By Debbie McGoldrick

“I WOULD like to win a lottery green card. I’ve visited several websites promising inside information, and I’m wondering how to proceed. What do you advise?”

WE’VE visited several immigration-based websites too — they are a dime a dozen — many of which encourage visitors to “apply now” for a lottery visa. The facts about what’s actually going on, though, are cleverly disguised underneath all the bells and whistles and colorful American flags.

The next round of the annual diversity visa lottery, DV-2006, won’t get underway until later this year. At this time there is no information available about application procedures, so these sites urging people to “apply now,” — for a fee, naturally — are extremely misleading.

The application guidelines can change from year to year — for the DV-2005 allocation, entrants were permitted to apply online only. Therefore, it’s best to sit tight until the State Department actually announces what’s going on with the next round, and to take it from there.

There will be plenty of publicity when the details and application dates become official, and lots of free (or extremely cheap) help available from numerous immigration agencies. Until then, you’d be better off forgetting about the sites offering instant success. The one website you should visit frequently is the State Department’s, at www.travel.state.gov. That’s where you’ll get accurate updates on what’s happening with the DV-2006 lottery.