General Information

The entry registration period for DV-2013 has ended. The online registration period for the 2013 Diversity Visa Program (DV-2013) began at http://www.dvlottery.state.gov on Tuesday, October 4, 2011, at noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), and concluded on Saturday, November 5, 2011, at noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4). Entrants in the Diversity Visa 2013 program may check the status of their entries through the Entrant Status check on the E-DV website beginning on May 1, 2012. Review more about Entrant Status Check.

Important notice!

Effective August 15, 2011, petitioners residing overseas will no longer be able to routinely file Forms I-130,Petitions for Alien Relative, with U.S. Embassies and Consulates except in locations where U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has a public counter presence within the Embassy or Consulate. Petitioners residing overseas in countries where USCIS does not have a public counter presence will be required, starting August 15, 2011, to file their Forms I-130 by mail with the USCIS Chicago lockbox. U.S. Embassies and Consulates that do not have a USCIS presence will only be able to accept and process Forms I-130 in exceptional circumstances.

For more information please visit our website at http://romania.usembassy.gov/visas/immediate_relatives.html.

Any foreign national who wishes to reside in the United States permanently must apply for an immigrant visa, whether or not that person plans to seek employment in the United States. U.S. immigration law provides for the issuance of immigrant visas in four general categories: immediate relatives, family-based, employment-based and the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, sometimes known as the "green card" lottery.

For an overview of the types of immigrant visas available under immigration law, please see Visa Types for Immigrants on the Department of State website. For more information about the different types of immigrant visas click one of the links to the left.

The consular section processes immigrant visas for residents of Romania. With a few exceptions, immigrant visa petitions must be filed with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in the United States. Approved petitions are forwarded to the National Visa Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The National Visa Center collects fees and documents and schedules the visa interview.

All applicants must come to the Embassy for an interview. To learn how to make an appointment for an interview and pay the application fee, visit the Visa Application Process link. There are many factors that may influence the processing of individual visa cases (such as additional administrative processing or incomplete applications). Applicants are advised not to make any final travel arrangements, dispose of their property, or give up their jobs until visas have been issued to them.

Every applicant must fill out an application packet. For a list of the standard forms required, visit the Immigrant Visa Forms page. Depending on the type of visa, applicants may be required to complete and bring additional documents to the visa interview. Once the immigrant petition is approved, the National Visa Center will advise the applicant what forms and documents to prepare.

For any visa-related question not answered on the consular section’s website, applicants may refer to the A-Z Subject Index or send a message to the following email address: VisasBucharest@state.gov. In most cases, the message will be answered within 3 business days.