done, for a successful application. You need to know all the people that you’re supposed to add in your application. If you are single, you need to add none. If you are a single parent, you need to add all your kids. If you are married, then you need to add your immediate family, the nuclear family. That’s you need to know, plus other things that you need to know. The pre-application knowledge that you need.

After applying, there are things that you need to know because there are things that you need to do. While waiting for the results after applying, there are things that you need to do.

For example, as you’re waiting for the results, you may need to apply for the passport, if you don’t have already. If you are applying for passport, there are things that you need to do, one of them being passport application. As a principal applicant, the main applicant of the DV Lottery, it’s good that you get a passport, is very important because when filling the DS-260 form, you will require the passport information, the passport number, when filling the DS-260 form. You need for each and every member in your application.

You might fill the DS-260 and put some other numbers in that passport number location e.g, your national ID, just to stand as a placeholder and submit the DS-260 form, and then apply for the passport, and later on request KCC to unlock, and you change it with the passport number, that is possible. But why do so if you are able to obtain a passport early and then use the passport itself in that place when filling the DS-260 form.

In any case, if it’s worry about the passport expiry, remember that passports, they go up to 10 years before they expire, so you still have time. So even if you get it as early as possible, which is very good, there’s no harm. It’s good that you use the passport details right on the go. Fill it in the first filling of the DS-260 form and then submit it. With this, you will not need to request an unlock for you to update it with the passport information.

So while waiting for the results, get your passports and those of my derivatives. You need to know that as you’re waiting for the result, you may decide to get a passport.

Also, as you’re waiting for the results, there’s another thing that you need to know. If possible, try to look for connection with people already in the United States. Make friends with people in the United States through whichever means, through the social media, through the church, through activities. Get some connections with people already in the United States. You can join a community group in the United States. You can go to Facebook and join a social group of people already in the United States and actively socialize with them.

Reason: Because another thing that you need to fill the DS-260 form, and that is before you start filling, is a permanent address. You need a permanent address to fill the DS-260 form because you need an address in the United States, because that is the permanent address that you need to fill.

Make genuine friends, look for friends, people that later on can come and provide you with that address to fill as the permanent address, without which you cannot completely fill the DS-260 form. You need to know that.

Another thing that you need to know as you’re waiting for the results is that you need to also gather information regarding post-selection DV process. After you have been selected, if you are lucky, what are the steps that follow up to the end of the DV process? You need to gather that information as you’re waiting for the results.

If I win, what will be the next step? If I win, what follows? And after that, what follows? What do I need to get? Which documents do I need to have? Which step do I need to follow? What things should I not do? What things should I do for a successful interview? All those you need to gather that information.

Get everything that regards the steps after you have been selected. By doing that, you will be able to go through the DV process with minimum errors, if there is any.

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 Lottery Disqualification: In today’s guide, we will learn majorly three things that will indeed affect you in the selection. Things that will either reduce your chances of getting selected or will automatically knock you out of the selection process, even if you passed the first selection.

We’ve learned about the wrong theories that people have given out there regarding the selection process. We have also seen clearly on the errors that you might have done in the application but wouldn’t affect you in the selection. We also saw about the errors that you might have done and will not affect your selection, but later on will affect your DV process and you will get visa denied. All those we’ve talked about, you will find that information in this post below.

READ: Factors that will not affect your chances of getting selected in the Diversity Visa (Green Card) lottery

Why You May Not Be Selected In DV Lottery | DV Lottery Disqualification

Below are the things that will knock you out of the selection process, and if you probably did these two things, be sure enough that you will not be selected.

• Doing a double entry

The rule is that you are supposed to do a single application, just one application per one person. You cannot do two applications. Let’s say, for example, you might think that since this is a lottery, by me trying to enter several times or many times, I will increase my chances of getting selected. No, you are wrong.

If you decide to play today to enter into the lottery today and then you wait for some three days, then you try again and enter. Some other days, then you try and enter multiple times, that one is an automatic disqualification.

Don’t be tempted or you should not have been tempted to try and apply again because you realized there was some mistake that you did or maybe you used a wrong photo and therefore you decide, let me try another one with the correct information, that’s knocks you out of the selection.

Double entry or multiple entry into the DV lottery, it is an outright disqualification from the selection process, you will not get selected with that.

The second one, apart from the double entry is, and this was put out clearly last year, I think it was this year, early months of this year, by an information from the court proceedings. It was very good because it disclosed very rich information regarding the photo. Yes, I’ve said the photo. In that document, we clearly saw that they pay particular attention to the details of your

• Photo

We all know the requirements of your photo, your DV Lottery application passport size photo has dimensions that is two inch by two inch. It has the background qualifications, image qualifications, ratio qualifications. All these are put to proper consideration, that every photo that does not meet the requirement knocks you out of the selection.

You might have gone through the first phase of selection, but due to your photo qualities, you are knocked out leaving a hole. Those many holes that we see in the selected number of selectees, those holes came about due to some photo errors.

Maybe you provided a blurry image or when editing your photo, you do not follow the correct procedures. Maybe the edges of your image were trimmed. Any editing of your photo that affect the original standard, the original quality of the photo taken.

Those are some of the specifications that are checked, that are looked into. If your photo does not meet the qualification, that entry is kicked out of the selection process and you not even know, you might have gone through the first selection, you are among the selectees. But due to those errors, you are knocked out, leaving a hole, and will not even know that you had been selected.

So the correct photo is a major thing that will really affect whether you’re getting selected or not. Always use the correct photo, meet all the requirements, all the specifications of a DV lottery photo.

• Number of entries across the globe

The third thing that will affect your chances of getting selected or can lower your chances of getting selected is the number of entries all across the globe. The selection or your chances of getting selected depends on how many people entered into the DV lottery.

For example, in the DV lottery 2024, we saw an upward of 22 million entries. They only selected around 120,000 selectees out of the 22 million.

The more the number of entries into a DV lottery, the lesser the chances of you getting selected.

For DV 2025, when you look from the number of visits to the dvprogram.state.gov, the application website, when we compare the visits with the DV lottery 2024 visits, we see there’s some quite difference. That is, the DV 2024 was quite higher than the DV 2025.

So we expect the number of entries this year to be slightly lower than the 22 million that entered in the DV lottery 2024. The chances in this DV lottery 2025 for you will be slightly higher than for the DV lottery 2024.

The number of entries into a DV lottery will reduce or increase your chances of getting 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 Lottery Program Timeline: What is the timeline for the Diversity Visa Lottery? From applying to winning, from winning to get the visa, from getting the visa to go to the United States of America. What is the timeline?

There are so many changes will be in your life, from the time you apply to the time you arrive in the United States. The process is as follow:

DV Lottery Program Timeline

The application for the diversity visa lottery always starts on the first week of October, which is the first year for the fiscal year of the United States of America.

From October the first week to the first week of November you apply DV lottery. After applying, you have five to six months to wait. That is from November, December, January, February, March, April, up to end of April. Those are six months.

DV Lottery results comes out first week of May. So from the day you apply, you have six months to wait for the results to come out.

Let’s say you have won the DV lottery. What next? What next is there is a timeline. You will fill the visa form, which is called the Department of State form number 260, DS-260.

You are filling the visa form maybe in May, in June, July, doesn’t matter. But the first person to have the DV interview will be on October 1.

DV results comes out in May, you have already waited for six months after applying the DV lottery. Also, you will wait for another five months, i.e May, June, July, August, and September before the DV interview.

If you add six months to five months you will have nine months from the day you applied the DV lottery, then the first person will be interviewed by October.

But your interview might not be in October. It depends on your case number. If someone from Africa, for instance, with zero case number or from one case number to 2000, the interview will be in October. From 2000 to 4000, that will be in November. From 4000 maybe to 7000, that will be in December. Then it goes up that way.

Majority of people, their case number will be at least three to five months later to have the interview. So if you add there, it is almost a year and maybe from the day you applied until the day of the interview, it is more than one year and three months maybe possible, or four months or five months, depending.

Then you go to the interview. From the day of the interview, you are told you have been given the visa. Whether it’s you and your family, you have six months to travel.

Whether you travel on the first day you go to the visa, that’s up to you. You travel next week, next month, two months later. But as long as it’s not exceeding six months, you are good to go.

Majority of people, after receiving the visa, it takes about three months to prepare themselves, especially if they have a family, because there are tickets for the entire family. If you buy quicker, it will be more expensive.

So that makes up to 18 to 20 months, the timeline is long. That’s why there are some people in between, maybe they die, some people in between they get married. Some people in between have children. There are some changes.

If you get married after applying, you are allowed to add the person. If you have the child after applying, you are allowed to add that child in the application in order to go the U.S.

All those are the important things you need to know the timeline. If you are a student, you can still finish your school. You still have almost years in between until you go to America, from the day you apply.

So it is a longer process for people to understand the timeline of the diversity visa lottery.

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.

This guide will explain two grievous mistakes that you will do in your DV lottery application and will knock you out of the selection process. Just two that will disqualify you in the DV Lottery Selection Process.

Two Major Mistakes That Will Knock You Out Of DV Lottery Selection Process

1. Uploading wrong photo

The photo may seem a very small aspect of the DV lottery application and it is likely to be ignored. Someone can ignore the specifications. But remember, the photo is one very great mistake that will eliminate you during the selection process.

You cannot get through with an incorrect photo, with a wrong photo. What does this mean? This means that when you are doing your entry, you must be very precise. You must be very cautious with your photo.

Follow the specified instructions about the DV photo. I have discussed the specification in a former guide here.

Find out more about Photo Requirements for DV Lottery.

The photo background should be the white background or off white, and your face should be directly facing the camera. You should not be wearing anything that is unnecessary, like a cap or a scarf, apart from the religious one.

All those specifications, including the size that it should be a two-inch by two-inch photo, and it should be a 600 by 600-megapixels photo.

Those minor specifications regarding the DV photo, you should follow them to the end because uploading the wrong photo, is the very first greatest mistake that will kick you out of the selection process. You can’t go through the selection process with a wrong photo.

2. Doing the DV lottery application twice

The second great mistake that you can do and will eliminate you in the selection process is doing the application twice. If you do an application with the same information twice, you are definitely kicked out of the selection process. You can’t get through.

If you realize that you did a wrong application or you inserted a wrong information or you did mistakes during your processing, don’t dare to do a second application with the aim of correcting the mistakes. That is considered a double entry and you are kicked out of the selection process instantly.

Those are the two major mistakes that will not get you through the DV lottery selection process. Avoid them at all costs. Never commit them.

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.

U.S Green Card (DV) Lottery selection process: Let learn those factors that will not affect your chances of getting selected in the DV lottery process.

There are many theories, stories and notions out there that have been raised by many people about the factors that will affect you getting selected, this guide will rectify some ideas that have been put forward regarding the selection process and your chances of getting selected.

Factors that will not affect your chances of getting selected in the DV (Green Card) lottery process

Below are things people thought determined chances of Selection in DV Lottery, but do not:

• The time you take your photo

The first thing that will not affect is the time at which you take your photo.

Remember, the photo that you will use in the application must not be older than six months. But even if you took the photo one month’s time before the application, one day before the application, or two months or so, that one will not affect the selection process.

• The place in which you apply from will not affect you.

The other thing that has created theories about selection out there is the location where you were at the point of application or the country in which you were at the time of application. So long as your country was eligible, every one of you will have the same chances of getting selected, equal chances of getting selected.

If you applied while in the United States, maybe you are there on a visit visa or an academic visa, maybe you are there on a family visit and then you applied from that location, that will not guarantee you higher chances of getting selected more than other people in other countries that were qualified.

A person coming from this country and the other one from the other country and the other one from the other one, all of you have the same chances. It is not country-dependent. Not at all.

If you apply from the land of the United States, or if you apply from Ghana, or if you apply from a country in the Middle East or in Europe, the locality in which you are in at the time of application does not affect the selection process.

• The time of the day in which you apply does not affect selection.

Some people are saying that many that apply in the middle of the night (i.e the midnight) have higher chances of getting selected. No, that’s not correct. The time you apply is not what determines the selection.

In any case, in your country, midnight is not the same as that midnight of the other country’s citizen. One person from this country, the midnight might be different from another person in a different country. So we have different mid-nights in different locations.

Therefore, the time that you apply does not determine. People have applied in the noon time of their country, at 4:00 PM in their country, whichever time in their country and they have gotten selected. So the time factor is not a determinant. That one should not confuse you at all.

If you apply in the morning, if you apply at noon time or at midnight or at 6:00 PM, that one will not affect.

• The day in which you apply will never matter.

Some are saying that the time you apply affects your chances of getting selected or applying on the first day gives you higher chances of getting selected. That is not correct. Because what would you say of that person that applied on the last day and was selected and moreover, had a lower case number? What would you say of that?

So the notion that if you applied on the first day, you have higher chances of getting selected, that is a wrong notion.

DV selection is randomized and it’s just by a computer program that knows nothing about the time you entered the lottery or the day, but only the numbers that are given and then randomly selects or picks from those numbers.

So about the day that you apply, be it on the first day or the last day or the middle days, that does not matter at all.

If you apply on a Sunday, if you apply on a Monday, if you apply on a Wednesday, if you applied in the beginning of the lottery application period or on the day the lottery application period end or in the middle of the lottery application period, the day in which you apply never affects selection.

• The gadget that you use in your application will not matter.

If you use an iPhone, if you use Samsung or you use whichever brand, or if you use a computer or a laptop, whatever gadget you use never matters in the selection process.

• It will not matter if you are single or you are married.

Whether you are single or married, that will not affect your selection in the DV lottery.

• It will not matter if you have a big family or you have a small family.

If you are a family of two or you are a family of five or you are single, that one does not affect chances of getting selected.

• It will not matter how many times you’ve entered into lottery.

It does not mean that if you have tried seven times, then you have high chances of getting selected or you have tried once or twice, that one will not affect the chances of getting selected.

• It will not matter your age.

Whether you’re 30 or 45 or 20 or 18 or 21, the age that you are in does not affect or increase any chance of getting selected. Neither does it lower your chances of getting selected. It does not matter.

• The person that applies for you or the agent that applies for you.

In any case, you are supposed to do your own application. Don’t get anyone to apply for you. Any person applying for you or the agent applying for you will use the same website that you would have used to make your application.

It will not matter the person applying for you. Whether he or she is in the United States or is in whichever place, or he’s a professional or he is a quark, it will not matter the type of the person applying for you.

• The level of your education does not determine selection.

The other major thing and theory that has been put outside there is that your academic and professional achievement greatly affects your selection. No, it is not based on any life achievement, any academic prowess, any professional achievement. It is not based on that completely.

Yes the requirement for the DV entry is at least a high school diploma or a two-year work experience within the past five years. If you have your high school certificate and another person has a degree, another one has a diploma in some other country, that is an education above high school, or others have even postgraduate. Others are doctors, others are nurses, other engineers, others teachers.

A person with the PhD, a person with the masters or the degree, all of them have equal chances. One requirement is that all applicants should have attained a high school education.

If you have obtained the high school education, any other level of education higher than that does not determine the selection. It does not mean that with a PhD you have high chances of getting selected and with a degree you have some substantial chances, no.

All of you, even the high school diploma, everyone have equal chances of getting selected.

Regardless of the position or the professional achievement, all of you have the same chances of getting selected. So long as you have achieved the minimum qualification for the DV lottery application, the rest do not factor in. You are equally on the same position in terms of selection. Everyone has equal chances of getting selected.

• Social Status 

DV selection does not depend on the social status, your social status in your community or in your country. Maybe you are a very well-known politician or you are a very big person in your society. That one will not determine your selection at all. It is not based on any merit. It’s just randomized, based on the numbers that were put on those entries.

There are other things that people have created out there about DV selection process, which are not true.

I hope this guide have clearly explained the DV Lottery selection process with focus on those Factors that will not affect your chances of getting selected in the DV lottery process.

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.