Due to a technical issue, the DV-2019 entry period that began on October 3 has been closed. Entries submitted during October 3-10 are not valid and have been excluded from the system; they will not count as a duplicate entry. The technical issue has been resolved and a new full entry period will begin at noon, U.S. Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday October 18, 2017 and will run until noon Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday November 22, 2017. Only entries submitted during this period will be accepted and considered for selection in the lottery. Please throw away any confirmation number or other documentation that you have if you submitted an entry during Oct. 3-10.

 

 

Update: This announcement is now on the official site. https://dvlottery.state.gov/

 

 

 

 

I’m guessing we will see the same announcement on travel.state.gov over the weekend or on Monday. I would say Ecuador has posted this information slightly early, but I’m sure it will be accurate.

The announcement from Ecuador embassy has some interesting detail – so I am posting it in full here. There is also now a similar announcement from Jordan embassy – and other’s will announce tomorrow.

 

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Due to technical problems, the enrollment period for the DV-2019 program has been restarted and all registrations made before October 18, 2017 will need to be reworked to be considered. We apologize for the inconvenience. To ensure impartiality and to protect the integrity of the process for all involved, we must restart the registration process for this year (DV-2019).

The new enrollment period for the DV-2019 program is noon on Wednesday, October 18, 2017 and ends at noon on Wednesday, November 22, 2017.

If you registered before Wednesday, October 18, 2017 your registration will not be considered and you need to submit another one during the new registration period. You can submit a new record without being disqualified. Persons who submit more than one registration during this new term will be disqualified. 

Applicants may enter the electronic form (E-DV) on the official https://dvlottery.state.gov/ page during the new enrollment period. Instructions are available on this page of the State Departmenthttps://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/immigrate/diversity-visa/instructions.html

All other eligibility requirements remain the same.

Beginning May 15, 2018, participants in the DV-2019 program will be able to use the unique confirmation number provided to log on to https://dvlottery.state.gov/ and verify that their enrollment has been selected. On that page you will be informed how to apply for the Diversity Visa for them and the eligible members of your family. The Department will also confirm appointments for the visa interview through that same page.

Frequent questions:

Q: What can you tell us about technical problems? Were records lost? Was this an attempt at piracy?

The technical problem was a failure to select the country of eligibility if the applicant selected a country of eligibility different from the country of birth, which is allowed in certain limited circumstances. It was not the result of outside interference or an attempt at piracy.

Q: How many registrations were received before the technical problem?

Due to these technical problems we can not reliably calculate how many valid registrations have been received so far. To protect the integrity of the process and ensure a fair opportunity for all participants, we are restarting the enrollment period.

Q: How many enrollments for the program does the Department expect to receive by 2019?

In 2018, the last year we have statistics available, we received more than 14 million entries from top applicants.

Q: How will the Department notify applicants whose records are not valid?

The Department will send an automatic email notification to any participant whose enrollment was received by October 18, 2017, using the email provided on the visa lottery form, asking them to visit https://dvlottery.state .gov / and read an important notice.

We will also work with our Embassies and Consulates to inform potential participants about this situation and about the new enrollment period through social media and the local press.

Q: Will this delay the 2019 Diversity Visa process?

The selection for the DV-2019 is scheduled to begin on May 15, 2018.
At this time we do not expect delays in the process.