5 common mistakes made by Green Card Lottery participants
Winning the DV Lottery is a matter of chance. But some nuances also depend on the participants themselves. To get among those 50 thousand lucky ones, you need to be very careful when applying for the lottery, and more importantly after winning it. Most mistakes, made through lack of information or inattention, can lead to disqualification of your application form.
1. Errors in name, surname or date of birth
These errors do not directly affect who wins the lottery: at the first stage it is impossible to check whether you entered the data correctly. But if you win the lottery, then inaccuracies in the form may lead to visa denial.
If there are few mistakes and they are insignificant (letters and numbers are mixed up 1-2 times, for example), the consul can refer to them without claims. But if the error is rough (for example, given a completely different date of birth), the consequences may be more serious.
2. Filling in the form more than once
Each participant can submit only one form during one lottery. In case of a duplicate application it will be disqualified 100%. If there was any typo, you do not need to submit a second time. In case of winning just try to explain the cause of the mistake in the interview.
3. Filling out a form on a third-party website
Pretty common error. You need to fill in the form only on the official site of the lottery https://dvprogram.state.gov. This procedure is absolutely free. Any site where you need to pay any money for a registration in the Lottery is fraud. Some agencies may also be fraudsters. They can charge a fee for completing the form, and then require a decent amount of money from you to give you the confirmation number for the Lottery. Everyone is able to fill in the application form, and there is no need to overpay for it.
However some agencies may do consulting services to help you to fill in the form. That is, they will help you to fill in the form correctly, but you still should do it on your own.
4. Not all family members are listed
If you did not provide all of the family members on the form, or if you added extra family members, you will be denied a visa at the interview.
For example, at the time of filing, you are in the process of a divorce, but you are officially still married and do not have your divorce papers on hand. If your "marital status" is set as "divorced" on the application form, this is a gross mistake. And such applications will be disqualified in 99% of cases.
Or. You live in a marriage, you have one child in common, and the child of your spouse from the previous marriage lives separately from you. Thus, in the sum you get two children. If you specify only one child when filling out the form, it will be a mistake.
5. Inappropriate photos
Photos for the DV Lottery are subject to rather strict conditions. It would be pretty bad to be disqualified because of such a minor problem.
To get a proper DV Lottery photo you need a photo matching the requirements of the U.S. Department of State. Various parameters are taken into account: sharpness, brightness of the photo, head position and its percentage ratio with the photo, facial expression, background contrast and many others. Therefore, you should carefully read the requirements.