What is the Diversity Visa Lottery?
The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of State, permits up to 55,000 diversity immigrant visas to be granted for fiscal year 2026 to persons from countries with low immigration rates to the United States. Foreign nationals are selected for eligibility to file an application for permanent residence under this program on the basis of a lottery.
When can I apply?
The U.S. Department of State will accept applications online for the FY2026 diversity lottery between 12 noon Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4) on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, and 12 noon Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5) on Wednesday, November 5, 2024. Applicants are encouraged to apply in the early part of the application period.
Who is eligible?
In order to enter the diversity visa lottery, an individual must be a national of an eligible country and must meet minimum education/work requirements.
Nationality:
No visas may be awarded to foreign nationals of countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the period of the last five years. For the FY 2026 diversity lottery, nationals of the following countries are NOT eligible to apply: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland and Hong Kong born), Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Venezuela, and Vietnam. Natives of Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible. With the exception of Cuba becoming ineligible, there were no changes in eligibility this year.
Nationality is defined by the location of a person’s birth. However, if a foreign national is ineligible to apply based on their country of birth, there are two alternate ways to qualify. First, a foreign national whose spouse was born in a country whose natives are eligible to apply may apply provided the spouse is eligible. Second, a foreign national who was born in a country whose natives are ineligible to apply is eligible to apply if neither of his/her parents were born in or legally resided in that country at the time of the foreign national’s birth.
Education/Work:
In addition to meeting the nationality requirement, in order to enter the diversity lottery, a foreign national must have either a high school education or its equivalent, or at least two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years training or experience to perform.
How do I Apply?
Diversity lottery submissions are only accepted electronically. The electronic applications are submitted via the U.S. Department of State’s Diversity Visa Lottery website.
Applicants may only submit ONE lottery entry; individuals who attempt to submit more than one application will be disqualified from participating in the lottery.
A diversity application must be accompanied by digital photographs of the applicant, the applicant’s spouse (if applicable), and the applicant’s dependent children (if applicable) taken in accordance with specific requirements set forth in detail on the U.S. Department of State’s website.
Note: each spouse may submit his/her own application if he/she otherwise qualifies. In completing the electronic entry form, the following data will be required: full name, date of birth, gender, city of birth, country of birth, country of eligibility for the program, photograph(s), mailing address, current country of residence, phone number (optional), email address, educational level, marital status, number of children, and information about spouse and children.
There is no cost to submit an online entry form. The U.S. Department of State strongly urges applicants to apply early as heavy demand in the last week of the registration period could result in website delays. They will not accept late entries or paper entries.
How does the Selection Process Work?
Winners of the lottery will be selected in a random computerized process. After entering the lottery, it is critical to safeguard the confirmation page as it contains information that is needed to check the status of the application. Applicants can check the status of their application using their confirmation number through the Entry Status Check section of the E-DV website. Lottery winners will not receive correspondence in the mail to confirm the selection of their application; the status of the application can only be checked through the E-DV website.
Selection in the lottery does not automatically confer lawful permanent resident status. In order to become a permanent resident of the U.S., a selected lottery winner’s (and their dependents) application(s) for permanent residence must be filed and approved by September 30, 2026. The permanent residence application may be filed either via adjustment of status (if the foreign national is in the U.S. in a valid nonimmigrant status) or via consular processing.
Finally, please note that more lottery “winners” are selected than there are immigrant visas available because some winners will not be eligible to become U.S. permanent residents of the U.S. Accordingly, some individuals who are selected to apply for diversity visas may ultimately be unable to become U.S. permanent residents if the available diversity immigrant visas are assigned prior to their permanent residence application being adjudicated.
Where Can I Get More Information?
Instructions regarding how to apply for the 2026 Diversity Visa Lottery may be obtained from the U.S. Department of State’s PDF instructions and U.S. Department of State’s website.
For more information or specific legal advice, please contact your designated Gibney representative or email info@gibney.com.