Frequently Asked Questions

55,000 permanent resident cards are made available each year through the American Green Card Lottery (also known as the Diversity Visa or DV Lottery). It is an official U.S. government program that gives foreign nationals a shot at legally living and working in America.

Each year, the U.S. government announces the specific dates when qualified individuals can submit their Green Card Lottery application. It usually occurs at the end of the year (normally in October) for a 30 day period. The advantage of using an application service provider like USAFIS is that you can register at any time of the year and we will submit the entry when the date is announced.

100,000 entries are randomly selected from the pool of applications via a computer program. Each Green Card Lottery winner is given a reference number. Winners must complete specific Green Card applications, go through a security check, and receive a medical exam before being approved for a Green Card. The process can take up to a year, and out of the initial 100,000 selected entries, 55,000 will be granted the Green Card.

Besides having a high school education or 2 years of qualifying post-secondary work experience, a person must also be a native of a qualifying Green Card Lottery country to participate in the Diversity Visa program.

Check if you can participate in the Official U.S. Diversity Visa program HERE!

USAFIS offers a free eligibility test to find out if you qualify for the DV Lottery. Usually, countries that send less than 55,000 immigrants to the US within a 5-year period are Green Card Lottery eligible countries.

You must have a full high school education or have 2 years of qualifying post-secondary work experience.

If a person is qualifying with work experience for the Green Card Lottery, the occupation must be designated as Job Zone 4 or 5, classified in a Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) rating of 7.0 or higher by U.S. Department of Labor. The U.S. Department of Labor provides information on job duties, knowledge and skills, education and training, and other occupational characteristics at their website. The O*Net online database, groups work experience into five “job zones.”

The program is intended for people with at least a high school education or 2 years of work experience within a 5 year period. This usually refers to a person of 18 years of age or older.

USAFIS is a private, Internet-based company (not in any way affiliated with the US Government and not a law firm) which was established in 2001 with the goal of helping people around the world successfully participate in the American Diversity Visa (Green Card) Lottery for the opportunity to immigrate to the United States. USAFIS was founded with the mission of helping foreign nationals to qualify for the Green Card Lottery. From promoting our application review service worldwide to ensuring one’s entry meets the criteria for the Diversity Visa program, we are a company that invests in user-friendly secure technology and professional teams committed to helping people immigrate to the U.S.

USAFIS is a private company (not affiliated with the US Government and not a law firm) with more than 20 years of experience with preparing and submitting successful applications for its paid clients to the U.S. Green Card Lottery program. 

USAFIS provides its customers with a user-friendly online form, and customer service in several languages, so they can enter their details on the application and upload their photos in advance, before the official registration period for the Green Card Lottery. We also provide our clients with information explaining how to complete their Green Card Lottery applications correctly and answer questions that they may have about the DV Lottery program.

USAFIS professionals then review the information and photos that their customers have provided to make sure everything meets the US Government standards for the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery program. Our automated system will notify USAFIS customers if they are missing any of their required details or photos on their Green Card application and our photo experts will tell them if any of their photos do not meet the US State Department requirements for the Green Card Lottery (and explain what they need to do differently to meet the proper standards for the Lottery).

When a client’s DV Lottery application is complete and meets the American Government regulations, USAFIS submits the application on their behalf to the US State Department during the annual registration period.

We also offer the convenience of multiple-year submissions for our clients and make it easy to update their applications as necessary. USAFIS promptly notifies its customers who win the Green Card Lottery each year so they can take the next steps in this competitive process. Finally, USAFIS offers immigration-related e-Books with useful information about the Diversity Visa program and immigration to the United States, as well as interactive, multimedia language-learning software to help customers improve their English language skills or learn other languages spoken in the USA.

An individual can apply for the DV-Lottery for free on the US government website; however, many people who apply for the Green Card Lottery and are randomly selected as winners, unfortunately, get disqualified during the subsequent consular process, often because they did not follow the US Government guidelines when they submitted their DV-Lottery applications. USAFIS created a service that helps a qualified individual to get past the crucial application phase of the Diversity Visa Lottery Program. Our user-friendly online application form makes it easy for USAFIS clients to enter the required details and upload their photo(s) for review by our experienced specialists. The USAFIS Photo Department will check each photo the client uploads to his/her online application to make sure it meets the strict DV-Lottery requirements. If a photo does not meet the DV-Lottery standards, USAFIS will contact the client, explain what needs to be done differently and request that they upload a new photo for review. USAFIS also updates its clients by email when there are changes to the requirements or procedures for the DV-Lottery, plus USAFIS sends reminders for clients to make sure their details and photos are up-to-date prior to submission. USAFIS will submit each client’s complete application to the DV-Lottery during the annual registration period (normally in October) and contact them promptly if they are selected as a DV-Lottery winner. USAFIS services can benefit anyone who wants to apply for the DV-Lottery, but especially those with large families (e.g., lots of details to enter and photos to upload) and people who do not know English well (USAFIS provides information and assistance in several languages).

USAFIS uses a 5-Step Green Card Lottery approach to help you through the process: Registration; Application; Photo; Submission; and Selection. For two decades, USAFIS has serviced millions of applications. Its services include:

  • An error-free application
  • Converting paper photos into the necessary digital format
  • High-level Customer Service
  • Representatives to help you in several languages
  • Timely submission of applications
  • Sending updates and immigrations tips
  • Clients selected by the DV Lottery are promptly notified by phone and email

Based upon the latest contact information given by the client who has won, USAFIS will inform him/her via phone, fax, mail, and email. Our letter or email will simply inform the client that he/she was selected in the Green Card Lottery and that they will go through several security checks, fill out several forms, and have a personal interview with a U.S. Consul. In addition, we recommend in the letter to obtain the services of a lawyer who is well versed in U.S. immigration matters and suggest a particular law firm which has years of experience and specializes in immigration and relocation law to handle their case.

No, USAFIS is not affiliated with the United States Government or the USCIS in any way! USAFIS is a private company that provides an application review service for the U.S. Green Card Lottery. USAFIS also submits the Green Card Lottery application on time on behalf of the client.

Besides giving your full name, address, phone number, email, date of birth, and gender, you will also need to provide the city and country you were born in, country of eligibility as well as education and martial status. If you are or were married and have children, the Green Card Lottery application requires you to provide all their biographical information even if they do not plan to move to the U.S. with you.

All unmarried children under the age of 21 must be included in the Green Card Lottery application. This includes adopted children, children of a spouse, and children from a previous marriage, even if they do not currently live with you nor intend on immigrating to the USA.

Yes – if both spouses meet the eligibility requirements.

Using your username and password you can login and watch the demo explaining how to upload your photo for the Green Card Lottery.

With a unique number along with a username and password, a client can always update their personal contact details via our website. When a person moves to another location, it is very important for him/her to let USAFIS know the new address and updated contact information, for when clients are selected in the Green Card Lottery, this is the only way we can inform them of winning.

Millions of people have used our service and trusted us with their personal information. All financial information is protected by the latest security standards in the industry. All personal information is encrypted in our system, preventing any access to your details. Once the payment is processed and we have serviced your Green Card Lottery application details, your credit card details are automatically deleted from our system in a safe and secure manner.

No. Also, USAFIS does not charge a client for Green Card Lottery submission. We only charge for our application review. You can apply for the Green Card Lottery for free on the US Government website.

USAFIS offers several alternative payment methods such as: Paypal, International Bank Transfer, WebMoney, Monenta.au, Safart, GiroPay, and CashU. We never just offer one payment method for our clients! In addition, we use 128-bit SSL encryption with MaxMind anti-fraud technology, verifying the authenticity of the credit card purchase.

There can be several reasons why a credit card was unsuccessful in processing the payment to USAFIS: (1) Insufficient funds; (2) Payment was processed using a local card; and (3) The credit card company itself refused to process the transaction for an unspecified reason.

Yes. After successfully processing our service fee, an automatic payment confirmation email is sent to you that will include a link to your invoice.

On our USAFIS Terms of Use webpage, in Section 5.2 (“Fees and Payments”), the USAFIS Refund Policy states: “Regardless of the Offered Products you choose to purchase, you have a right to a fourteen (14) day cooling-off period in accordance with applicable consumer law (‘Cooling off Period’). The Cooling off Period shall apply from the date you purchased the Offered Product. However, if you use the services in any way, by filling in the application, using our assessment services or any other services, you hereby agree that you forfeit the right to cancel during the Cooling off Period and are not entitled to receive a refund.”