The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2015 diversity lottery.  The diversity lottery was conducted under the terms of section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available *50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.  Approximately 125,514 applicants have been registered and notified and may now make an application for an immigrant visa. Since it is likely that some of the first *50,000 persons registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure should insure that all DV-2015 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2015 (October 1, 2014 until September 30, 2015).

Applicants registered for the DV-2015 program were selected at random from 9,388,986 qualified entries (14,397,781 with derivatives) received during the 30-day application period that ran from noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, October 1, 2013, until noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Saturday, November 2, 2013.  The visas have been apportioned among six geographic regions with a maximum of seven percent available to persons born in any single country.  During the visa interview, principal applicants must provide proof of a high school education or its equivalent, or show two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience within the past five years.  Those selected will need to act on their immigrant visa applications quickly.  Applicants should follow the instructions in their notification letter and must fully complete the information requested.

Registrants living legally in the United States who wish to apply for adjustment of their status must contact the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services for information on the requirements and procedures.  Once the total *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2015 will end.  Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2015 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2015 registration.  Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2015 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2015.

Dates for the DV-2016 program registration period will be widely publicized in the coming months.  Those interested in entering the DV-2016 program should check the Department of State’s Visa web page in the coming months. 

*The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) passed by Congress in November 1997 stipulated that up to 5,000 of the 55,000 annually-allocated diversity visas be made available for use under the NACARA program.  The reduction of the limit of available visas to 50,000 began with DV-2000.

The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign-state chargeability of those registered for the DV-2015 program:

AFRICA
ALGERIA	3,076	ETHIOPIA	4,988	NIGER	334
ANGOLA	173	GABON	81	RWANDA	690
BENIN	1,758	GAMBIA, THE	110	SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE	0
BOTSWANA	12	GHANA	3,381	SENEGAL	620
BURKINA FASO	390	GUINEA	2,314	SEYCHELLES	9
BURUNDI	188	GUINEA-BISSAU	7	SIERRA LEONE	2,182
CABO VERDE	20	KENYA	3,534	SOMALIA	275
CAMEROON	5,000	LESOTHO	3	SOUTH AFRICA	924
CENTRAL AFRICAN REP.	33	LIBERIA	5,000	SOUTH SUDAN	21
CHAD	99	LIBYA	263	SUDAN	3,484
COMOROS	6	MADAGASCAR	62	SWAZILAND	5
CONGO	243	MALAWI	27	TANZANIA	231
CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE	4,943	MALI	123	TOGO	1,824
COTE D’IVOIRE	1,487	MAURITANIA	29	TUNISIA	221
DJIBOUTI	77	MAURITIUS	55	UGANDA	642
EGYPT	4,988	MOROCCO	2,844	ZAMBIA	116
EQUATORIAL GUINEA	14	MOZAMBIQUE	11	ZIMBABWE	249
ERITREA	815	NAMIBIA	19

ASIA
AFGHANISTAN	305	JAPAN	636	QATAR	51
BAHRAIN	12	JORDAN	374	SAUDI ARABIA	517
BHUTAN	45	NORTH KOREA	0	SINGAPORE	47
BRUNEI	0	KUWAIT	241	SRI LANKA	1,303
BURMA	453	LAOS	1	SYRIA	598
CAMBODIA	2,079	LEBANON	408	TAIWAN	498
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMIN. REGION	160	MALAYSIA	129	THAILAND	81
INDONESIA	288	MALDIVES	2	TIMOR-LESTE	0
IRAN	4,992	MONGOLIA	186	UNITED ARAB EMIRATES	195
IRAQ	289	NEPAL	4,991	YEMEN	875
ISRAEL	231	OMAN	15

EUROPE
ALBANIA	2,946	GREECE	147	NORTHERN IRELAND	41
ANDORRA	2	HUNGARY	329	NORWAY	49
ARMENIA	2,049	ICELAND	42	POLAND	961
AUSTRIA	134	IRELAND	157	PORTUGAL	82
AZERBAIJAN	454	ITALY	779	- Macau	29
BELARUS	1,466	KAZAKHSTAN	772	ROMANIA	1,068
BELGIUM	107	KOSOVO	227	RUSSIA	4,103
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA	171	KYRGYZSTAN	403	SAN MARINO	0
BULGARIA	1,418	LATVIA	92	SERBIA	399
CROATIA	87	LIECHTENSTEIN	3	SLOVAKIA	110
CYPRUS	32	LITHUANIA	287	SLOVENIA	11
CZECH REPUBLIC	125	LUXEMBOURG	0	SPAIN	393
DENMARK	65	MACEDONIA	436	SWEDEN	217
ESTONIA	71	MALTA	16	SWITZERLAND	194
FINLAND	88	MOLDOVA	2,809	TAJIKISTAN	528
FRANCE	816	MONACO	1	TURKEY	3,688
- French Polynesia	11	MONTENEGRO	16	TURKMENISTAN	191
- Saint Martin	1	NETHERLANDS	151	UKRAINE	4,679
- St. Pierre & Miquelon	2	- Aruba	5	UZBEKISTAN	4,368
GEORGIA	804	- Curacao	13	VATICAN CITY	0
GERMANY	1,354	- Sint Maarten	1

NORTH AMERICA
BAHAMAS, THE	14

OCEANIA
AUSTRALIA	1,798	MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATUS OF	6	SAMOA	32
- Christmas Island	1	NAURU	19	SOLOMON ISLANDS	3
- Cocos Islands	1	NEW ZEALAND	589	TONGA	123
- Norfolk Island	12	-  Cook Islands	14	TUVALU	1
FIJI	857	- Nine	3	VANUATU	7
KIRIBATI	6	PALAU	6
MARSHALL ISLANDS	1	PAPUA NEW GUINEA	20

SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA	6	DOMINICA	5	SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS	7
ARGENTINA	109	GRENADA	8	SAINT LUCIA	18
BARBADOS	15	GUATEMALA	86	SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES	7
BELIZE	3	GUYANA	53	SURINAME	11
BOLIVIA	69	HONDURAS	165	TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO	193
CHILE	37	NICARAGUA	54	URUGUAY	20
COSTA RICA	72	PANAMA	19	VENEZUELA	1,556
CUBA	1,480	PARAGUAY	6

Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2015: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born, excluding Hong Kong S.A.R., Macau S.A.R., and Taiwan), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.