Diversity Visa Lottery Now Open for FY 2025

WHAT IS THE DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY?

The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (“DV Program” or “DV-2025 Program”) is a government lottery program that provides up to 55,000 immigrant visas (aka green cards) to persons from countries with low U.S. immigration rates.

Under this program, foreign nationals who are selected through a randomized computer drawing are granted the opportunity to apply for U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident (“green card”) status. The DV Program is administered by the U.S. Department of State, and there is no cost to register.

WHEN CAN I APPLY?

The online registration period for the DV-2025 Program is open from 12:00 pm (ET) on October 4, 2023, to 12:00 pm (ET) on November 7, 2023. The entry form will only be available for submission during this time.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

An individual, their spouse, or their parent, must have been born in a country with historically low immigration rates to the United States (i.e., less than 50,000 U.S. immigrants in the last five years) in order to be eligible to enter the DV Program.

For DV-2025, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong SAR), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea (South Korea), Venezuela, and Vietnam.

Natives of Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible for DV-2025.

Eligibility is generally determined by the location of a person’s birth. However, if a foreign national is ineligible to apply based on his/her country of birth, there are two alternative ways to qualify: First, a foreign national whose spouse was born in an eligible country may apply, provided that both the individual and spouse are named on the selected entry, are found eligible, and enter the U.S. simultaneously. Second, a foreign national who was born in a country whose natives are ineligible may be eligible to apply if neither parent was born in or legally resided in that country at the time of the foreign national’s birth.

In addition to the nationality requirement, the applicant must also have either a high school diploma or its equivalent or at least two years of work experience in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience. The Department of State has a list of eligible occupations on their website.

Applicants do not need to live or be physically present in the United States to apply for the DV-2025 Program.

HOW DO I APPLY?

Applicants must submit the free Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form online at state.gov during the entry period indicated above. No late entries or paper entries will be accepted.

In past years, the last week of the registration period saw heavy demand on the application website, causing website delays. We therefore recommend submitting the Entry Form as early as possible during the entry period.

By law, an applicant may submit only ONE lottery entry. Individuals who attempt to submit more than one entry will be disqualified.

Applicants should closely follow the detailed instructions for registration on the Department of State’s website.

Upon submission, the applicant will receive a unique confirmation number that will allow for case status lookup.

HOW DOES THE SELECTION PROCESS WORK?

DV Program lottery winners are selected via a randomized electronic lottery. All DV-2025 applicants must go to the Entrant Status Check website and enter their unique confirmation number from the online registration to find out whether their entry has been selected.

Entrant Status Check will be available starting at 12:00 p.m. (ET) on May 4, 2024, through at least September 30, 2025. Lottery winners will not receive correspondence in the mail.

Selection in the DV Program does not automatically confer U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident status – only the opportunity to apply for it.

HOW DO I APPLY FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCE IF I AM SELECTED?

Applications for U.S. Lawful Permanent Resident (“LPR”) status can be completed by filing an adjustment of status application if lawfully present in the U.S. or by filing an application for an immigrant visa at a U.S. Consulate abroad. There are fees and eligibility requirements associated with the application for permanent residence, including a medical exam. If an applicant is selected in the DV-2025 Program, the actual application for permanent residence must be filed and approved by September 30, 2025.If the application is not approved by that date, the application is invalidated.

Note: more individuals are selected in the DV Program than there are immigrant visas/green cards available. As a result, some individuals who are selected in the DV Program may ultimately be unable to become U.S. LPRs if the available immigrant visas/green cards are allocated prior to approval of the individual’s application for permanent residence.

WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION?

Instructions regarding how to apply for the DV-2025 Program may be obtained from the official U.S. Department of State website at dvprogram.state.gov and at DV-2025 Program Instructions.

For more information or specific legal advice, please contact your designated Gibney representative or email info@gibney.com.