{"id":70313,"date":"2017-10-04T15:45:14","date_gmt":"2017-10-04T22:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=70313"},"modified":"2017-10-04T15:45:14","modified_gmt":"2017-10-04T22:45:14","slug":"u-s-2019-diversity-visa-lottery-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/10\/04\/u-s-2019-diversity-visa-lottery-begins\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. 2019 Diversity Visa Lottery Begins"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Embassy in Colombo is pleased to announce the start of the 2019 Diversity Visa Lottery Program, also known as the Green Card\u201d Lottery.<span class=\"image-caption-container image-caption-container-right\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"id5949001727419228\" class=\"caption\" title=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/www.asiantribune.com\/sites\/asiantribune.com\/files\/images\/2012\/DV%20Lottery.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"309\" height=\"163\" align=\"\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The program will be open for online registration from October 3, 2017 to November 7, 2017.<\/p>\n<p>The Diversity Visa Lottery allows randomly selected applicants the opportunity to interview for an immigrant visa and become legal permanent residents of the United States.<\/p>\n<p>The program is the 2019\u201d lottery because applicants enter in 2017, interview in 2018, and\u2014if selected and approved\u2014receive Green Cards in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>A few items to keep in mind:<\/p>\n<p>* The lottery application entry period is open from October 3, 2017 to November 7, 2017;<\/p>\n<p>* The lottery is open to those born in qualifying countries \u2013 both Sri Lanka and Maldives qualify;<\/p>\n<p>* Applicants may only apply once; multiple entries will result in disqualification;<\/p>\n<p>* Applicants must meet all qualifications for the Diversity Visa Lottery;<\/p>\n<p>* Applicants should keep the application confirmation number received after applying;<\/p>\n<p>* There is no cost to register for the Diversity Visa Lottery. Beware of scams, of persons or companies making claims of affiliation with the U.S. Government, and of those who promise improved odds of selection. No third party assistance is needed to complete and submit an application.<\/p>\n<p>Please go to U.S. Embassy Colombo\u2019s website at\u00a0<a title=\"https:\/\/lk.usembassy.gov\/visas\/immigrant-visas\/diversity-visa\/\" href=\"https:\/\/lk.usembassy.gov\/visas\/immigrant-visas\/diversity-visa\/\">https:\/\/lk.usembassy.gov\/visas\/immigrant-visas\/diversity-visa\/<\/a>\u00a0to find out more about the program, including qualification requirements and detailed instructions on how to apply in Sinhala, Tamil, and English. The only way to apply is online at\u00a0<a title=\"www.dvlottery.state.gov\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dvlottery.state.gov\/\">www.dvlottery.state.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b>Notifications and next steps<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Beginning in early May 2018, applicants may go online to the Entrant Status Check page on\u00a0<a title=\"www.dvlottery.state.gov\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dvlottery.state.gov\/\">www.dvlottery.state.gov<\/a>\u00a0to see if they have been selected for the Diversity Visa program. Those selected will be asked to submit additional information and will be notified when they are selected for an interview.<\/p>\n<p>The in-person interview will be with a U.S. Consular Officer, who will decide if the applicant is eligible to receive the visa \u2013 documents required will include medical and police clearance and payment of visa fees at the Embassy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Embassy in Colombo is pleased to announce the start of the 2019 Diversity Visa Lottery Program, also known as the Green Card\u201d Lottery. The program will be open for online registration from October 3, 2017 to November 7, 2017. The Diversity Visa Lottery allows randomly selected applicants the opportunity to interview for an [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70313\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}