How long does the green card lottery take?

In our first post about the green card lottery (more formally known as the diversity visa immigration program) we explained that the process takes around two years, so if you apply in 2019, you’ll only be eligible to move to the US in 2021.

Lauren and I thought it might be helpful to provide a clearer timeline of our experience. It went like this:

October 2017 – Completed the DV application process.
May 2018 – Logged into the DV website and found out Craig had been “randomly selected for further processing”.
June 2018 – Supplied the first batch of requested documents (birth certificate and proof of secondary education).
December 2018 – Applied for a police clearance certificate, which Craig submitted as soon as he’d received it in January 2019.
March 2019 – Received confirmation that the visa interview was scheduled for early April.
March 2019 – Scheduled medical examination for a few days ahead of April 2019 visa interview.
April 2019 – Underwent medical examination and chest X-rays at an accredited doctor and radiologist.
April 2019 – Attended interview at our local consulate and were told our applications had been successful.
July 2019 – Passports returned by US consulate with immigration visas affixed.
September 2019 – Flew to New York ahead of 1 October deadline to enter the US.

If you have any questions about the timeline please leave a comment below. And in the meantime, if you’re thinking about applying, do it sooner rather than later.