The Diversity Visa (DV Lottery): A Plain-Language Guide

The Diversity Visa (DV) program — commonly known as the “green card lottery” — is an annual lottery for up to 55,000 immigrant visas distributed to natives of countries with historically low rates of immigration to the US. It is the only US green card pathway that works on pure chance rather than employer sponsorship, family connection, or extraordinary qualifications.

For people from eligible countries, the DV is often the only realistic path to a green card. It costs nothing to enter, requires minimal eligibility (basically a high school education or qualifying work experience), and about 1 in 100 entrants is selected. The challenge is that it’s also one of the most heavily scammed immigration programs in the world — millions of entrants annually make it a target for fraudsters, fake “visa consultants,” and websites that charge money for a free government process.

A note: If you’re worried about encountering US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at any point in this process, our Know Your Rights guide covers what to do.

This page covers what the DV program actually is, who qualifies, which countries are eligible each year, how to enter the lottery (safely, for free, through official channels only), what happens if you’re selected, what it costs after selection, how long the full process takes, and what quietly kills DV applications.

What the Diversity Visa actually is

The DV program was created by the Immigration Act of 1990 and is administered by the US Department of State. Each fiscal year, up to 55,000 immigrant visas (effectively around 50,000 after various statutory set-asides) are made available by lottery to natives of countries that have had low rates of immigration to the US over the previous five years.

Key features:

Pure lottery. Selection is random among all qualified entrants.
Free to enter. No fee to submit an entry on the official State Department website.
No sponsor required. No employer, family member, or other petitioner is needed.
Immediate green card. Winners who complete the process get lawful permanent residence directly, not a non-immigrant status that converts later.
Spouse and unmarried children under 21 are included if listed on the entry.
One entry per person per year during the registration period.

The limitations:

Country of birth matters. You must be a native of a qualifying country (specific exceptions below).
Education or experience requirement. You need either a high school education (12 years of formal elementary and secondary education) or two years of qualifying work experience in an occupation requiring at least two years of training.
The lottery is extraordinarily competitive. Typically 10–15 million qualifying entries per year for about 50,000 visas — roughly 1 in 200 to 1 in 300 odds.
Selection is not approval. Being selected means you get to apply; not all selectees get visas, due to processing capacity and oversubscription.
Time-limited process. Selectees must complete the visa process within the one-year fiscal year window. No extensions.

Who qualifies

Two requirements:

1. You are a native of a qualifying country. The list changes each year based on which countries have had high US immigration rates over the previous five years. More on the eligibility list below.

2. You have either:

A high school education or its equivalent (12 years of formal elementary and secondary education), OR
Two years of work experience in the last five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience to perform (as classified by the Department of Labor’s O*NET database at Job Zone 4 or 5).

That’s it. There are no other eligibility requirements for entering — no English language test, no age limit (though you must be born in a qualifying country), no financial threshold, no family or employer requirements.

What “native of a qualifying country” means

Nativity means country of birth, not country of citizenship or current residence. In most cases, you are a native of the country where you were born.

Three exceptions that allow you to claim a different country:

Spouse’s country of birth. If your spouse was born in a qualifying country, you can claim that country as yours (both of you enter, both of you get visas if selected). This is called the “cross-charge” option.
Parents’ country of birth. If you were born in a non-qualifying country while your parents were not residents of it (for example, your parents were temporarily visiting or working there and you happened to be born there), you can claim your parents’ country of birth.
Current country of residence. This exception is rare and specific to certain diplomatic or official status.

Eligible countries for the current year

The specific list of eligible countries changes every year based on historical US admission data. Countries whose nationals have received more than 50,000 immigrant visas to the US over the previous five years are excluded.

Countries that have been excluded in recent lottery rounds include: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland), Venezuela, Vietnam.

The specific list changes each year. Natives of countries that have had less US immigration recently become eligible; those that have had more become excluded. Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan have historically been treated separately from mainland China for DV purposes, so natives of those jurisdictions have sometimes been eligible when mainland China was not.

For the official current year’s eligible country list, check travel.state.gov.

How to enter the lottery (and the single most important warning)

The lottery is entered through only one website: dvprogram.state.gov.

Entry is 100% free. There is no cost to apply. There are no “fees,” “service charges,” or “application fees” at the entry stage.

Any website, agent, broker, email, text message, phone call, or physical office that charges money to submit a DV entry is either:

Charging you for a service you can do yourself for free (ethically dubious but not necessarily fraudulent), or
A scam that will take your money and never submit anything, or
A scam that will take your money AND file a fraudulent entry that disqualifies you.

The DV program is one of the most heavily scammed immigration programs in the world. Scammers target potential entrants through social media ads, fake government-lookalike websites, text messages, phone calls, and in-person “visa consultants” in countries where DV applicants live. Common scam patterns:

Websites that mimic the official State Department site and charge “application fees”
Emails or texts claiming “you’ve been selected” and asking for a payment to “release your visa”
“Agents” who claim to improve your chances of selection (impossible — the lottery is random)
“Winners” asked to pay fees to someone other than official State Department channels
Websites selling photos “formatted for DV submission” (photo requirements are strict but free to meet)

Rules to protect yourself:

Only enter at dvprogram.state.gov
Pay nothing to enter
Keep your confirmation number private
The official State Department never emails or texts you to say you’ve won; selection results are checked at dvprogram.state.gov by entering your confirmation number
Government fees are only paid at the official visa interview stage, directly to the US embassy or consulate

How to enter correctly

Each year’s entry period is typically early October to early November. The exact dates are announced by the State Department each year.

What you need:

Current passport (passport number is now required at the entry stage)
Recent digital photograph meeting specific requirements (clear face, specific dimensions, white background — see detailed State Department requirements)
Full name as it appears on your passport
Date of birth
Country of birth
Country of eligibility (if different, with explanation)
Spouse’s information (if married, including whether they will immigrate with you)
Children’s information (biological, adopted, or stepchildren, if they are under 21 and unmarried, even if they won’t immigrate)
Education level or work experience details

Entry steps:

Go to dvprogram.state.gov
Click the entry link during the official entry period
Fill out Form DS-5501 (electronic form) with all required information
Upload the required photos
Submit
Save your confirmation number. This is the only way to check your selection status later.

Important rules

One entry per person. Submitting multiple entries disqualifies you.
Married couples both enter. Each spouse should submit their own entry, with the other spouse listed as a dependent. If one spouse is selected, the other can immigrate as a derivative.
Children must be listed. Even children not immigrating with you must be included on the entry. Omitting an eligible child is grounds for disqualification.
Information must match passport. Errors or inconsistencies between your entry and your passport can disqualify you.
Photo must meet strict requirements. The State Department rejects many entries due to photo problems. Use the official photo tool at the State Department website to verify compliance.

What happens if you’re selected

Results are typically published in early May of the year following the entry (so an entry in Oct-Nov of 2026 produces results in May 2027 for immigrant visas during the fiscal year starting October 2027).

Checking your status: Go to dvprogram.state.gov and enter your confirmation number. This is the only official way to check. If you don’t have a confirmation number, you cannot check status. This is why the confirmation number from your entry is so important.

Selection does not guarantee a visa. The State Department selects more people than there are visas available, because historically many selectees don’t complete the process. If you are selected, you are given a “case number” that determines your position in the processing queue. Lower numbers process first; higher numbers may never process at all if the visas run out.

If you are selected, you have until September 30 of the fiscal year to complete the visa process. This is a hard deadline — the fiscal year ends and the visas are gone.

The post-selection process

Complete Form DS-260 (Immigrant Visa Electronic Application) through the Consular Electronic Application Center.
Pay the DV surcharge of $330 per person (as of current fees) to the State Department.
Attend medical examination by a State Department-approved panel physician.
Gather civil documents (birth certificates, marriage certificates, police certificates from every country you’ve lived in for more than six months since age 16, military records, court records if any).
Receive interview appointment at a US embassy or consulate.
Attend the interview. The consular officer reviews documents, assesses eligibility, and makes a final determination.
If approved, receive an immigrant visa and travel to the US within six months to activate permanent resident status.

For selectees already in the US

If you are selected and are currently in the US in valid non-immigrant status, you may be able to apply for adjustment of status through USCIS rather than consular processing. The timing is tight, and the fiscal year deadline still applies.

What it costs

To enter the lottery: Nothing.

For selected applicants:

DV program fee: $330 per person (paid to the State Department)
Medical examination: $200–500 (varies by country; some consulates have higher costs)
Required civil documents: $50–200+ (varies by country and documents needed)
Translation of documents into English (if needed): $100–500
Travel costs for consular interview: varies
USCIS Immigrant Fee (after visa issuance, before entering US or after entry): $235 per person

For adjustment of status (if in the US):

Form I-485: $1,440 per family member

Attorney fees (if used): The DV process is often simpler than other immigration applications, but complications (prior immigration issues, criminal history, inadmissibility concerns, document problems) often warrant representation. Attorney fees typically range $1,500–5,000.

Total cost for a typical approved DV case (family of three, consular processing): $1,500–3,500 in government and medical fees, plus any attorney fees and travel costs.

How long the process takes

Entry period: Early October to early November (about one month).

Results published: Early May of the following year (about 6 months after entry closes).

Processing window: October 1 of the next fiscal year to September 30 of the following fiscal year (12 months).

Full timeline from entry to green card: Typically 18–24 months, assuming your case number processes within the fiscal year.

Important timing considerations:

Low case numbers process early in the fiscal year
High case numbers may never process — the fiscal year ends and the visas run out
You can track approximate case number progress through the monthly Visa Bulletin

What kills DV applications

In rough order of frequency:

1. Entry disqualifications. Multiple entries, incorrect information, missing children on the entry, non-compliant photos, failure to meet nativity requirements.

2. Case number never processes. You were selected but your number was too high for the visa supply.

3. Education or work experience not documented. Can’t produce evidence of a high school diploma or qualifying work experience.

4. Civil document problems. Birth certificate, marriage certificate, or police certificate from a required country can’t be obtained, is defective, or shows disqualifying information.

5. Inadmissibility. Prior immigration violations, criminal history, certain health conditions, prior unlawful presence, prior fraud. Many grounds have waivers available but add complexity and time.

6. Fiscal year deadline missed. The visa process isn’t completed by September 30 of the fiscal year. The visa is gone.

7. Fraud or misrepresentation. False statements in the entry or at the interview. DV fraud has serious long-term consequences, including a permanent bar to future US immigration.

For spouses and children

Spouses and unmarried children under 21 can immigrate as derivatives if listed on the principal applicant’s entry.

Spouses: If both spouses are eligible to enter, both should submit separate entries listing the other as a dependent. If one spouse is selected, the other immigrates as a derivative. If both are selected, either can be the principal.

Children:

Biological, adopted, and stepchildren all qualify as children
Must be unmarried and under 21 at the time of visa issuance
Must be listed on the principal applicant’s original entry (CSPA may protect children who age out during the process)
Children not listed on the original entry cannot be added later and will not qualify

Children born after the entry: A child born after the entry but before immigration can be added. A child who was born before the entry but omitted from it cannot be added, which is one of the most heartbreaking disqualifications in the entire system.

Where to go from here

If this is your first time looking at the DV program:

Is your country of birth currently eligible? Check the official State Department site for the current year’s list. The list changes annually.
Do you meet the education or work experience requirement? High school diploma or two years of experience in a Job Zone 4 or 5 occupation.
Are you in the official entry window? Entry is only open for about one month each year, typically October to early November.
Do you understand the scam landscape? The only official site is dvprogram.state.gov. Pay nothing to enter. Avoid “agents” and “consultants” who charge for entry.
Are you prepared to act quickly if selected? The fiscal year deadline is unforgiving. Have your documents ready in case your number is called.

The Diversity Visa is one of the most equalizing programs in US immigration. For people from eligible countries, it offers a direct path to a green card that doesn’t require family connections, employer sponsorship, extraordinary ability, or substantial investment capital. The odds are long, but the cost of trying (nothing, if you enter correctly through official channels) means there’s rarely a reason not to enter in a year you qualify.

The Beyond the Form DV Playbook (coming soon) walks through every strategic decision point — how to prepare photographs that meet the strict requirements, how to document education or work experience, how to handle cross-chargeability for spouse’s country, how to prepare for the consular interview, and how to handle common post-selection complications like missing civil documents and inadmissibility concerns. If you want to be notified when it launches, sign up below.