Is the Case Number dependent on how early you entered the Lottery?

[TheDeltaOrionis 0]

Hello guys,

I just discovered this forum.

This year I will partecipate in the Diversity Visa Lottery!

I was wondering: is the Case Number you get assigned if winning the lottery dependent upon how early you submitted your entry?

i.e. Winning entries submitted on the 1st October have a lower Case Number than those submitted at the end of the month?

Or is it a completely random generated number?

I ask because I need to retake the photo, and this may delay my entry of a few days, and I'm concerned this could penalize me in any way should I ever win.

Thank you in advance,

Patrick

[milimelo 4,554]

Random.

[TheDeltaOrionis 0]

Random.

So you have to be lucky two times: one for actually winning the lottery, and the second time pray not to have a high case number.

Well, at least this gives me some breathing room to make sure my entry is 100% valid.

Thank you for your reply,

if anyone else knows this for sure, and can confirm it, feel free to add your reply below.

[kira1234 1]

It is completely computer-generated and in all ways to describe it - a random lottery. You will not be penalized if you wait a few days or even submit on the last day. Just be wary of the amount of traffic on the site during the beginning and end of the period as there will be lots of persons trying to submit their entry and it will result in delays and slow processing. Other than that, Good Luck (I'm applying this year too )

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

So you have to be lucky two times: one for actually winning the lottery, and the second time pray not to have a high case number.

Well, at least this gives me some breathing room to make sure my entry is 100% valid.

Thank you for your reply,

if anyone else knows this for sure, and can confirm it, feel free to add your reply below.

It's random. If you read any of the official stuff you'd see that. In fact they did a redraw in 2012 because a computer error meant the original draw wasn't random, and by law it has to be.

[EmilyW 1,527]

Totally random. We entered on 23 October 2013 (so towards the end of the lottery) and ended up with a mid range number. Looking through USCIS data, there are people with extremely low case numbers who entered on the last day of the lottery.

[TheDeltaOrionis 0]

Thank you a lot guys for sharing your knowledge!

Good luck to everyone who will partecipate this year, hope to join the ranks of the Green Card holders soon