Costa Ricans who want to live in the United States can try their luck in a lottery for residency visas held by the U.S. State Department.

Inscription for the lottery opened yesterday at 1 p.m. at www.dvlottery.state.gov. This Web site is the only way to enter the lottery or get information about visa requirements; the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Costa Rica are not involved in the lottery process.

Each person interested should submit only one request; submitting more could result in automatic disqualification, according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy.

Through this lottery, about 50,000 U.S. residency visas are granted yearly to people from countries around the world that have small amounts of migration to the United States, of which Costa Rica is one.

Online registration is free and open until 11 a.m. on Dec. 2, 2007. The U.S. State Department will notify the winners from May to July 2008.

In 2007, about 82,000 people from 175 countries won visas through this lottery; some 5.5 million entered.