2007 DV Lottery announced

The registration period for the lottery will begin on October 5 and end on December 4.

Bangladesh is among 358 countries eligible to apply for the DV, according to the announcement.

However, natives of a number of countries including China (mainland-born), India, Pakistan, South Korea, The Philippines, and Vietnam are not eligible to apply for DV 2007.

The DV offers permanent residency visas to citizens of nations that have a traditionally low level of immigration to the United States.

The department said it plans to issue 50,000 permanent residency visas under the DV 2007 programme, which is designed to bring greater racial and ethnic diversity to the United States.

Persons seeking to enter the lottery programme must register online through the designated website -- www.dvlottery.state.gov -- during the registration period.

Details about the registration for DV 2007 are also available at www.bdnews24.com.

The registration period begins at 12:00 pm EST (GMT-5) on October 5, 2005 and ends at 12:00 pm EST (GMT-5) on December 4, 2005.

Registration is free of charge. The US government does not employ any outside consultants or private services to operate the DV programme.

The State Department will notify winning entrants by mail.

In response to demand, the State Department tripled the number of servers hosting the registration website this year.

The 2007 DV Lottery marks the third year that electronic registration is required. Paper entries and mail-in requests for DV Lottery registration are not accepted.

An applicant must have either a high school education or its equivalent, defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education; or two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform.

All entries by an applicant will be disqualified if more than one entry for the applicant is received, regardless of who submitted the entry. Applicants may prepare and submit their own entries, or have someone submit the entry for them.

Recent digital photographs of the applicant and his/her spouse and each child under 21 years of age must be submitted electronically with the Electronic Diversity Visa (EDV) Entry Form. Group or family photos will not be accepted; there must be a separate photo for each family member.