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U.S. Embassy announces the start of 2009 Diversity Immigrant Visa Program

October 5, 2007

The Embassy of the United States is pleased to announce the start of the Fiscal Year 2009 Diversity Immigrant Visa Program. This program selects 55,000 applicants on a random basis to receive immigrant visas allowing those selected to take up permanent residence and to live and work in the United States.

The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is an important expression of the American character founded on its immigrant roots. Last year, over 150 Tanzanian citizens received immigrant visas through this program. The Embassy encourages all interested Tanzanians to participate in the program this year and contribute to the rich American heritage of diversity through immigration.

Entries for the DV-2009 Diversity Visa lottery may be submitted electronically at anytime before noon Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5) Sunday, December 2, 2007. No entries will be accepted after noon EST on December 2, 2007. Applicants may access the electronic Diversity Visa entry form at http://www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period. Paper entries will not be accepted. Applicants are strongly encouraged not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter. Heavy demand may result in website delays.

The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered on an annual basis by the Department of State and conducted under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The Act provides for a maximum of 55,000 Diversity Visas (DV) each fiscal year to be made available to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Persons submitting applications during this period will be chosen during the next several months and will begin visa processing after October 01, 2008.

The annual DV program makes diversity immigrant visas available to persons meeting the simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. A computer-generated random lottery drawing chooses selectees for diversity visas. The visas, however, are distributed among six geographic regions with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, and with no visas going to nationals of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the period of the past five years. Within each region, no one country may receive more than seven percent of the available Diversity Visas in any one year.

For DV-2009, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply because they sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the period of the previous five years:

BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, PERU, POLAND, RUSSIA, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM. Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible.

The Department of State implemented the electronic registration system beginning with DV-2005 in order to make the Diversity Visa process more efficient and secure. The Department utilizes special technology and other means to identify those who commit fraud for the purposes of illegal immigration or who submit multiple entries.

The Embassy urges all interested persons to read the instructions and eligibility requirements very carefully. In particularly, applicants are required to enter all family members (spouse and children under 21) on the application. Failure to do so will result in disqualification.

Some points about the program:

  • To enter the lottery, you must meet either the education or work experience requirement of the DV program.


    • Education or Work Experience: You must have EITHER a high school education or its equivalent, defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education; OR two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform. The U.S. Department of Labor’s O*Net OnLine database will be used to determine qualifying work experience. For more information about qualifying work experience, see Frequently Asked Question #13.

If you cannot meet these requirements, you should NOT submit an entry to the DV program.


  • The Department of State will only accept completed Electronic Diversity Visa (E-DV) Entry Forms submitted electronically at http://www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period.

  • All entries by an individual will be disqualified if more than ONE entry for that individual is received, regardless of who submitted the entry. You may prepare and submit your own entry, or have someone submit the entry for you.

  • A successfully registered entry will result in the display of a confirmation screen containing your name, date of birth, country of chargeability, and a date/time stamp. You may print this confirmation screen for your records using the print function of your web browser.

  • Paper entries will not be accepted.

  • Your entry will be disqualified if all required photographs are not submitted. Recent photographs of the following people must be submitted electronically with the Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form:

    • you
    • your spouse
    • each unmarried child under 21 years of age, including all natural children as well as all legally-adopted children and stepchildren, even if a child no longer resides with you or you do not intend for a child to immigrate under the DV program

    You do not need to submit a photo for a child who is already a U.S. citizen or a Legal Permanent Resident.

    For further information, please see either     http://www.dvlottery.state.gov or our website http://tanzania.usembassy.gov