Last updated: September 27, 2026
Every year, the United States hands out roughly 55,000 green cards through a random drawing. No sponsor to find, no job offer to secure, no relative required to vouch for you. If you were born in the right country and finished high school, you can put your name in — and if your number comes up, you and your family can live and work in America permanently. It is called the Diversity Visa lottery, and it is the only US immigration route where luck does most of the work.
Luck, however, is only the beginning. A large share of selected people never receive a green card — not because the drawing is rigged, but because they stumble on the paperwork that follows. And the program is going through its most turbulent stretch in decades: DV-2027 registration never opened on schedule, and new rules add a $1 entry fee and a passport requirement. This guide explains how the lottery works, who can enter, what changed this year, and how to avoid the mistakes that disqualify thousands of applicants.
The DV-2027 situation, as of today
If you came here hoping to register for the DV-2027 lottery right now, the honest answer is: not yet. Registration normally opens in early October and runs about five weeks, but the State Department never opened the DV-2027 entry period in fall 2025. On November 5, 2025, it announced it was changing the entry process and would publish the registration start date and results date “as soon as practicable.” As of late September 2026, no dates have been announced — for DV-2027 or for DV-2028, which would normally open this October.
Two new rules are behind the delay, and both will apply to the next entry:
A $1 electronic registration fee. A final rule published September 16, 2025 introduced the first-ever fee for submitting a DV entry, effective October 16, 2025. It is paid online at the moment you register and is non-refundable.
A passport requirement. A second final rule, published March 11, 2026 and effective April 10, 2026, requires every entrant to hold a valid, unexpired passport and to upload a scan of its biographic and signature pages with the entry. Narrow exemptions exist — for example for stateless people and nationals of Communist-controlled countries who cannot obtain a passport. The full list of exemptions will be in the official DV-2027 instructions.
The State Department justified the passport rule with fraud numbers: during the DV-2025 cycle, more than 2.5 million duplicate entries were disqualified, versus about 760,000 in the last cycle when a passport rule was in force — many filed by fraud rings without the applicants’ knowledge.
One more thing worth knowing: the visa year for DV-2027 still runs October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027. That window is fixed by law, so if registration opens late, everything — entry, selection, paperwork, interviews — has to fit inside it.
For now: get or renew your passport, prepare a compliant photo, and watch dvprogram.state.gov for the registration announcement. Ignore any website that claims registration is already open or offers to register you for a fee — both are scams.
What the green card lottery actually is
The Diversity Visa program was created by the Immigration Act of 1990 to diversify who gets to immigrate to America. Each US fiscal year (October through September), up to 55,000 immigrant visas go to people from countries with historically low immigration rates to the United States. The actual cap moves slightly year to year — for DV-2026 it was 52,101 after deductions for other programs — but the target has been about 55,000 for years.
A green card means lawful permanent residence: you can live, work, and study anywhere in the US, travel in and out of the country, and eventually apply for citizenship. The unusual part is what the lottery does not ask for. Almost every other US immigration route needs an employer or a relative to petition for you. The lottery needs neither — only an eligible country of birth and a basic education or work standard.
Selection is genuinely random. A computer draws entries from six world regions, and no single country can receive more than seven percent of the visas in any year. For DV-2026, roughly 129,500 people were selected from more than 20.8 million qualified entries — odds well under one percent — yet the entry takes only about twenty minutes.
Who can enter: three rules
1. You must be born in an eligible country
Eligibility is based on your country of birth — not your citizenship, and not where you live now. Each year the State Department excludes countries that sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the US over the previous five years. No official list has been published for DV-2027 yet; it arrives with that year’s instructions. The DV-2026 list shows the pattern: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong), Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
Born in an ineligible country? You may still have a path. If your spouse was born in an eligible country, you can claim eligibility through their country of birth — this is called cross-chargeability, and it is written into the law. A similar rule applies through a parent’s country of birth in certain cases. Check the official DV instructions at travel.state.gov for the exact conditions once they are published.
2. You need a high school education — or qualifying work experience
You must have either completed a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education (a high school diploma or its equivalent) or two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience, as classified in the US Department of Labor’s O*NET database. There is no English test and no minimum bank balance. Consular officers verify this requirement at the interview — applicants who cannot document it are denied even after being selected.
3. You need a valid passport
Starting with DV-2027, your entry must include your passport details and a clear scan of the passport’s biographic and signature pages — blurry or cropped uploads can get the entry rejected. If your passport expires soon, renew it before registration opens.
How the process works, step by step
1. Prepare before registration opens. You need your passport, a digital photo taken within the last six months that meets the strict photo specs (plain background, no glasses, face filling most of the frame — the official site provides a photo validator tool), and details for your spouse and every unmarried child under 21, including children who are not immigrating with you.
2. Submit exactly one entry at dvprogram.state.gov. Entries go only through the official Electronic Diversity Visa portal at dvprogram.state.gov, during the registration window. Enter your name exactly as it appears in your passport, in English alphabet characters, and pay the $1 registration fee electronically. Filing twice gets every entry under your name thrown out.
3. Save your confirmation number — it is how you check results. You receive it immediately after submitting; keep it until at least the end of the fiscal year. The State Department publishes results, usually in early May, on the same portal through the Entrant Status Check. The government never emails, mails, or calls winners — any “congratulations, you won” message is a scam, every time.
4. If selected, note your case number. Selection comes with a rank-order case number, and visas are processed in case-number order within each region, published monthly in the Visa Bulletin. A low number means an earlier interview; a very high number may never become current before the year ends.
5. File Form DS-260 promptly. This online immigrant visa application covers you and each immigrating family member — file it fast, because processing queues are long and the September 30 deadline does not move.
6. Gather documents and complete the medical exam. You will need birth certificates, police certificates from every country where you have lived since age 16, and proof of your education or work experience (plus court or military records if they apply to you). The medical exam must be done by a US-authorized panel physician — your country’s US embassy website lists the current ones.
7. Attend the consular interview. When your case number becomes current under the Visa Bulletin, the US embassy or consulate schedules your interview. Bring originals of everything. The $330 diversity visa application fee is paid per person, usually before or at the interview. If you are already in the US in legal status, you may instead apply to adjust status through USCIS.
8. Enter the US before the visa expires. Approved applicants receive an immigrant visa in their passport, typically valid for six months. Pay the $235 USCIS immigrant fee, travel to the US, and you become a permanent resident on entry. The hard rule: every diversity visa for the year must be issued by September 30. Miss it and the selection expires permanently — no extensions, no carryovers.
What it really costs — and what your odds really are
Think of it as a cheap ticket with expensive fine print. The entry is nearly free; everything after selection is not:
| Stage | Cost |
|---|---|
| Entry registration | $1 (new for DV-2027) |
| Diversity visa application fee | $330 per person |
| USCIS immigrant fee | $235 per person |
| Medical exam | Varies by country — check the panel physician’s fees |
| Documents, photos, translations, travel to the interview | Varies — budget several hundred dollars |
A single applicant pays about $566 in US government fees alone, before medical and document costs; a family of four pays the per-person fees four times over. None of it is refundable if the visa is denied — which is why getting the eligibility and paperwork right matters more than getting selected.
On odds: DV-2026 selected roughly 129,500 people from more than 20.8 million qualified entries — about 0.6 percent. And selection is not the visa: each year there are more selectees than the roughly 55,000 available visas, because many selectees never finish the process or fail to qualify. No method, agent, or timing trick improves your chance of being drawn. There is exactly one legitimate way to double a family’s odds: if both spouses qualify, each submits a separate entry listing the other. Two entries from one household, each fully legal.
Lottery or another route? A quick comparison
The lottery suits people with no US employer and no American relatives. How it compares with the alternatives:
| Route | What it takes | Timeline | Cost level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diversity Visa lottery | Birth in an eligible country, high school diploma | 1–2 years if selected; most are never selected | Very low |
| Family sponsorship | A US citizen or permanent-resident relative to petition for you | Years to decades, depending on category | Moderate |
| H-1B work visa | A US employer willing to sponsor you, usually plus a degree (itself lottery-capped) | Months to years | Low for the applicant |
| F-1 student visa | University admission and proof you can fund your studies | Months | High (tuition) |
| B1/B2 visitor visa | An interview showing strong ties to your home country (visit only — no work, no immigration intent) | Weeks to months | Moderate — see our US visitor visa guide for the current fee |
Skilled workers should not treat the lottery as their only plan: points-based systems like Canada’s Express Entry or Australia’s skilled migration program reward qualifications directly, and you can pursue them in parallel.
Five mistakes that get entries thrown out
Submitting more than one entry. The system detects duplicates, and the penalty is total: every entry under your name is disqualified. One person, one entry — the only exception is two qualifying spouses filing separately, each listing the other.
Using an old or edited photo. The photo must be taken within the last six months, unfiltered, with no glasses and a plain background. Many studios now offer “DV photos” that meet the specs.
Leaving a spouse or child off the entry. You must list your spouse and all unmarried children under 21 at the time of entry, even if they are not immigrating with you. Omitting them is discovered at the interview, and it ends the case.
A name that does not match the passport. Enter your name exactly as printed in your passport, using English alphabet characters — no nicknames, spelling variations, or reversed name order.
Letting an “agent” file for you. Agents cause a large share of disqualifications — wrong photos, invented details, duplicate filings, and the classic trick of keeping your confirmation number to demand payment if you are selected. The form takes twenty minutes. File it yourself.
How to spot the scams
The DV-2027 delay has been a gift to fraudsters. Fake websites are already “accepting” DV-2027 entries and charging fees for them; social media accounts promise to boost your chances or sell “guaranteed selection.” Four rules protect you completely: the only real entry site is dvprogram.state.gov; the real entry costs $1 and nothing more; nobody can improve your odds of being drawn; and the US government never notifies winners by email, letter, or phone call. If someone contacts you claiming you won and asks for money or personal details, it is fraud — report it and move on.
Frequently asked questions
When will DV-2027 registration open?
No date has been announced as of late September 2026; the State Department said it would publish the start and results dates “as soon as practicable.” The visa year is fixed: October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027. Watch dvprogram.state.gov — not social media — for the announcement.
My country is not on the eligible list. Can I still enter?
Possibly, through cross-chargeability: if your spouse was born in an eligible country, you can claim eligibility through their country of birth, as long as you both enter and immigrate together. A parent’s country of birth can work in certain cases too. The official DV instructions spell out the exact conditions.
If I am selected, is the green card guaranteed?
No. Selection only gives you the chance to apply. You must still file the DS-260, pass document checks and the medical exam, meet the education or work requirement, and be found admissible to the US. Each year there are more selectees than visas, and everything must be finished by September 30.
Can I enter while living in the US on another visa?
Yes. Entry depends on your country of birth, not where you live. If selected while in the US in legal status, you can generally apply to adjust status to permanent resident through USCIS — but the same September 30 deadline applies.
The green card lottery remains one of the few immigration routes where the barrier to try is almost zero and the payoff is life-changing. Enter carefully, enter once, keep your confirmation number, and treat selection as the start of a paperwork marathon rather than the finish line.
