Author DVLottery.me 2019-08-16

Some DV Lottery instructions may confuse even the smartest people. Actually, there are only two main requirements for participation in the Green Card Lottery: your birth country and education/work experience. We already talked about country in one of the previous articles and now we want to focus in more detail on education/work experience.

There are two options, you must have either: (a) a high school education, or equivalent education to the American high school education with a 12 year long duration, or (b) not less than two years of work experience during the last 5 years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience.

Many participants think that it’s necessary to meet both requirements. It’s wrong! You need to qualify only for one of them, not both: if you have work experience, you don’t need to have an education.

Also there is another common misconception that all adult family members (derivatives) included into the lottery form also need to meet these requirements. Don’t worry! These requirements are only for main participants, those who submit a DV Lottery application.

Achieving a high quality immigration flow to the US is the main reason of this requirement. Because the immigrants are from all over the world, it’s necessary to establish some level in the USA terms that can be compared to other countries. It is important to know which education is the equivalent to the US high school education. The term “high school” is confusing because it may mean different things in different countries. This level actually means that you have graduated from a high school and is qualified to enter a university (college). We have collected information with U.S. high school diploma equivalents for different countries, so you can easily find and understand if your education meets the requirements.

Often there is a misunderstanding among those who have a bachelor's/master’s degree: do you need also a high school diploma? Here is no definite answer. Because in some countries it is possible to obtain a bachelor's/master’s degree without having finished 12 years of elementary and secondary education. Of course it is reasonable to assume that a bachelor's degree can compensate for an unfinished 12-year level, but US consular officers may be formal about seeing the high school level proof.

Vocational education does not qualify for the Green Card Lottery. If you left the school and studied in a vocational program such as plumbing or nursing, the time spent in that vocational training/education does not qualify for the educational requirements.

Hopefully this article helps you to understand more about educational requirements for participation in the lottery, and in the next article we will focus more on work requirements.