The visa seekers will be able to buy printed forms for the lottery, which should be filled up manually.

These forms will have to be submitted to the postal department, which will then enter the data in computers from the filled-out forms and e-mail them to the US.

The Ministry of Post and Telecommunication (MoPT) drew up the business strategy for the first time after the US government introduced the EDV system this year.

Previously known as the DV lottery, it generated huge response among Bangladeshis since it was introduced in the 1990s. Last year, as many as 15 lakh people applied for the DV lottery, the simplest way for anyone to become an American citizen.

The widespread enthusiasm contributed to the coffer of the postal department heavily despite its dubious reputation for poor service. Last year's DV lottery spree earned the department a revenue of over Tk 4 crore.

But the department had to come up with a counter initiative as the electronic filing system of forms this year put the department out of business.

"The reality is that a lot of interested people from rural or backward locations will have to depend on others to fill up their forms. They will have to come to cities to avail the on-line system," secretary of the MoPT, Faruq Ahmad Siddiqi, told The Daily Star yesterday.

"There are chances that these people will fall victim to the greed of frauds. This is where the postal department can play a pro-people role and also make profit," he added.

The postal headquarters will send EDV forms along with return-envelops to all post offices. The forms will be on sale in about two weeks.

The EDV forms will be filled up and e-mailed from five post offices in Dhaka, Sylhet, Khulna, Chittagong and Rajshahi. To equip these offices with computer networks facility, the postal department will float tenders and seek expertise from private companies.

Form plus envelope will be on offer at Tk 5 while Tk 100 will be charged for individual applicant and Tk 150 for family.

Private organisations have already made similar offers at Tk 40-60 for individuals in Dhaka.

The finance ministry last week approved the proposal of the MoPT, which estimates Tk 5 crore profit from the services.

Starting from November 1, the EDV applications will be received up to December 30.