Tens of thousands of people throughout the world will pursue their American dreams this month, now that the State Department has opened the annual green card lottery, also known as the diversity lottery.The State Department said Tuesday that it was opening the visa lottery, making 50,000 visas available for fiscal 2020 by random drawing.

The visas are made available under the Diversity Immigrant Visa program to people who were born in one of six geographical regions.Recipients of the visas will later be chosen randomly. Online registration for the 2020 lottery began Tuesday and ends Nov. 6. No individual country can get more than 7 percent of the visas.

The US Embassy in Sri Lanka cautioned applicants not to be tricked by fake websites and instructed them to reach the valid website of https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/.

The program was established 30 years ago to increase the diversity of immigrants to the United States. Applicants must be those who do not have family or an employer to help them, and those who are not refugees. A high school diploma and at least two years of work experience are required.