Green Card Lottery Starts October 2, 2009

Sept. 16, 2009 - PRLog -- The DV-2011 Diversity Visa program, more commonly known as the US Green Card Lottery, will start on October 2, 2009.The announcement was made today by The American Dream, a leading US immigration agency. This year also marks the 15th anniversary of the controversial lottery.

50,000 permanent visas are made available by this congressionally mandated program. Applicants must submit their entries online until November 30. While registration is open to potential immigrants worldwide, people from certain countries with high numbers of immigrants to the United States are excluded. Some education requirements also apply. An eligibilty check is available at http://www.dvlottery.com free of charge.

When the submission period starts in less than three weeks, millions of people will try their luck again. Holger Zimmermann, CEO of  The American Dream, noticed a rising interest in the lottery: "We have seen an increase of more than 50% in green card applications since the last presidential elections. Potential immigrants now have a more positive image of the United States than before."  Based on internal research, he expects a  total of at least 15 million participants this year, up from 13.6 million in 2008.