Green Card Lottery Requirements

To be eligible to enter the Green Card Lottery, you must meet the following requirements.

Step I. Claim nativity in an eligible country, and
Step II. Meet either the education or training requirements.

Step I. Claim nativity in an eligible country

To enter the lottery, the applicant must be born in an eligible country. Citizens of almost every country in the world are eligible, except citizens of these countries listed below.

If you were born in an ineligible country, you may still qualify if:

Your spouse (legally married husband or wife) was born in an eligible country; or
Both parents were born in an eligible country. It doesn't have to be the same country.

If you qualify through your parent's or spouse's country of birth, you should enter your country of birth in the "Place of Birth" field, and your parent/spouse country of birth in the "Native Country" field.

If you were born in one of the following countries, you CANNOT participate in the 2008 Green Card Lottery:

BRAZIL
CANADA
CHINA (mainland) - Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan are eligible
COLOMBIA
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
EL SALVADOR
HAITI
INDIA
JAMAICA
MEXICO
PAKISTAN
PERU
PHILIPPINES
POLAND
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
SOUTH KOREA
UNITED KINGDOM (and its dependent territories) - Ireland and Northern Ireland are eligible
VIETNAM

Step II. Education and Training Requirements

To enter, an applicant must have EITHER a:

High School Education or its equivalent, defined in the U.S. as a 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.

If you meet the general education and training requirements, you can complete your application today!

If you do not meet the above requirements, you cannot participate in this year's Green Card Lottery Program.