<p>Hi all. i applied to dv lottery few months back. Now i wish to go to states to study. will they deny me visa becuz i had "intention" to stay as i applied to dv. Do they even know? If they ask me why i had applied what should i answer. </p>
<p>Any help from former dv applicant and general is highly appreciated.</p>
<p>no don't worry about it. They probably don't know you applied for it.</p>
<p>Source: Someone who has seen ten thousand international students asking the same question.</p>
<p>Hey. I participated in the DV lottery the year before I left for college (I even won it!) and later successfully applied for a student visa. I talked this through with an immigration lawyer and no, the consulate in your country (which will issue your visa) will not know of your participation in the lottery unless you win it and are in the final stages of the GC application process (when you are scheduled for an interview at the consulate in your home country).</p>
<p>If you win it will you still need a visa?</p>
<p>Yes, because the Green Card application process takes at least a year.</p>
<p>I participated in the DV-2008 lottery in October 2006. I was notified that I had won in May 2007 and was asked to fill out another stack of forms. It took me about a month to gather all the information and send the forms back to Kentucky. In the meantime I applied for an F-1 visa in June so that I could start college in August 2007. In January 2008 I got a letter saying that I would have my GC interview in March 2008, and in the meantime I would have to get another bunch of documents (a copy of my police records, a medical exam, a birth certificate etc). After the interview I had to wait another week to get my visa.</p>
<p>Overall the Green Card application process took about one-and-a-half years for me. If I had not applied for a student visa and instead waited for the GC, I would have had to take a gap year. </p>
<p>Btw, when I applied for a student visa I did not mention that I had won the GC lottery. They just asked me if I had ever applied for an immigrant visa and I said 'no' - at that point in time I had not yet returned the forms to Kentucky, and merely participating in the lottery does not count as a petition for immigration (according to an immigration lawyer). I did not even have to lie :D</p>
<p>how about applying for it when you're in college?</p>
<p>I am not sure I understand your question: Are you asking if you can participate in the DV lottery while in college? Certainly! (Provided you are eligible by your country of birth)</p>
<p>Are Indians eligible? :)</p>
<p>b@r!um, that was what i was asking..</p>
<p>So applying for the DV in college won't 'show' that we want to stay in the US forever.. resulting in us losing the f1 visa?</p>
<p>according to the map at Wikipedia, i think Indians are ineligible</p>
<p>b@r!um, let's say if someone starts to apply in nov 2008, and he/she wins it, when is he/she a US PR?</p>
<p>The data that you have participated in the DV lottery is not saved unless you win it. If you win, you would not lose your F-1 status. You <em>might</em> have trouble applying for a new visa though once your Green Card application is in process. (Note: you do NOT need to apply for a new F-1 visa to go to grad school straight out of college; you only need a new DS-2019 issued by the grad school)</p>
<p>^thanks.. so when are you getting the dv?</p>
<p>indians aren't eligible because of the large indian migrant population in the US</p>
<p>Sorry, I did not read the last edit: If you participate in Nov 2008 and win, you would become a PR sometime between October 2009 and October 2010. </p>
<p>And another mistake of mine: you would need a new I-20 to go to grad school, not a DS-2019. </p>
<p>A word of warning: the lottery might be discontinued in the near future. Since 2005 the House of Representatives has made several attempts to abolish or cut funding from the lottery and it might just be a matter of time until the Senate agrees.</p>
<p>^Thanks. So let's going to grad school will require a new I-20.. would going for a DV harm the new I-20 then, when there's no record if it?</p>
<p>The DV would not even harm the I-20 if there were a record of it :)</p>
<p>oh k.. so you mean anyone who's studying in the US should go for the DV if there're eligible?</p>
<p>Yep, there's no harm in doing it! The international student office at my college explicitly recommends it to all students.</p>
<p>But you should be aware that the actual PR application procedure is quite costly (I had to pay around $2000 in fees etc), and if you pursue the PR application but don't get the visa for some reason you might be ineligible for other non-immigrant visas in the future (because you explicitly expressed an intention to immigrate by pursuing the application). There are several reasons why you might not get it: e.g. 100,000 people win the lottery but at most 50,000 get a PR visa (if you happen to get a late interview appointment all visas might be gone by the time you interview), medical reasons, a criminal history etc.</p>
<p>To summarize it: participating in the DV lottery does not involve any risks, but pursuing the PR application once you win the lottery does. However, in my opinion the potential benefits far outweigh the risks.</p>
<p>wow, this is a god-send thread. thank you. </p>
<p>im planning to head to the US for college in 2-3 years or so. i MAY want to apply for the DV lottery then, so this is good information. thank you!</p>