The Green Card Lottery program have been started in the year 1996 through the Immigration Act developed to provide immigration opportunities to the natives of countries other than United States and those which have lower rate of immigration to the United States. The programs provide green cards to the winner of the lottery. The lottery is conducted once every year where they use a computer application, and a number is chosen randomly just like a lucky draw. Over 50,000 immigration visas are issued every year through this program throughout the world. There are several official and non-official green card lottery websites available in the internet using which one can apply for the green card. Some of the websites provide expert online support for applying to this program. Some provide service in terms of updating of contact information at any point of time as the green card would be sent by mail to the address in the application. The immigrant visa is issued to the winner with a stamp on it to show permanent status. The applicants are allowed to bring their spouse and dependent children who are unmarried and below the age of 21 years. The applicants are not permitted to submit the applications by postal mail. All applications have to be submitted electronically. These applicants are considered eligible based on the following points.

• The applicants should be born in a country other than the United States.
• The immigration rate of the country from which the applicant is applying to the United States should be low as compared to other countries in the past five years.
• The individual should have a minimum of a high school education or 2 years of work experience in the required field.

One might need assistance in filling up of the green card lottery form and few websites provide expert advice on how to fill in the form without any errors. Some websites provide service all around the clock. Using the internet, people can gather information about all these and it becomes easy to apply for the immigrant visa to the United States and in turn increase their chances of getting a permanent resident status. American citizens are not required to carry a green card when they travel in the United States, but an alien with an immigrant visa or green card should carry it along with them and show the same to the USCIS officer when asked for proof ofpermanent residence or work or travel parole.