Diversity Lottery (DV-2012) Status Check Website Now Open

The Department of State has enabled the Status Check website which allows participants in the “green card lottery” to check whether their entry has been selected.   At the same time, we wish to note that the Department of State does not notify winners by email so any email notifying of a winning green card lottery entry and asking for payments is likely fraudulent.

DV-2012 Lottery Glitches

Many of our readers are aware of the glitches and the controversy surrounding this year’s DV lottery.   In May, the Department of State issued a statement that they are voiding all DV-2012 lottery results due to a computer glitch which caused the winning entries to be picked in a non-random fashion.   By the time the results were voided, many who thought they were “winners” were sorely disappointed by the outcome.  A lawsuit challenging the Department of State was filed seeking to have the initial results certified as valid.

The Department of State pressed ahead with their plans to redo the DV-2012 lottery in mid-July.   After the lawsuit was dismissed earlier this month, and after the Department of State ran the lottery again (presumably correctly and randomly this time), the results are now available.

Conclusion

We wish to congratulate those who have been selected for the DV lottery this year.   At the same time, we wish to remind these winners that they should follow the application instructions very closely and promptly because the number of winning entries is higher than the actual number of green cards available; as a result, not all winners actually receive a green card.   Timing and following the proper procedures becomes important.

Our office stands ready to assist in the preparation of the documents, either with the National Visa Center or with US Citizenship and Immigration Service for those green card lottery winners.   If you wish to discuss how we can help, please contact us.