The Diversity Visa Lottery is an annual drawing run by the U.S. Department of State that gives up to 55,000 people a chance at a green card each year based largely on where they were born.1U.S. Department of State. Diversity Visa Instructions Congress created it through the Immigration Act of 1990 to bring in immigrants from countries that send relatively few people to the United States. Entering is simple. Qualifying, being selected, and finishing the visa process before the fiscal year runs out is where the work happens.
What the Program Actually Offers
The 55,000 visas are divided across six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania. Regions that have sent fewer immigrants to the U.S. in recent years receive more visas.2U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7 – Part G – Chapter 1 No single country can take more than seven percent of the visas in a fiscal year.3U.S. Department of State. Update on Diversity Visa Program 2025 – Close to Reaching 7 Percent Cap for Egypt
The State Department selects far more than 55,000 entrants each year because many will not qualify or will not pursue the visa. Selection puts you in line. It does not guarantee a green card.
Who Can Enter
Country of Birth
You must be a native of a country classified as low-admission, meaning it sent 50,000 or fewer immigrants to the United States over the previous five fiscal years.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7 – Part G – Chapter 2 The eligible-country list is updated annually when registration opens, so check the current year’s list before entering. Countries with high immigration to the U.S., including Mexico, India, China, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom, have been excluded in recent years.
If you were born in an ineligible country, two workarounds exist. You can claim your spouse’s country of birth through cross-chargeability if that country qualifies.5U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 7 – Part A – Chapter 6 Or, if neither of your parents was born in or a resident of your birth country when you were born, you can claim chargeability to a parent’s eligible country.
Education or Work
Every applicant must also meet one of two qualification standards. The first is completing the equivalent of a U.S. high school education, defined as a full 12-year course of elementary and secondary schooling. A GED does not count.6eCFR. 22 CFR 42.33 – Diversity Immigrants
The alternative is at least two years of qualifying work experience within the past five years, in an occupation that itself requires a minimum of two years of training or experience.6eCFR. 22 CFR 42.33 – Diversity Immigrants Not every job qualifies. The State Department checks occupations against the Department of Labor’s O*NET OnLine database, so look up your job there before you enter to confirm it meets the skill threshold.
How to Enter
Registration opens once a year at dvprogram.state.gov, and the entry window is short. It has historically run from early October to early November, though the State Department can shift the dates. Confirm the current dates on the official site rather than assuming last year’s schedule holds.7U.S. Department of State. Changes to Entry Period for 2027 Diversity Visa Program
Starting with the DV-2027 cycle, entering carries a $1 non-refundable electronic registration fee, paid through the official portal at the time you submit. That fee is collected through a U.S. Treasury payment system on the same government site. Never pay a third-party site claiming to handle your entry.
What Goes on the Entry Form
The E-DV Entry Form (DS-5501) asks for biographical information for you and every family member who would immigrate with you: full legal name, date of birth, gender, and city and country of birth. You must list your spouse and all unmarried children under 21, even if they don’t plan to come with you. Leaving off a qualifying family member, or listing someone who isn’t actually your spouse or child, can void your entry if you’re selected.8U.S. Department of State. Submit Your Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration Application
The form must be completed in one session. You can’t save and resume. Match every name and date to your passport and birth certificate before you start.
Photo Requirements
Every person on the entry needs a recent digital photo that meets the State Department’s technical specifications:9U.S. Department of State. Digital Image Requirements
- JPEG format, 240 kilobytes or smaller.
- Square dimensions, between 600 x 600 and 1,200 x 1,200 pixels.
- Head fills 50 to 69 percent of the image height, measured chin to crown.
- Neutral, light-colored background with no shadows.
- Face the camera directly with a neutral expression.
- No eyeglasses, absent a signed physician’s statement of medical necessity.
Photos that miss any of these specs will cause the system to reject the entry. A free photo-testing tool on the State Department site catches most problems before you submit.
One Entry, Period
Federal regulations allow no more than one entry per person per fiscal year. If duplicates are detected, every entry linked to that person is voided and the applicant is out for the year.10Federal Register. Visas – Enhancing Vetting and Combatting Fraud in the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program Spouses may each submit their own separate entry, listing each other and any qualifying children, which effectively gives a household two chances.
Save or print your confirmation number the moment you finish. The system will not display it again, and you’ll need it to check whether you were selected.
How You Find Out If You Won
Results are drawn by a randomized computer selection after the entry window closes and published in early May of the following year. The only place to check is the Entrant Status Check at dvprogram.state.gov, using your confirmation number.11USAGov. Check the Diversity Visa Lottery Results and What to Do if You Were Selected
The U.S. government does not send email, letters, or phone calls to notify winners. Any message that claims you won the DV lottery by email or phone is a scam, and this fraud spikes every year when results post.12U.S. Embassy and Consulates. Diversity Visa
What Selection Actually Wins You
Selection is the start of the visa process, not the end of it. Each selectee gets a case number that sets their place in the interview queue. Lower numbers are called first, and the State Department publishes a monthly visa bulletin showing which case numbers are currently being processed.
Every selectee and each accompanying family member fills out Form DS-260, the Online Immigrant Visa Application, through the Consular Electronic Application Center. Keep the confirmation page. You’ll bring it to your interview. The Kentucky Consular Center processes submitted forms and schedules interviews, but only the consular officer at the interview decides whether you qualify.8U.S. Department of State. Submit Your Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration Application
Before the interview, each applicant must complete a medical exam with an authorized physician in the country where the interview will take place, including all required vaccinations.13U.S. Department of State. Prepare for the Interview Failing to show proof of vaccination can render you inadmissible.14U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Vaccination Requirements Costs vary by location, but plan for several hundred dollars per person.
At the interview, a consular officer reviews your documents, verifies eligibility, and checks for any grounds of inadmissibility. Each applicant owes a $330 DV fee, non-refundable whether the visa is issued or not. Some embassies collect the fee ahead of time; most collect it the day of the interview.13U.S. Department of State. Prepare for the Interview
Most selectees process through a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad. If you’re already in the U.S. on a valid status, you may be eligible to adjust status through USCIS instead, though not everyone qualifies.15U.S. Department of State. Adjustment of Status in the United States The $330 DV fee still applies either way, on top of any USCIS filing fees.
The September 30 Deadline
Every diversity visa for a given fiscal year has to be issued by September 30. No extensions, no carryovers, no exceptions. If your processing isn’t finished by October 1, your selection expires and the opportunity is gone for good.16U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card Through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program
This is why case numbers matter so much. A high case number can push your interview to the last months of the fiscal year, leaving thin margin for medical exam delays, missing documents, or administrative processing. Some high-numbered selectees never get interviewed at all, because the 55,000 cap is reached before their number comes current or because the fiscal year simply ends.
If you’re selected, submit your DS-260 and start gathering documents right away. Weeks lost early are hard to make up later. Family members abroad face the same September 30 cutoff.