The Department of State recently announced the opening of the registration period for the 2016  Diversity Visa (DV) lottery.

As in past years, the DV lottery will allow a maximum of 50,000 “diversity  immigrants” to obtain permanent residence in the United States if they are from countries with low rates  of immigration to the United States.

Entries for the DV-2016 lottery must be submitted electronically  between noon Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 and noon Eastern  Standard Time (EST) on Monday, November 3, 2014. Applicants may access the electronic Diversity  Visa entry form (E-DV) at http://www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period. Paper entries are  not accepted.

The DV lottery is administered on an annual basis by the Department of State. As in past years, FY- 2016 natives of the following countries remain ineligible to apply for the DV lottery because the  countries sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the previous five years:  Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El  Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United  Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. Persons born in Hong  Kong, Macau, and Taiwan remain eligible.

Instructions for entering the DV-2016 diversity lottery are available at http://travel.state.gov/content/dam /visa/DV-2016-Instructions-Translations/DV_2016_Instructions_English.pdf