The Immigration Act of 1990 established the Diversity Visa (DV) program, where 55,000 immigrant visas would be available in an annual lottery, starting in fiscal year 1995. The lottery aims to diversify the immigrant population in the United States, by selecting applicants mostly from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States in the previous five years.

To apply for a diversity visa, follow the steps on the Diversity Visa Process on usvisas.state.gov.  Once you have completed those steps, review the instructions given to you by the Kentucky Consular Center (KCC), along with the information presented on this website, for further guidance and instructions.

Please note that any person who receives a letter or email that states that he or she has been selected in the Diversity Visa program or promises a Green Card should consider the contents illegitimate and fraudulent. Furthermore, there are no third-party payments in the Diversity Visa process.  The only required payment is the visa fee itself, which is paid at the U.S. Embassy.

Entrants may prepare and submit their own entries or have someone submit the entry for them, but the entrant remains responsible for ensuring that the information is correct and complete.

The law allows only one entry for each person during each registration period. Individuals with more than one entry will be disqualified. However, a husband and a wife may each submit a separate entry, listing the other as a derivative dependent, if each meets the eligibility requirements.