Immigrant Visas

Diversity Immigrant Visa Program - The Green Card Lottery

There are 50,000 immigrant visas made available each year to natives of countries that have had recently low immigration to the United States.  Iceland is one of the qualifying countries.  The applicants for Diversity Visas are picked randomly from the pool of people who register during a specified period.

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) states that no diversity visas shall be provided for "high admission" countries - those countries from which there were more than 50,000 immigrants during the period of the previous five years.  Each year, the Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) compiles the immigrant admission figures for the previous five years to identify the countries that must be excluded from the annual diversity lottery application period, resulting in the list of countries eligible for the program changing from one year to the next.

Anyone born in the following countries are, unfortunately, not eligible for the 2008 Diversity Visa Lottery: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland born), Colombia, the Domincan Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Korea, the United Kindom (excluding Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. 

2008 Diversity Visa Lottery Registration Begins October 4

"Apply early," State Department tells prospective lottery applicants

The Department has announced that registration for the 2008 Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery will begin at noon on October 4, 2008.  Persons seeking to enter the lottery program must register online through the designated Internet website during the registration period. 

The website for registering for the 2008 DV Lottery, www.dvlottery.state.gov, will be available from noon October 4, 2008 through noon December 3, 2008.

State Department officials encourage prospective applicants to “apply early” in the two-month registration period for the program that issues 50,000 permanent residency visas annually. 

If any member of the public, a winner or not, has questions pertaining to the DV program they are encouraged to contact KCC's public inquiry office. 

KCC Public Inquiry E-mail:  kccdv@state.gov
KCC Public Inquiry Phone (606) 526-7500
KCC Public Inquiry Fax:  (606) 526-7501

Press here for electronic inquiries to the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavik, Iceland.