Legal Question in Immigration Law in Maryland

Re: greencard lottery

It is possible for someone already in the US to play the Diversity Visa lottery. A DV visa would allow the applicant to "adjust status" from their non-immigrant status to that of a permanent resident/green card holder. However, to qualify to adjust, generally one must be in a lawful status. That is, in general, you can only adjust from one lawful status to another and not from an unlawful status. As an overstay, you would not be in a lawful status. There are certain exceptions to this rule.

One word of caution -- depending on how long you've overstayed your B-2, if you do end up leaving the US, you may be subject to either a 3 or 10 year bar on re-entry. Even if you did win the lottery, you may need to apply for a waiver of the bar, which can be very difficult to do, depending on the circumstances.