The US Department of State oversees the Diversity Immigrant Visa Programme, which was established by statute. For Fiscal Year 2025 (DV-2025), up to 55,000 Diversity Visas (DVs) will be available.
The online registration period for the DV-2025 Program begins on Wednesday, October 4, 2023, at 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4) and concludes on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, at 12:00 noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5).
Submission of more than one entry for a person during the registration period will disqualify all entries for that person.
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Eligibility for DV-2025
Requirement No.1
You should be a native of countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. They include countries mostly from Africa, Asia, some selected countries in Europe, South America, Central America and Oceania.
Do not apply if your country is not listed. Your application will be automatically deleted from the system. Check the full list of eligible countries below.
Requirement No.2
Each DV applicant must meet the education/work experience requirement of the DV program by having either:
- at least a high school education or its equivalent, defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of formal elementary and secondary education;
OR - two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience to perform.
If you meet these 2 important requirements, then you are eligible to register for the DV-2025.
Completing your Electronic Entry for the DV-2025 Program
Submit your Electronic Diversity Immigrant Visa Entry Form (E-DV Entry Form or DS-5501), online at dvprogram.state.gov. Incomplete entries or entries sent by any other means will not be accepted. There is also no cost to submit the online entry form.
The US State strongly encourages applicants to complete the entry form themselves, without a “visa consultant,” “visa agent,” or other person who offers to help.
However, if someone helps you, you should be present when your entry is prepared so that you can provide the correct answers to the questions and keep your unique confirmation number and a printout of your confirmation screen.
After you submit a complete entry, you will see a confirmation screen containing your name and a unique confirmation number. Print this confirmation screen for your records.
Digital Passport Requirement for American Lottery
Note that the US State is very keen on the passport photo uploaded when fillng the online form. You can qualify for everything, but your passport photo alone can disqualify you if you don’t comply with their requirements.
Your photos or digital images must be:
- In color
- In focus
- Sized such that the head is between 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches (22 mm and 35 mm) or 50 percent and 69 percent of the image’s total height from the bottom of the chin to the top of the head. View the Photo Composition Template for more size requirement details.
- Taken within the last six months to reflect your current appearance
- Taken in front of a plain white or off-white background
- Taken in full-face view directly facing the camera
- With a neutral facial expression and both eyes open
- Taken in clothing that you normally wear on a daily basis
- Uniforms should not be worn in your photo, except religious clothing that is worn daily.
- Do not wear a hat or head covering that obscures the hair or hairline, unless worn daily for a religious purpose. Your full face must be visible, and the head covering must not cast any shadows on your face.
- Headphones, wireless hands-free devices, or similar items are not acceptable in your photo.
- Do not wear eyeglasses.
- If you normally wear a hearing device or similar articles, they may be worn in your photo.
You must upload your digital image as part of your entry. Your digital image must be: • In JPEG (.jpg) file format
• Equal to or less than 240 kB (kilobytes) in file size
• In a square aspect ratio (height must equal width)
• 600×600 pixels in dimension
