I hear people asking – why is BritSimon telling us a way to get disqualified??
Well every year I get to hear similar stories about what people have done on their DV entry and how can I help fix it for them. It normally goes like this…
“My friends told me to apply as single even though I am married…”
“I was annoyed with my husband and we planned to divorce so I left him off the entry…”
“My child is away in another country so I left him off the form, how can I add my child…”
“I split up from my husband years ago, and although we never got divorced, I did not put him on my entry…”
In every case like that my answer will be the same. There is nothing you can do, you will be disqualified. Every time. Got that? Every time.
So – if you want an easy way to be certain to get disqualified – this is the most obvious and certain thing you can do. Leave a legal spouse or child off your eDV entry. Simple.
Am I making my point?
Now if you are about to enter the DV lottery and want to avoid the heartache, expense, and hassle of being disqualified, this is the single most important bit of advice I can give you.
INCLUDE your spouse, along with any child, adopted child or step child under 21 years old (who is not already a US citizen) on the entry.
It does not matter whether you intend to apply for a Green Card for them as your derivative. It does not matter if you are planning to get a divorce. It does not matter if you do not have custody of your child. IF you have any derivative family that would be an eligible derivative, they MUST be on your entry form.
Now, how about some answers to specific scenarios.
You are separated from your spouse, but do not have legal separation papers. You must include him/her on your entry. Don’t have a photo? Use an old photo or take a photo of a neighbor. If that spouse is not going to apply for a DV Green Card with you, the photo won’t matter. However, leaving him/her off your entry will get you disqualified.
Plan to take the kids at some later date? Put them on the entry. If you win, you don’t have to process their case, but again, leaving a child off your entry will get you disqualified.
Getting the picture?
Ok so the other question I get asked is how will they know. Surely someone could pass the interview and wait until later then bring the spouse/children later – perhaps after the winner is a US citizen. Well let us assume that because of bad record keeping in your country the US embassy does not find out you have a spouse or kids that you didn’t declare. Let’s say you have been living in the USA for over 5 years and now have citizenship. So – you apply to sponsor your children. You will be deported. Your citizenship will be taken away. Because you obtained the Green Card by fraudulent omission, your citizenship will be revoked. So – if you proceed with this and think you can sort things out later, you NEVER will be able to admit the existence of the spouse/child that you left off your eDV entry. Their existence proves your fraud.
So – good luck with your entry. Please don’t make this simple mistake. If you do, I cannot help you.
Easiest way to get disqualified from DV lottery
June 29, 2023 at 15:51
Hi simon, I am asking regarding my situation here, last year’s entry i indicated my material status as married and included my spouse information (actually I didn’t read the instructions and thought they consider the common low as marriage – I am living with my partner since 2018) – however this year I was selected and we did get married previous to the eDV entry , I also listed everything accordingly but I made a mistake in last year’s entry so do they compare dates and refuse me or they judge me only on this initial entry specially that in ds260 we indicated that we had the same address since 2018 (which is true) (PS: we also have a common law declaration confirming our relationship but not legal in our country)
June 29, 2023 at 16:59
They have the information from the earlier entry, but if asked you can tell them the truth and it should not be a problem.
June 8, 2021 at 18:01
Good evening Mr Simon I wish to know if someone had lied in a Former interview and on a student DS 160, about works experience and level of education, and now their circumstances have change and they fill in genuine information on their DS 260 form would the old information be brought up and would It affect their current dv visa application
June 10, 2021 at 14:54
Yes that could cause problems.
I edited your name.
November 1, 2020 at 20:00
Hi Simon, I got a question for you and hopefully you can help me! I just applied for the 2022 DV lottery and I’m sure all the infos I entered are correct, only doubt is: in the section where it asked about having children or not, I put the number 0, (as I’m not married and have no kids), but I just read in an article that if you dont have kids you have to leave the space blank, so my question is, will I get disqualified for writing “0” instead of leaving the field blank?
November 2, 2020 at 05:03
No
October 27, 2020 at 10:24
I forgot to use the photo cropping tool and submitted my application with a wrong size photo.
I will be disqualified, right ?
October 27, 2020 at 20:42
Possibly.
October 16, 2020 at 17:50
Hello Simon! I accidently enterd the city I live as a city of birh instead of a real city of birth. However this city is in the same country as my real city of birth.
Do I have a chance to be disqualified for this reason if I get randomly selected?
Thanks a lot!
October 16, 2020 at 22:09
It’s not a problem.
October 14, 2020 at 19:32
Hello! I have entered the ID(personal number) instead of the passport number on the entry. Can this disqualify me (even from the random selection from the system)?
October 14, 2020 at 23:42
The random selection would still go ahead, but you are subject to disqualification if selected.
October 3, 2020 at 10:42
Hi BritSimon.
1. I was in a relationship, no any documents to show we were married. He left me many years ago and I have a child. Will I indicate married and yet I have no legal document?
October 5, 2020 at 16:49
Were you married or not?? If you had no legal marriage you don’t include him.
September 28, 2020 at 09:56
Please Brit, I want to apply for DV 2020/2021 am not married and no child. And am an electrician can I apply with this information.
September 28, 2020 at 18:48
https://britsimonsays.com/education-or-work-experience-qualifying-for-the-dv-lottery/
August 26, 2020 at 08:38
Good day Brit,
I’m a winner of Dv2021 AF76xxx.
I have 2 sons, I have already submit the DS260 for all of us. But the passport of my last son of 2years went with a mistake, they put one of his firstname as surname and the rest is correct.
I fill his form with his name as per passport as requested but in my own form the name is as per birth certificate (in passport they put 3 surnames and 2 firstnames iso 2 names and 3 firstnames in the birth certificate).
Should I request the unlock of his DS260 apply for a new passport and correct it once received the passport?
The other problem is that in my country, it can take sometimes up to a year to receive a passport.
I’m affraid this could lead to disqualification.
Would you please advise.
Thank you very much for your assistance.
Kind regards.
August 26, 2020 at 19:51
It won’t lead to disqualification – so get the passport corrected. Update the DS260 once corrected.
August 27, 2020 at 09:20
Thank you
June 10, 2020 at 05:57
Good day Mr Simon. Is there any possibility of getting DV visa if you are selected but you are from Eritrea which is one of the travel banned countries by Trump administration?
Thanks.
June 10, 2020 at 22:39
If Trump loses the election in November, it is likely the bans will be removed in January. Until then, the ban is in effect.
June 8, 2020 at 16:23
hello sir my wife won the DV lottery 2021, at the time of application our baby was still 5 months old and her citizenship in Ukraine was not confirmed yet. we have both university student based in ukraine So we could not add her in the application. Will it affect our chance of processing our visa, ? We we need to add her to the application or take her out???
June 8, 2020 at 20:08
Dude – you have posted this question over 10 times and you even emailed me directly!
I answered already.
Sometimes when you post a question it won’t show up on the site until I approve it. Just ask once and show some patience!
June 8, 2020 at 14:51
Hello Sir BritSimon,
I have applied for 5 times, but I continue to see – entry has not been selected- So please help me how to do in order to increase our chances. I have not been selected for DVLOTTRY2021. I’d like to ask you again is there second draw for 2021?
June 8, 2020 at 17:53
It’s a random lottery and chances of selection are low. Just keep trying.
June 8, 2020 at 05:30
Hello Sir,
I want to find out that if during the application for the lottery I hadn’t given birth but now a I have a child, what must I do?
June 8, 2020 at 22:28
https://britsimonsays.com/how-to-add-a-newborn-child-to-the-dv-case/
January 20, 2020 at 08:59
hey!!!!! what criteria may be used in the 2019 dv lottery selection ?????
January 20, 2020 at 23:04
Selection is Random.
January 19, 2020 at 14:22
Hi BritSimon.
I haven’t been able to find this answered already. I am separated from my husband, and should be divorced by the time I (hopefully) have an interview. I am on an E3 and he has an E3D. My number came up for Feb 2020 and I’m starting the process now. But what happens to his visa once I apply for “adjustment of status”?
(And why do I care? Also a good question! But he is still in the country, so I guess he should know)
It’s hard to find any info about this.
Thanks!
January 19, 2020 at 18:41
If you change your status then he may lose his status. I’m not 100% sure.
January 20, 2020 at 02:28
Thank you 🙂
December 1, 2019 at 14:03
Does a previous denial in say dv2019 cause permanent denial from subsequent lotteries say dv2021
December 1, 2019 at 14:04
The denial was on accusation of entering more than once.
December 1, 2019 at 17:10
Possibly.
November 6, 2019 at 21:54
I mistakenly used the same picture from last year’s dv lottery? A big problem?
November 7, 2019 at 01:59
Possibly.
November 6, 2019 at 08:51
Hi Simon,
I applied for DV 2021 and in the part of passport information I mistake the country where the passport issued. Will this be a problem?
Thanks
November 6, 2019 at 13:44
Not normally
November 4, 2019 at 05:52
Hi Simon,
I made the EDV entry and at the same time, my brother also did it as a surprise for me, he said. 🙁 I know that multiple entries will disqualify the entry, is there any chance I can rectify this?
November 4, 2019 at 15:01
No
October 25, 2019 at 19:38
Hi Simon
I filled in the dvlottery form recently assuming that all photo requirements were met only finding out today that my photo was not centred properly
Do you think I could be disqualified in the lottery because of that
October 26, 2019 at 02:35
Only if it was VERY inaccurate.
October 22, 2019 at 04:56
Will I have problems if iam selected.because i wrote he was born in my home country.or is there a way to rectify my mistake.
October 22, 2019 at 22:56
This would not be a problem if you are selected.
October 21, 2019 at 16:38
Hi.myfirst born was born in the country where I reside.but he also has my country’s birth cert and passport .which country must I fill in for him while applying for dvlottery 2021
October 22, 2019 at 04:08
Country of birth.
October 18, 2019 at 06:59
Hi Simon,
Thanks for your reply, i read the FAQ but am not sure about how i can send the derivatives doc’s for example wife and kids , should i send their doc’s in different emails or on the same email and if i will include them on my email should i use my name on the subject but their names on the doc’s name’s appreciate your support to clarify this ambiguity
Regards,
Moooooody
October 18, 2019 at 23:03
You did not look very hard at all did you!
https://britsimonsays.com/document-procedure-modification/
October 17, 2019 at 07:59
Dear Simon,
Can you briefly describe the steps on how to provide the docs to KCC and which email used to send these docs or if there is specific link to this FAQ topic
Regards,
Mooooody
October 17, 2019 at 18:48
Please learn to use the FAQ and look at recent articles.
https://britsimonsays.com/document-procedure-modification/
October 15, 2019 at 04:29
Hi Simon,
I have tried yesterday to apply for dv2021 and i faced some weird issue that the status of last page was , submission in progress so i have been waiting for more than 15 mins on the same page, i tried to check submission it gave me the first page with missing photo so i tried many times with no luck to get the confirmation number , so i tried with different browser so i succeed and got my confirmation number, my question is there any possibility for disqualification due to that error or what do you think as i told you i ahve been waiting for more than 15 mins
Regards,
Mohamed ehssan
October 15, 2019 at 15:47
No confirmation number = no entry. It’s in the instructions.
October 23, 2019 at 17:23
Hi dear BritSimon my brother applied for DV 2021 yesterday but when he submit the his application but when he tries to print the confirmation numbers the softwere intrupted so he was not able to get fist time confirmation than he applied again so does he duplicate? if so is there anyway to remove the duplicate ? thank you so much for your helping
October 23, 2019 at 17:29
In order to submit a second time he would have needed to change the passport – which is clearly going to be seen as deliberate fraud. There is no way to fix that.
October 14, 2019 at 15:40
What happens when I give birth to a third child before the Dv selection yet I declared 2 of them?
October 14, 2019 at 21:12
You will add the newborn later if you are selected.
October 11, 2019 at 21:33
Hi, while taking the Dv Lottery photos my son with cerebral palsy coud not concetrate one of his eyes rolled and he was not able to close his mouth.My worry is shall we not be disqualified in the lottery?
October 11, 2019 at 22:56
No
October 7, 2019 at 11:40
Hi Simon,
I just applied for DV2021 as divorced. I am divorced since 2018, my previous husband has a daughter. I did not list the daughter and I don’t have any contact with them. Can I be disqualified if I win (for not listing the step daughter who is no longer my step-daughter)? BTW, I am gonna get married again in December this year and my future husband has a son.
October 8, 2019 at 04:34
Yes you should be disqualified.
October 8, 2019 at 11:19
Thanks, what if I don’t tell hem the husband had a daughter. Will they try to find out?
October 9, 2019 at 03:11
I am not going to help or encourage you to lie.
October 7, 2019 at 03:59
When will you be disqualified for using the same picture you have used in last year d.v program? Because I have been selected for further processing but I was selected using last years pictures. So is the CO going to disqualify me at the interview?
October 8, 2019 at 03:02
That is possible, but up to now we have not seen disqualifications for reused photos. That does NOT mean that they won’t disqualify, just that we have not see that outcome yet.
October 3, 2019 at 18:21
I have a child that lives in another country, whom I have sadly not had contact with in over 5 years. I am listing her in my entry but I have no recent photos of her that I could use. Do you have any recommendations?
October 3, 2019 at 21:12
No. You must decide what to do.
October 3, 2019 at 13:49
What do I have to fill in “What is your current marital status?” if my spouse is arrested and I am not able to upload his recent photo. He will be 5 years in prison. And taking photos is not allowed. What I have to do in this case?
October 3, 2019 at 20:52
Not apply.
October 1, 2019 at 19:10
Hi, I live with the mother of my children but we are not legally married. Can we make two separates application ?
October 2, 2019 at 04:42
Yes.
September 5, 2019 at 12:35
Imagine if someone enters your name in the lottery multiple times to disqualify you lol. i can see my family doing that, damn.
Anyway, just as an information: do you think someone who was born in a country but has residence in another will likely be interviewed in the country of residence?
September 5, 2019 at 13:08
You are interviewed in the country of residence.
July 16, 2019 at 12:46
Does it mean that once one fails to include his family, he will be surely disqualified or if you go ahead as a single
July 16, 2019 at 14:22
“one fails to include his family, he will be surely disqualified”
This.
May 21, 2019 at 11:38
kindly britsimon clarify to me here,i have a family of 4,i.e my wife and two kids.This processes needs someone to be financialy stable to go all medical and interview required of him.now because of financial constraints,can i go for the interview alone and after now getting the visa and entering US,i organize for my family back??because all their details are in my application form as a principal member
May 21, 2019 at 14:07
You can, but that turns a fast, cheap, easy process into a slow, expensive and hard process.
May 14, 2019 at 03:33
Good day… I submit my permanent address without apartment number… Is it ok ? Or there gonna be some problem ?
May 14, 2019 at 03:50
Without your case number I cannot advise.
March 23, 2019 at 15:53
Can a single player who is pregnant be eligible for visa given that all of her documents are correct?
March 23, 2019 at 16:58
Yes
March 9, 2019 at 16:36
Hi Britsimon,
my CN is 2019EU24XX and I´ve just sent my documents to KCC. When checking my documents afterwards I realized that my moms name is spelled wrong on my birth certificate. My dads and my name are spelled correctly.
Will this have a negative affect on my case? Should I correct the mistake and bring the new corrected birth certificate to my interview?
Many thanks
March 9, 2019 at 22:56
Not a problem.
February 27, 2019 at 01:55
Please what if you are selected but you don’t have a passport. Will you be denied at the interview?
February 27, 2019 at 03:24
Well if you have ANY common sense you will apply for a passport.
February 15, 2019 at 01:24
Hi Simon
Thanks so much for this tremendous blog. It has helped me understand the process in so many ways, and so I’ve just made a “treehouse” donation 🙂
I have the following question about marital status and the DS 260 (Please note: I asked an immigration attorney about this, and he was uncertain and so he directed me to KCC for advice. KCC, in their turn, then emailed me with a very generic answer about marital status, so I am still unsure. Hence I’m sending this question to you.)
When I entered the Diversity Lottery, my husband was naturally entered on my application (as well as our child who is under 21 years of age).
I was very fortunate to be selected for further processing for DV-2019 as the primary applicant. My personal circumstances since entering have changed though, and my husband and I are starting the process of getting divorced. My husband has recently stated – verbally and in writing – that he does not wish to be included any more in applying for the Diversity Visa.
May I, therefore, submit my own – and my son’s – DS-260 forms, and leave my husband’s form as “Incomplete” status on CEAC’s website?
I want to be certain that not submitting a DS-260 for my husband won’t jeopardize the process of applying for a Diversity Visa for my son and me.
I have scoured all official documents to try to get a definitive answer for this. Would you happen to know, Simon, of any official document or link that answers this question?
Many thanks!
February 15, 2019 at 02:50
You are correct – you can continue the process on your own, and not completing his DS260 is the right way to do it (although he should be listed on the other two DS260s).
Could that cause complication – well, maybe, in two possible ways.
1. The issue of custody/parental rights. The CO may be concerned that you are going to take the child from his father – and without a divorce to officially decide custody, that may be difficult to answer in a definitive way (although a letter from the father may help). That is easier of course if your son is over 17.
2. The other issue will be “public charge” concerns (financial). As a single parent, and going through a divorce, there may be more concern about that. You should prepare a financial case. Your IP address suggests you live in Australia. Sydney embassy are normally “relaxed” bout financials, but may be more concerned given the impending divorce. Having plenty of cash and a successful career record will alleviate that concern.
You won’t find official statements on either of these things. Both factors are somewhat subjective, and decided by the CO based on the case before them. It would be wise to have good plans/answers for each concern. Other than that, the process is unchanged because you continue the process without your husband.
January 14, 2019 at 22:03
Hi
I include a child above the age of 21 in my dvlottery cause at the time I filled the edv form she was goin to turn 21 so I included her to my application …so now I dnt want her in my ds 260 …what should I do ????
January 14, 2019 at 22:19
You still need to list her as your child on YOUR DS260, but there is no need to create a DS260 for her.
January 14, 2019 at 23:18
Hi
Srry for another question bt it will I get disqualified for listing an applicant 21 at the time when I filled the edv form..
December 27, 2018 at 08:41
Nice blog..Brit Thanks for all supports you made for us..