The U.S. State Department has now issued instructions for those wishing to enter into the DV-2010 diversity visa lottery. Applications will be accepted exclusively over the State Department's website from October 2 to December 1, 2008. To apply, visit the electronic Diversity Visa website at www.dvlottery.state.gov. The State Department recommends that applicants apply sooner rather than later, to prevent last-minute pressure on their website. No entries will be accepted after 12 noon Eastern, December 1, 2008.

The so-called "green card lottery" is a computer-generated, random lottery drawing chooses winners for diversity visas. DV visas are distributed to applicants across six geographic regions, with visas going to regions with lower immigration rates. Within each region, no single country may receive more than seven percent of the available Diversity Visas in any one year.

For DV-2010, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply because the countries sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the previous five years:

BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, PERU, POLAND, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM.

Countries from all other countries are eligible for the DV-2010 lottery. This includes applicants born in HONG KONG, MACAU, and TAIWAN.

Please note the new changes for this year's lottery: RUSSIA and KOSOVO are now on the list of eligible countries. Also, lottery applicants will be able to check the status of their applications online.

For more information, please carefully review the instructions for the DV-2010 Diversity Visa lottery instructions, available at the this State Department website: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1318.html.

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