How to fill in the form on the green card: detailed instructions
'03.10.2018'
ForumDaily Woman
Online registration for the lottery Green Card 2020 October 3 will begin on 2018 of the year at 12: 00 EST. Reception forms will continue until 12: 00 6 November, November 2018, Eastern Time.
Registration takes place only on one site - www.dvlottery.state.gov. The registration process is free.
Apply better personally, not using the services of intermediaries. First, intermediaries charge $ 30-150 for something you can do with minimal knowledge of English. Secondly, the mediators in no way affect the choice of winners - they are really determined by the computer. Thirdly, the mediator may apply in the following years without your knowledge, and if you decide to do it yourself in the future, you can violate the rules of the lottery, because you can only apply once a year - and you will be disqualified. Fourthly, the intermediary may indicate his / her mailing address in the questionnaire, and in case of a prize, he may demand a tidy sum before giving you the necessary data.
ForumDaily offers detailed instructions for completing the questionnaire for those who decide to participate in the Diversification Lottery (DV).
How to fill out an application for a green card
On everything about everything is given 30 minutes. After you have completed everything, there will be another opportunity to go back and correct the errors. You need to fill in Latin letters.
The questionnaire consists of several parts. The first part concerns personal data. Answer will have to 14 questions. If you have indicated the spouse or children, the second part of the application will open, which will also need to be filled out.
1. Name
Last / Family Name - surname. First Name - name. Middle Name - see below.
The name and surname must be indicated in the variant of writing from the international passport (hereinafter the information is taken from this site).
If you have several international passports (for example, different citizenships) valid on the date of registration of the electronic application, you can choose to write from any of them. If in one of them or in several spellings coincides with the birth certificate - use it, and not others.
If you do not have a valid passport, but there is one or more expired, use the spelling of any of them. If in one of them or in several spellings coincides with the birth certificate - use it, and not others.
If you do not have any passports, neither valid nor expired, use the spelling on the birth certificate, or marriage, if they are in Latin.
As for the Middle Name field - many people mistakenly think that you need to enter your middle name in this field. In fact, Middle Name and middle name are different concepts. In the West, many have a second (middle) name, but this is not common with us. However, now the rules have changed a bit, and now you need to be guided by the following: the patronymic should match the spelling in the passport on the first page, if you have it at the time of application.
- If there is a middle name in Latin in your passport, write it.
- If there is no middle name in Latin in your passport, but it is in Cyrillic, then DO NOT write it.
- If there is no middle name in your passport, then DO NOT write it.
- If there is no passport at all, DO NOT write it, or you can act by analogy - if your close relatives have a passport with a patronymic in Latin, then proceed from the fact that it would also be (would be) in your passport. The correct writing is reasonable to take from the instructions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of your country.
If you do not specify the middle name, check the No Middle Name box.
2. Date of birth
Day - choose the number of your birth from the drop-down list. Month - month. Year - year of birth.
January - January.
February - February.
March - March.
April - April.
May - May.
June - June.
July - July.
August - August.
September - September.
October - October.
November - November.
December - December.
3. Floor
Male - male. female - female.
4. The city where you were born
Write the current name of the settlement, which is listed in the birth certificate. That is, if Leningrad is written on the birth certificate, then Saint Petersburg should be written in the application form. It is recommended to write in the dash old and new name. For example, Leningrad - Saint Petersburg.
It is necessary to specify ONLY the name of the city or village (village). Region, district, etc. do not need to be specified. Look for the official sources of the current name of the settlement. The name must be written in Latin letters.
The source of the current name of the settlement can be a Google search for a keyword on the US Department of State website - this department holds a lottery. To do this, add the word: site: state.gov. Such a search can help determine the choice of writing. Consider the example of the city of Kharkov. What to write: Kharkiv or Kharkov? The search gave the following results:
Kharkiv is found in the state.gov domain 965 times, and Kharkov Kharkov 60 times. Accordingly, both spellings are quite acceptable. But Kharkiv is much preferable (hereinafter the information is taken from this site).
If the search in the state.gov domain didn’t return, you can search all US government sites. To do this, after the keyword you need to write site: gov.
Search in the state.gov and .gov domains can be attributed to the official source of information. If this search also did not return results, you can use Wikipedia.org or maps.google.com - these are not official, but commonly used sources.
If your place of birth is unknown and is not indicated in the birth certificate, then tick the box next to Birth City Unknown.
5. Your country of birth
From the list, you must select your country of birth. If you were born in the USSR, the current name of the country is indicated. For example Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.
6. Country eligible to participate in the DV program
If you were born in a country that can participate in the lottery, then you do not change anything at this point and proceed to the next item. The list of countries allowed to participate is in instructions.
If the country of your birth is not allowed to participate in the lottery, then two options are possible. Here is what is written about this in Russian version of instructions to lottery DV-2015:
“Firstly, if your spouse was born in a country whose residents have the right to participate in the lottery, you can classify yourself as the country of birth of your spouse. Since in this case the right of the main applicant to participate in the lottery is determined by the country of birth of the spouse, the DV-1 visa will be issued to the main applicant only if the spouse also has the right to participate in the lottery and he / she can be granted a visa DV-2. In this case, both spouses must together enter the United States on DV visas. Similarly, a child can be counted among the parent's country of birth.
Secondly, you can classify yourself as the country of birth of any of the parents, despite the fact that not one of the parents was born or was not a permanent resident of the country of your birth. Usually, people who are not born on its territory and not having / had its citizenship are not considered residents of the country if they temporarily visited this country or were sent to this country for business or professional reasons on behalf of their company or government ”
In this case, put a checkmark near No, and select the appropriate country from the list.
7. Member photo
Click on the button "Select file" and specify the path to your photo. Photo to participate in the DV visa lottery must comply with simple but strict rules:
• The person being photographed must look directly into the camera;
• The head of a person should not be raised up, tilted down or to the side;
• The height of the head should be from 50% to 69% relative to the total height of the frame;
• Neutral background in light color (white, for example). Dark or patterned backgrounds are unacceptable;
• The photo must be in focus;
• The person being photographed should not be wearing glasses or have other accessories on her that cover her face;
• Photos of people with a covered head or in headdresses are acceptable only when it is due to their religious beliefs, provided that no part of the person is hidden;
• There should be no shadows.
Technical specifications:
• The image must be in JPEG format;
• The maximum image size 240 kilobytes (240 KB);
• Image resolution: 600 pixels in length, 600 pixels in width (600x600px);
• Color depth: 24 bits.
Technical parameters for scanned photo:
• The image must be in JPEG format;
• The maximum image size 240 kilobytes (240 KB);
• Image resolution: 600 pixels in length, 600 pixels in width (600x600px);
• Color depth: 24 bit;
• Photo resolution: 300 dpi (can be set during scanning).
8. Mailing address
This can be your address, your friends, relatives or just acquaintances. You can also specify the address of your mailbox. The address can be specified for any country (hereinafter the information is taken from this site).
You need to fill in the address in Latin letters, and remember that the address must be clear to the local postman who delivers you the letter. Agree that not every postman knows English.
In care of - here is written the name of the person to whom the mailing address is registered (meaning in cases where the discrepancy between the name and the address leads to non-delivery of correspondence, as well as specifying the address of the mailbox). If this is your own address, the field can be left blank - in any case, your name will be taken from the 1 item of the e-application form.
Address Line 1 - strings to indicate the street, house number, building number, apartment number, mailbox number, etc. The postal code, city, country do not need to be specified. For this there are corresponding fields. The second line (Address Line 2) is used if the length of the first line is not enough, as there is a limit on the maximum number of characters per line.
City / Town - the name of the settlement.
District / County / Province / State - name of the republic / territory / region / district or district. If we are talking about Moscow or St. Petersburg, which are independent subjects of the Russian Federation and are not part of other subjects of the Federation, the name of these cities should be duplicated in this field (you cannot leave the empty field). Similarly for cities under federal jurisdiction in other countries.
Postal Code / Zip Code - postcode. If the index is not in principle, then tick the box next to the No Postal Code / Zip Code.
Country - select a country from the list.
9. The country where you live today
From the list, you must select the state where you live at the time you fill out the application form. Do not confuse with citizenship and place of birth.
10. Phone number
Enter your phone number in international format. This field is optional but recommended. You can write both a home number and a mobile number, as long as it is working, and you have access to it. It may be better to indicate your mobile number, since it is always with you.
An example of writing a mobile phone number in Moscow, if you dial it from the USA: 011-7-915-XXX-XX-XX
11. E-mail address
Write your E-mail in the first line, duplicate it in the second. Be careful.
12. Level of education
The level of education in the application is indicated in fact at the time of filling in the application. It does not matter that you, for example, in a month, plan to get a certificate or diploma. But in order to make a decision on the applicant's compliance with the lottery requirements, the level of education that the applicant will have at the time of sending the immigration forms (if he wins) will be taken into account.
Due to the fact that the educational systems in the United States, in the USSR and in the post-Soviet space are very different, there is no definitive table of the correspondence of our diplomas and certificates to the levels of education that can be found in this paragraph of the questionnaire. But you can roughly focus on the following comparison (with reference to the Russian Federation, but certainly suitable for other countries of the former USSR):
Primary school only - only primary school;
High School, no degree - high school, without a certificate;
High School degree - high school c certificate;
Vocational School - vocational school;
Some University Courses - incomplete higher education (it is possible and technical school);
University Degree - higher education;
Some Graduate Level Courses - some courses at the master's level;
Master's Degree - Master's Degree;
Some Doctorate Level Courses - incomplete postgraduate / doctoral studies;
Doctorate Degree - doctorate.
Primary school only - learned in school (or another secondary school) for more than 4 years, but did not receive a complete secondary education in school (11 classes). This, in particular, includes the case when an application is submitted by a person, at the time of applying for students in the last grade or in the last year of an educational institution that provides full secondary education.
High School, no degree - completed their education until the end of secondary school (graduated from 11 classes) or fully studied in another educational institution, which provides secondary education, but for some reason did not receive a certificate (diploma) of complete secondary education.
High school degree - have graduated only 11 classes and have a "Certificate of Secondary Education."
Vocational school - graduated from a vocational college or college where, in addition to the profession, they also received a complete secondary education.
Some university courses - studied or study in the university (and passed the final exam there at least one course of study), but did not complete it. Sometimes a diploma of a technical school obtained after 14 (11 school + 3 in technical school) years of study may be included here.
University degree - received a bachelor's degree or an engineer / specialist (after 4-5 years of study at a university).
Some Graduate Level Courses - Have a bachelor's degree and continue to study in the magistracy (passed the final exam for at least one graduate course).
Master’s Degree - Master's degree or an engineer / specialist diploma (5 and more than years of high-grade university education).
Some Doctorate Level Courses - training in graduate school (passed candidate at least one subject).
Doctorate Degree - PhD or doctoral degree.
Particular attention should be paid to education, received externally, in absentia or remotely. If you can confirm the presence of a full-fledged secondary education (no matter - full or general, special, vocational), obtained in the traditional full-time (day or evening) manner, and above that you have a higher education received remotely, in absentia or external, then the validity of such a higher education Education to indicate in the application raises questions. There are two opinions:
1. The requirement for full form of education is imposed only on the minimum required - secondary education, and for all levels of education above the secondary level, the form of education does not matter.
2. The requirement for full form of education applies to all levels of education.
Which position to follow is up to you. Hot disputes have been going on for several years and an unambiguous position has not been worked out. If you win in immigration forms you will need to specify all diplomas, regardless of the form of study.
13. Family status
Marital status is indicated at the time of filling in the application for a legally fixed state of affairs.
Unmarried - never been married / never married.
Married - married / married. Even if you have not lived with your wife / husband for a long time, but your marriage is still officially registered - you must indicate the status of “Married” and provide all the details of your spouse in the application form. If you are in the process of a divorce, but your divorce has not yet been recorded in the registry office - you must still indicate this status.
divorced - divorced / divorced.
widowed - widow / widower.
Legally separated - in Russia / Ukraine / Belarus and in most other CIS countries there is no legally enshrined status of Legally Separated. His indication in the application will lead to disqualification of the application for an interview (there is a precedent).
If you are cohabiting, but your marriage is not registered (that which is mistakenly called “civil marriage”), you can NOT indicate Married status in relation to your / your cohabitant / roommate.
14. Amount of children
You must list all your unmarried children under the age of 21, regardless of their place of residence and intention to immigrate to the United States. The only exceptions are children - citizens or permanent residents of the United States. Just write the number of children. If there are no children, leave this field blank.
If your spouse has own children (up to 21 year) from a previous marriage, you must also indicate them in your application form. But it is not necessary to indicate the adopted children of the spouse. They are indicated only by the applicant in his profile.
Now check that you have filled out everything correctly and click on the button. Continue (Continue).
If you specified a spouse or children, the second part (Part 2) of the application will open. In the second part, you enter data for them. Everyone will need their own photo. The principle of filling is the same as for the main applicant, this should not cause difficulties.
By the way, if your spouse also wants to participate in the lottery, then she / he can fill out his application separately. That is, the 2 application is filled in - the husband is his (in which he indicates the wife and her details), and the wife fills in his own (in which he indicates the husband and his details). Thus, the chances of winning increase.
When everything is ready, click on Continue. This will open a page where you can last check all the data you entered and correct them in case of an error. This is what this page looks like:
Total
After you have sent the questionnaire, the computer selects randomly from all the questionnaires of the winners, taking into account the limit set for each region. About 100 thousands of winners are selected annually, each of whom is interviewed and has the opportunity to get a residence permit for themselves and family members. Each year, therefore, 50 thousand green card is issued.
If you are lucky and you have won, as part of the necessary formalities, you will need to pass medical check and interview - read in the article how not to spoil everything.
Upon arrival in the US, everyone needs to make a few basic documents: arrange bank cards, social security number and US ID.
