This Tuesday the deadline to apply for diversity visas in the United States expires

The deadline to register is Tuesday. Since last Wednesday, October 6, the United States Department of State has been receiving applications for the draw for legal permanent residence visas, or green card, a process also known as visa lottery.

Registration for the annual drawing expires Tuesday, November 9. Between 11 million and 14 million citizens of the countries that Washington includes, Ecuador is on the list, will be able to participate.

Ecuadorians will be able to apply to the diversity visa program that makes available up to 55,000 diversity visas among all eligible countries, chosen from a random selection among all the applications entered.

Those favored will receive their passport with the diversity visaas well as a sealed immigrant package that must be presented to Customs and Border Protection. Too immigrant fee must be paid so that the green card, the permanent resident card that It will allow you to live and work continuously in the United States.

What are the eligibility requirements?

• You must be a citizen of an eligible country. For you to participate, no more than 50,000 people must have emigrated from your country to the United States in the last five years. To find out if you are eligible, each year the State Department publishes a list of eligible and ineligible countries.
• You must meet the education and / or work experience requirement.
• Twelve full and satisfactory years of primary and secondary education, or their equivalent.
• At least two completed years of work experience within the last five years in an eligible occupation.

Where to fill out the application?

• You can complete the online application to participate (in English) by clicking on the link.
• The application has no cost and the entire process is given solely and exclusively through the website of the Department of State.
• Only one application per person is allowed.
• Keep your registration confirmation number in a safe place. You will need that number to track the status of your application online.

Protect yourself from visa lottery scams

• The Department of State will not send you a letter or email to notify you of the results. You have to verify your result online with the confirmation number that you receive when submitting your application. Avoid being scammed.
• Entry to the visa lottery is free.
• The application is not sold and cannot be downloaded because the process can only be done electronically.
• The US Government operates the visa lottery exclusively, without contracting with third parties.
• The US Government will never ask you for an advance payment to give you the visa. Be wary of scammers who ask you for money transfers, money orders, or checks to make a payment. (I)