The DV-2011 Green Card Lottery has now been open for 3 weeks approximately and millions of people from around the world have already applied at the Official Green Card Lottery site.

Many also have noted many issues with the site this year particular with checking and uploading their photo as per the specific green card lottery requirements. Please continue to try as it seems like a sporadic issue and many people have successfully applied.

Some of the questions we have been getting this year revolve around the;

– Spouse Condition: In the US for a foreign immigrant and for this application, a spouse is someone you are legally married too and must be man/woman relationship. The US does not recognize common law, defacto or gay marriage for foreigners so if you have someone like this they will need to apply for the lottery separately. If one of you win and you are in a heterosexual relationship, you will have to marry your spouse for them to be able to come to the US under your application.

– Documenting Children: All non US citizen children must be documented on the application as this can be grounds for disqualification. This is required even if you are not married or in a relationship with the other parent.

– Countries Allowed to Apply: We documented in your link at the top for the DV-2011 which countries’ citizens are not allowed to apply. The only exception to this if you are a citizen of these countries is if at the time of your birth one of your parents was not a legal permanent resident or citizen of this country and was a citizen of an eligible country

– Social Security: For this question it means, have you ever applied for a US Social Security number and not one in any other country

– Pending Permanent Residency & US Visa Applications: Anyone currently on a US visa or applying for one, or going through a current Permanent Residency Application (Green Card Application) including t applications for the K1 Visa for Fiancees of US Citizens and the K3 Marriage Visa for spouses of US citizens can freely apply for the Green Card Lottery without any affect negatively to their status, visa or application.

The Green Card Lottery ends at the end of November so while getting your application early doesn’t mean you increase your chances, it is one thing less to worry about in case something happens to the site or you just forget because of the hectic nature of your own life.

Please also beware of the many scams operating at this time. You do not need to pay anything to apply for the Green Card Lottery as it is completely free via the US State Department official website.

Good Luck,

CJ