Being selected is the start of the case, not the end of it
Selectees outnumber available visas. Cases that move slowly after the results are published can lose their place entirely, and the reason is almost always documents.
More people are selected than there are visas
The State Department deliberately draws more entrants than the roughly 55,000 visas available, because a proportion never follow through. Visa numbers are issued in case number order and stop when the annual allocation is exhausted, whether or not every selectee has been interviewed. Being drawn late in the order and moving slowly is how people lose a Green Card they had already won.
- 01
Entrant Status Check
Results are published on the official government site, normally the following May, and are only accessible with the confirmation number issued when the entry was submitted. There is no email announcing a win. Any message claiming you have been selected and asking for a payment is a scam.
- 02
The DS-260 application
Selection gives you a case number and a place in the queue, not a visa. The DS-260 immigrant visa application is filed for you and every family member. Filing it promptly matters, because case numbers become current in order and the annual visas run out.
- 03
Civil documents
Birth certificates, marriage and divorce records, police certificates from every country you have lived in for a qualifying period, military records and evidence of your education or work experience. Each has its own format, translation and validity requirements.
- 04
Medical examination
Completed with a panel physician approved by the embassy handling your case, for every applicant. Vaccination records are reviewed and gaps must be filled before the interview.
- 05
The consular interview
At a US embassy or consulate. The officer confirms your eligibility as claimed in the entry, verifies the relationships on the case, and tests admissibility. A discrepancy between the original entry and your documents is the most common reason a selected case fails here.
- 06
Entering the United States
An approved immigrant visa must be used within its validity period. Permanent residence is granted on admission, and the physical Green Card follows by post.
Everyone on the entry has to be accounted for
The interview compares your case against the entry you submitted months earlier. Anything that does not line up has to be explained.
- A spouse and unmarried children under 21 listed on the entry can be issued visas with you, provided the relationship existed at the time of entry.
- A child omitted from the original entry generally cannot be added later, which is why the entry itself is where this is decided.
- Children approaching 21 are protected in some circumstances by the Child Status Protection Act, but the calculation is specific and needs checking early.
- Where eligibility was claimed through a spouse’s country of birth, both of you must be issued visas and enter the United States together.
The Entry and Selection package covers everything on this page
Result checking, the DS-260, civil documents and interview preparation, handled from the day the draw is published.