Eligibility Requirements (DV 2010 Program)
You must meet simple, but strict, requirements as detailed below:
- You 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.
Use the » U.S. Department of Labor’s O*Net OnLine database to determine whether your work experience meets this requirement.
- You must be a native of country whose natives qualify. Natives of the following "high admission" countries are not eligible to apply:
BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, PERU, POLAND, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM. Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible.
Exception:
If you was born in a "high admission" country (natives are ineligible) but your spouse was born in a country whose natives are eligible, you can claim your spouse’s country of birth.
or
If you was born in a "high admission" country (natives are ineligible), but neither of your parents was born there or resided there at the time of your birth, you may claim nativity in one of your parents’ country of birth if it is a country whose natives qualify for the DV program.
Basically and essentially:
"Native" ordinarily means someone born in a particular country, regardless of the individual's current country of residence or nationality.
The name of the country should be that which is currently in use for the place where the applicant was born.
Source: http://www.travel.state.gov/pdf/T1026V-DV-2010bulletin(3).pdf