Do you qualify for the Green Card Lottery?
Enrollment is open to all individuals world-wide, however, there are two entry requirements:
1. You must be a native of a qualifying country
You must be a native of eligible country to qualify for the Green Card Lottery. People born in countries which are NOT eligible are excluded from this lottery. Please see the list below of countries whose natives are currently excluded from the Green Card Lottery.
Please note that eligibility is determined only by the country of birth, not based on country of citizenship or current residence. This is the most common confusion.
The following countries are excluded from the green card lottery program (subject to change):
- China (mainland only)
- Russia
- Vietnam
- South Korea
- Philippines
- Brazil
- Peru
- Pakistan
- India
- Mexico
- Jamaica
- United Kingdom (except N.Ireland)
- Canada
- Dominican Republic
- Colombia
- Haiti
- El Salvador
- Poland
Natives from all other countries can apply for the American Green Card Program. If you were born in one of the non-qualifying countries you can still participate based on the country of birth of your parents OR based on country of birth of your spouse.
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2. Education or Work experience
You must comply to one of the following two requirements (Option 1 or Option 2 below) to qualify for the Green Card Lottery:
OPTION 1: You must have completed a foreign equivalent of U.S. high school education "High School education or its equivalent" means the successful completion of a 12 year course of elementary and secondary education in the U.S. or successful completion in another country of a formal course of elementary and secondary education comparable to complete a 12 year education in the U.S. Passage of a high school equivalency examination is not sufficient. It is permissible to have completed one"s education in less than 12 years or greater than 12 years if the course of study completed is equivalent to a U.S. high school education level.
OPTION 2: You have been working for the last two years in one of the occupations listed HERE within the past five years.
Proof that you satisfy these requirements should NOT be submitted when entering the Green Card Lottery but will be requested by a consular officer after your name has been selected and you formally apply for your permanent residence visa. Individuals who do not match these basic requirements should not apply in this program. You need to provide proof of education, work experience and native country only if you are selected. For this reason we do not request this information in the application form.
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