Diversity Visa Program: Eligibility, Entry, and Selection

To enter the Diversity Visa program, you must have been born in a qualifying low-admission country and meet either a high school education standard or a skilled-work standard; to apply, you submit one free electronic entry at dvprogram.state.gov during the fall registration window and wait to check results yourself. Roughly 55,000 permanent resident visas are authorized each fiscal year, though recent totals have been closer to 50,000–52,000 after congressionally mandated offsets. The State Department selects far more people than there are visas, so being chosen puts you in line — not across the finish.

Who Can Enter

Eligibility rests on two things: where you were born, and what you’ve done for school or work.

Your country of birth qualifies only if it is classified as “low-admission.” By statute, any country whose natives received more than 50,000 green cards in the previous five fiscal years is excluded.¹ In practice, that removes large sending countries like Mexico, mainland China, India, and the Philippines from most years’ lists. Natives of Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan are typically treated separately from mainland China and remain eligible. Because the list can change year to year, confirm your country on the current program instructions before you invest any time.

On the qualification side, you need one of two things. The common route is a high school education — a completed formal 12-year course of elementary and secondary schooling comparable to the U.S. system.² A GED or equivalency certificate does not count unless it is recognized as equivalent to a full high school diploma.

The alternative is work experience: at least two years within the past five in an occupation classified in Job Zone 4 or 5 with a Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) rating of 7.0 or higher in the Department of Labor’s O*NET database.² Those are occupations demanding significant specialized training or experience — registered nurses, electricians, accountants, and the like. Look your job title up on O*NET OnLine to confirm the zone and SVP rating before you enter.

When Your Birth Country Is Ineligible

If you were born in an excluded country, two — and only two — alternate paths exist.

You can charge your entry to your spouse’s country of birth if that country is eligible, both of you are named on the entry, both are found eligible, and both enter the United States together on diversity visas. You can also claim the birth country of either parent if neither parent was born in or legally residing in your birth country when you were born, provided that parent’s country is eligible.³ You cannot charge eligibility to a grandparent, a sibling, or any other relative.

How to Submit Your Entry

The registration window typically opens in early October and closes in early November. For DV-2026, the window ran from October 2 to November 7, 2024.⁴ The only place to submit is dvprogram.state.gov. Entry for DV-2026 was free; a $1 registration fee begins with DV-2027.

The electronic entry form (DS-5501) asks for your full legal name, date of birth, gender, city and country of birth, and country of eligibility. All information must match your valid passport or birth certificate exactly. You must list your spouse (unless legally separated by court order) and every unmarried child under 21, including stepchildren, adopted children, and children who don’t live with you or don’t plan to immigrate.³

This is where most preventable disqualifications happen. Leaving an eligible family member off the entry can disqualify you entirely; so can listing someone who isn’t actually your spouse or dependent.³ When in doubt, include the family member. The instructions explicitly say you will not be penalized for listing a spouse from whom you are legally separated.

Photo Requirements

Each person listed on the entry needs a recent digital photograph. It must be taken within six months of submission.⁵ The image must be square, between 600×600 and 1,200×1,200 pixels, in JPEG format, using 24-bit color, and no larger than 240 kilobytes.⁶ Face the camera directly with a neutral expression against a light, plain background. No eyeglasses. Head coverings are permitted only for documented religious reasons and cannot obscure any part of the face. Non-compliant photos are one of the most common reasons entries get rejected; run the State Department’s free photo validation tool before submitting.

One Entry Per Person

Submit only one entry. More than one automatically voids all of them and disqualifies you for that fiscal year.⁷ If both spouses are independently eligible, each may submit a separate entry listing the other as a spouse. Just don’t file two entries for the same person.

After you submit, the system generates a unique confirmation number. Write it down, screenshot it, and store it somewhere safe. The State Department will not email or mail you about your status. The confirmation number is the only way to check whether you were selected.⁸

Checking Results and What Selection Means

Results are posted through the Entrant Status Check at dvprogram.state.gov. For DV-2026, results became available on May 3, 2025, and remain accessible through at least September 30, 2026.

Selection places you in a queue with a case number. It does not award a visa. For DV-2026, approximately 129,516 prospective applicants (selectees plus family members) were registered for roughly 51,850 visas available after reductions required by the Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act and the National Defense Authorization Act.⁹ Each month, the State Department publishes cut-off numbers in the Visa Bulletin. Only selectees whose case numbers fall below that month’s cut-off can schedule interviews.

Lower case numbers have a much better shot. If your number is high relative to your region’s allocation, you may never be called. Watch the Visa Bulletin each month. If your number doesn’t become current by September 30, the end of the fiscal year, your selection expires. There is no carryover to the following year.

After You’re Selected: Getting the Visa

The next step is Form DS-260, the online immigrant visa application, filed for you and every accompanying family member.¹⁰ The form asks for a detailed history of residences, employment, education, and prior travel. The Kentucky Consular Center reviews your data and requests supporting civil documents.

You’ll need to gather:

Birth certificates for you and every accompanying family member
Police certificates from your current country of residence (dated within the past two years), from your country of nationality if you lived there more than six months, and from any other country where you lived for more than one year
Military records, if you served
Court records, if you have any criminal history
Marriage or divorce certificates, as applicable

Documents not in English need certified translations. Translation fees typically run $20–$25 per page, though prices vary. Every applicant must also complete a medical examination with a physician authorized by the U.S. embassy or consulate before the interview. The exam covers required vaccinations and screens for communicable diseases.

Before or at the interview, each applicant pays a non-refundable $330 diversity visa application fee.¹¹ Payment procedures vary by embassy; most collect the fee in person on interview day, but some require advance payment. If approved, you receive your immigrant visa and must enter the United States before the expiration date printed on it. After entry, pay the $235 USCIS Immigrant Fee online before your physical green card will be produced and mailed to your U.S. address.¹² All of this must be completed by September 30 of the applicable fiscal year.

Financial Evidence at the Interview

At the interview, you have to show you’re unlikely to depend on government assistance. This is the “public charge” ground of inadmissibility. Diversity visa winners do not file the formal Form I-864 Affidavit of Support. Instead, you demonstrate financial self-sufficiency through evidence that your income or assets meet at least 100% of the federal poverty guidelines for your household size.

Acceptable evidence includes bank statements, a job offer letter from a U.S. employer, proof of investments or property ownership, or an educational diploma showing employability. If your own finances are thin, a U.S.-based friend or relative can complete Form I-134 (Declaration of Financial Support). Anyone signing an I-134 must have enough income or assets to cover every family member immigrating with you. Consular officers have discretion, so bring as much documentation as you can.

If You’re Already in the United States: Adjustment of Status

If you’re already in the U.S. on a valid nonimmigrant visa when selected, you may be able to get your green card without leaving for a consular interview. This is called adjustment of status, and it is handled through USCIS by filing Form I-485.¹³

To file, you must have a visa number immediately available, meaning your case number must be below the current Visa Bulletin cut-off, and you must be otherwise admissible. The I-485 filing fee is $1,440 for paper filing or $1,390 for online filing for applicants over 14.¹² Supporting documents include your selection letter, a receipt showing payment of the diversity visa processing fee, a medical exam (Form I-693), passport copies, and your arrival/departure record (Form I-94).¹³ The same September 30 deadline applies. USCIS cannot approve after that date, so file early in the fiscal year if you go this route.

Keeping a Child Eligible if They Turn 21

If your child turns 21 while your case is being processed, they would normally age out and lose eligibility. The Child Status Protection Act can prevent this by calculating an adjusted age: the child’s age when a visa becomes available minus the number of days between the start of the DV registration period and the date of the selection letter.¹⁴ If the adjusted age is under 21 and the child remains unmarried, they keep their derivative status. The child must also “seek to acquire” permanent residence within one year of visa availability, typically by filing Form I-485 or submitting Part 1 of Form DS-260.

Avoiding Diversity Visa Scams

The DV lottery attracts a large volume of fraud. The single most important fact: the U.S. government will never email or mail you a letter saying you’ve won.¹⁵ The only way to find out you were selected is by checking dvprogram.state.gov yourself with your confirmation number. Any email, letter, or phone call claiming otherwise is a scam.

Other warning signs:

Requests to send money by check, wire transfer, or money order. The government never collects DV fees that way; fees are paid at U.S. embassies or consulates.
Consultants promising better odds. No one can improve your chances of being selected. The lottery is random.
Unofficial websites. Official U.S. government sites end in “.gov.” Anything ending in “.com,” “.org,” or “.net” is not the government, even if it displays images of the Capitol or the Statue of Liberty.

The State Department says it does not work with visa consultants and does not endorse any non-governmental website.¹⁵

What Changes for DV-2027

A final rule published in the Federal Register, effective April 10, 2026, changes the entry process beginning with DV-2027. Applicants must provide valid, unexpired passport information and upload a scan of their passport’s biographical page as part of the electronic entry form. Exemptions exist for applicants who are stateless, nationals of a Communist-controlled country unable to obtain a passport, or beneficiaries of individual waivers approved by the Secretaries of Homeland Security and State.⁷ The passport scan must be JPEG format and under 5 megabytes. A $1 registration fee will also apply at submission, a first for the DV program, which has been free to enter since inception.¹⁶ DV-2027 registration dates had not been announced at the time of writing.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1153 – Allocation of Immigrant Visas
2
U.S. Department of State. Confirm Your Qualifications
3
U.S. Department of State. Instructions for the 2026 Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (DV-2026)
4
U.S. Department of State. Diversity Visa Program Instructions
5
eCFR. 22 CFR 42.33 – Diversity Immigrants
6
U.S. Department of State. Digital Image Requirements
7
Federal Register. Visas: Enhancing Vetting and Combatting Fraud in the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program
8
U.S. Department of State. Fraud Warning
9
U.S. Department of State. DV 2026 – Selected Entrants
10
Travel.State.Gov. Diversity Visa – Submit Your IV and Alien Registration Application
11
U.S. Department of State. Diversity Visa Program – Prepare for the Interview
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. G-1055 Fee Schedule
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Green Card Through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Child Status Protection Act (CSPA)
15
U.S. Department of State – Bureau of Consular Affairs. Fraud Warning
16
Federal Register. Schedule of Fees for Consular Services, Department of State and Overseas Embassies