Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The online registration of US Diversity Visa (DV) 2012 lottery starts at 10:00pm on Tuesday and will continue until November 3 this year.
A maximum of 6,000 Bangladeshis, on winning the lottery, can get the chance to become permanent US residents, said US Embassy officials in Dhaka at a press conference in Dhaka.
The officials also requested the applicants to register online on their own and not through any agent, who might manipulate their information and extort them, as there have been instances of similar incidents in the past.
The DV program makes 50,000 permanent resident visas available each year to nationals of countries with historically low rates of immigration to the US. Until 2009, nearly 39,000 Bangladeshis went to the US under the program.
To be eligible for the DV lottery, entrants have to pass Higher Secondary Certificate examinations, which is equivalent to high school level education in the US.
A minimum of two-year technical board certificate or a first-year pass from a nationally accredited university will also meet the educational requirement, said Sandra Ingram, chief of the embassy's consular section.
To register online for the lottery, each entrant has to provide accurate biographic information, Sandra said, adding that mistakes in it may cause disqualification of an entrant.
Detailed instructions for DV 2012 are available in English at www.dvlottery.state.gov and in both English and Bangla at www.dhaka.usembassy.gov, she told reporters.
BBN/SSR/AD-04Oct10-12:38 am (BST)