The green card lottery deadlines follow a predictable rhythm most years: registration opens in early October and closes in early November, selection results post the following May, and any visa issued through the program must be in hand by September 30 of the fiscal year the lottery covers. The next cycle is the exception. The Department of State has delayed the DV-2027 registration period and will announce the opening date “as soon as practicable,” partly because a new $1 registration fee now applies for the first time.1U.S. Department of State. Changes to Entry Period for 2027 Diversity Visa DV Program
When Registration Opens and Closes
The Diversity Visa program tracks the federal fiscal year, which runs October 1 through September 30.2Congress.gov. Basic Federal Budgeting Terminology Registration for each cycle typically opens in early October and closes in early November, roughly a year and a half before visas are actually issued.3U.S. Department of State. Diversity Visa Program – Entry The DV-2026 window, for instance, ran from October 2 through November 7, 2024.4USAGov. Find Out if You Are Eligible for the Diversity Visa DV Lottery and How to Register
The naming convention causes confusion. A window that opens in late 2024 is called DV-2026 because the visas issued from that pool are counted against fiscal year 2026. So if you are entering during a late-2025 or 2026 window, you are registering for DV-2027. The State Department has said the DV-2027 entry period will follow a different timeline than usual and will be announced separately from the normal October schedule.1U.S. Department of State. Changes to Entry Period for 2027 Diversity Visa DV Program
Once the window closes, that is it. There is no late submission, no grace period, no appeal. Entries are accepted only at dvprogram.state.gov, and only while the window is open.
When Selection Results Are Released
Results post in early May of the year after registration. For DV-2026, results became available on May 3, 2025.5USAGov. Check the Diversity Visa Lottery Results and What to Do if You Were Selected You check your status using the Entrant Status Check tool at dvprogram.state.gov and entering the unique confirmation number the system gave you when you submitted your entry.
Two things about this stage decide whether you keep the deadline you just earned. First, save the confirmation number when you submit. The State Department does not email it and cannot retrieve it if you lose it, so no confirmation number means no way to check results. Second, the government never notifies winners by email, letter, or phone. Any message claiming you won and asking for a fee is a scam.6U.S. Department of State. Fraud Warning The only real notification is what you find yourself in the Entrant Status Check.
Being selected also does not guarantee a visa. Far more people are selected than there are visas, because many selectees never finish their applications or turn out ineligible. About 55,000 DV visas are available annually, though the actual number is trimmed by allocations required under the Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act and the National Defense Authorization Act. For DV-2026, the effective total was roughly 51,850.7U.S. Department of State. DV 2026 – Selected Entrants
The September 30 Deadline That Ends Everything
Every DV cycle has an absolute expiration date: September 30 of the fiscal year the lottery covers. For DV-2026, that is September 30, 2026. Your interview must be completed and your visa issued before that date. No extensions are granted, and any unused visas disappear permanently.8USCIS. Green Card Through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program If you are already in the United States and adjusting status through Form I-485 rather than going through a consulate abroad, the same cutoff applies: the entire process must be finished by September 30.
This is where many selectees lose their chance. They gather documents slowly, miss interview slots, or delay medical exams until scheduling backlogs push them past the fiscal year. From the moment you see “selected” in the Entrant Status Check, treat September 30 as the single most important date on your calendar.
The Time Pressure Between May and September 30
Between the May result and the September 30 cutoff, you have to complete a formal visa application (Form DS-260 for consular processing, or Form I-485 if adjusting status inside the U.S.), assemble supporting documents, complete a medical examination with an authorized panel physician, and attend an interview.9U.S. Department of State. Prepare Supporting Documents
Two documents in particular tend to blow the timeline. Police certificates must come from every country where you have lived, for applicants 16 and older, and some countries take weeks or months to issue them. Long-form birth certificates showing both parents’ names can be equally slow in jurisdictions where civil records are not centralized. If you are selected, request these first, before you do anything else.
Adjustment of status inside the U.S. carries an extra timing constraint. You must have a visa number immediately available, meaning your rank number falls below the cutoff published in the State Department’s monthly Visa Bulletin.8USCIS. Green Card Through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program A high rank number can push your interview eligibility later in the year, compressing the window before September 30.
Deadline-Killing Mistakes at the Entry Stage
Some errors do not just delay you. They disqualify you outright, before the deadline calendar even starts running.
One entry per person, per registration period. The Department of State uses technology to detect duplicates, and submitting more than one entry disqualifies all of your entries, whether you or someone else on your behalf submitted the duplicate.10U.S. Government Publishing Office. Diversity Visa Lottery – Read the Rules, Avoid the Rip-Offs Married couples are the exception: each spouse may submit a separate entry, and if either is selected, the other can immigrate as a derivative beneficiary.
Omitting a spouse or an unmarried child under 21 from your entry results in permanent disqualification, even if the family member does not intend to immigrate with you. So does false information anywhere on the form.
Photo specifications are enforced automatically, and entries that fail get rejected on the spot. The digital photo must be a JPEG between 600 x 600 and 1,200 x 1,200 pixels, square, 240 kilobytes or smaller, in 24-bit color in the sRGB color space, taken against a plain light background with a neutral expression and no eyeglasses.11U.S. Department of State. Digital Image Requirements Each family member listed needs a separate qualifying photo.
The New $1 Fee at Registration
Entering the lottery used to be free. Starting in 2025, a $1 registration fee applies, payable through an authorized government payment portal at the moment you submit.12Federal Register. Schedule of Fees for Consular Services, Department of State and Overseas Embassies and Consulates The dollar amount is negligible; the deadline consequence is not. Registration is not complete until the fee has been paid, so if your payment method fails on the last day of the window, your entry does not count.
Separately, if you are selected, the DV application fee is $330 per person, paid at the consular interview.13U.S. Department of State. Prepare for the Interview That is a post-selection cost, not a registration deadline issue, but budget for it as soon as you see “selected,” because scheduling the interview is what pins down whether you clear September 30.