Each year, the U.S. Diversity Visa program makes available permanent residence visas to persons meeting certain eligibility requirements discussed below. Applicants for Diversity Visas are initially chosen through a random computer-generated lottery drawing. Visas are distributed among six geographic regions with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, and no visas going to countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the past five years. No one country can receive more than seven percent of the available Diversity Visas in any one year.

For more information and detailed instructions, please visit the U.S. Department of State's web site at http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1322.html