Updated November 11, 2026

Lottery visa USA: how the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program works and how to qualify

The US visa lottery is formally called the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) Program. It is an annual random drawing run by the Department of State that makes up to 50,000 immigrant visas available each fiscal year to people from countries with low US immigration rates, according to USCIS. Congress created the program in the Immigration Act of 1990 with about 55,000 diversity visas per year, then reduced the pool starting in fiscal year 1999 under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA), as amended by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024. To qualify, you must be a native of a country that sent 50,000 or fewer immigrants to the US over the prior 5 fiscal years and have either a 12-year high school education or 2 years of qualifying work experience.

What is a visa lottery in the US?

Before establishing the modern Diversity Immigrant Visa Program in the Immigration Act of 1990, Congress enacted earlier, more limited programs for countries with lower rates of immigration to the United States, including the NP-5, OP-1, and AA-1 programs under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and the Immigration Amendments of 1988. Under the current program in Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), entrants from low-admission countries submit an online entry for a chance to apply for an immigrant visa in the next fiscal year.

Most selectees live abroad and apply for an immigrant visa at a US embassy or consulate through consular processing. A smaller number already live in the United States in a nonimmigrant or other legal status when selected, and USCIS processes their Form I-485 applications to adjust status to lawful permanent resident.

Country eligibility and cross-chargeability rules

According to the USCIS Policy Manual, a USCIS or consular officer confirms two core requirements when deciding your application: country of nativity (or chargeability) and education or work experience.

You must be a native of a low-admission country, defined by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as one from which the US admitted 50,000 or fewer immigrants during the prior 5 fiscal years. Natives of high-admission countries (more than 50,000 immigrants) cannot enter on their own birth country. DHS uses a statutory formula to divide visas across six geographic regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Regions whose admission total is greater than one-sixth of the worldwide total are high-admission regions, and low-admission regions receive a larger share. No single country may receive more than 7 percent of the total diversity visas in any fiscal year. The State Department publishes the eligible countries by region each year on its Diversity Visa Instructions webpage.

In Diversity Visa rules, native generally means born within an eligible country, but INA 202(b) allows cross-chargeability to a spouse's or parent's country of birth. You must identify your country of chargeability on your initial lottery entry, and all family members are charged to the principal applicant's region.

Cross-chargeability rules from the USCIS Policy Manual (Volume 7, Part G, Chapter 2, as of October 2026) (uscis.gov, as of November 2026)

Education and work experience requirements (and the O*NET rule, SVP 7.0+)

Every principal applicant must meet either the education requirement or the work experience requirement.

High school education or its equivalent means completing a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education in the US, or a comparable formal course in another country. Acceptable evidence includes a certified diploma equivalent to a US diploma or translated original school transcripts specifying the completed course of study. Equivalency certificates, including the General Educational Development (GED) certificate, do not satisfy the requirement.

To qualify through work experience, you need 2 years of experience within the past 5 years before applying for a visa, in an occupation requiring at least 2 years of training or experience. Officers check the US Department of Labor's O*NET OnLine database, where your occupation must fall in a Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) range of 7.0 or higher.

Before registering, run through this quick self-check to confirm you meet the statutory rules:

• Step 1, Check your birth country or cross-chargeability: Were you born in a low-admission country (50,000 or fewer immigrants to the US in the prior 5 fiscal years)? If not, were you married before entering to a spouse born in an eligible country who will apply with you, or were you born in an ineligible country where neither of your parents was born or resided at the time of your birth?
• Step 2, Check your 12-year formal education: Did you complete a full 12-year course of elementary and secondary education (or a comparable formal course abroad) and can you provide a certified diploma or translated original school transcripts? Remember that a GED or other equivalency certificate does not qualify.
• Step 3, If you do not meet the education rule, check your O*NET SVP score: Do you have at least 2 years of work experience within the last 5 years in an occupation classified in a Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) range of 7.0 or higher in the Department of Labor's O*NET OnLine database?

Registration, the random drawing, and selection odds

The State Department holds an online registration period of at least 30 days each year, usually between October and November of the fiscal year before the visas are issued (for example, October 6 to November 9, 2021 for fiscal year 2023 visas). You may submit only one entry per registration period, and submitting more than one voids all entries for that person.

After registration closes, the State Department holds a random computer drawing. Starting the following May, entrants check their status on the Electronic Diversity Visa Program webpage, where selectees view their selection letter. The State Department never notifies winners by hardcopy letter or email, and USCIS warns never to send money to anyone claiming by email or letter that you won.

Selection does not guarantee a visa. Because some selectees do not qualify or finish in time, the State Department selects more people than available visas. In fiscal year 2018, there were more than 14.6 million qualified entries and about 115,968 selectees for the 50,000 available visas. By our calculation from the USCIS Policy Manual's FY 2018 figures, about 0.79 percent of qualified entries were selected, with about 2.32 selectees per available visa.

Reading your rank number and the monthly Visa Bulletin

Your selection letter assigns a rank number tied to one of the six geographic regions (for example, a native of Albania gets a Europe rank number). For selectees outside the United States, your rank number determines when you may file your application for a Diversity Visa and when a visa number can be allocated. For selectees inside the United States, your rank number determines when you can file Form I-485 and when a visa number can be allocated.

Each mid-month, the State Department publishes the next month's Visa Bulletin with two Diversity Immigrant charts: Section B shows current month rank cut-offs for visa allocation, and Section C shows advance notification cut-offs for the following month.

Selectees legally in the US can file Form I-485 as soon as their rank number is below the cut-off in either Section B or Section C. Section C lets you file up to 6 or 7 weeks before a visa number can be allocated, and because September bulletins include October's advance chart, low rank numbers can file before the fiscal year begins on October 1 (for example, the September 2017 Visa Bulletin included the advance notification chart for October 2017, the first month of fiscal year 2018).

USCIS cannot approve Form I-485 until the first day of the month your rank number is below the Section B cut-off (or your region is listed as current) and the State Department allocates a visa. Some individual countries have lower cut-offs than their region, such as Egypt (12,600) versus Africa (15,300), or Iran (4,600) and Nepal (3,400) versus Asia (5,000) in March 2019. If the annual limit is reached, the category becomes unavailable, and if numbers run out mid-month, the State Department notifies USCIS directly.

Worked example from the USCIS Policy Manual: March 2019 Visa Bulletin (published February 8, 2019) (uscis.gov, as of November 2026)

Form I-485 checklist and interview preparation for winners in the US

To adjust status under INA 245(a), you must properly file Form I-485, be inspected and admitted or inspected and paroled into the United States, and be physically present in the US when you file. You must also have an immigrant visa number immediately available both at filing and at final adjudication, have no applicable adjustment bars under INA 245(c) (unless eligible to adjust under INA 245(i)), be admissible to the United States or qualify for a waiver of inadmissibility, and merit a favorable exercise of discretion.

Diversity Visa adjustment applicants are subject to all grounds of inadmissibility under INA 212(a) except the labor certification requirement under INA 212(a)(5)(D). While the public charge ground of inadmissibility applies, Diversity Visas are issued under INA 203(c), so applicants are not required to submit an Affidavit of Support on Form I-864.

Remember that your eligibility for a Diversity Visa is only confirmed at the time a USCIS officer adjudicates your adjustment application (or when a consular officer reviews your application abroad). Because the federal fiscal year runs from October 1 through September 30 and unused Diversity Visas cannot carry over, DOS must allocate your visa number and USCIS must complete adjudication by September 30 of the fiscal year for which you were selected (for example, by September 30, 2021 for a fiscal year 2021 selectee).

Our team compiled this Form I-485 document checklist from USCIS guidance so you have every required record ready for filing and adjudication:

• Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, completed and signed, with applicable filing fees.
• Copy of the principal applicant's State Department Diversity Visa selection letter from the Electronic Diversity Visa Program webpage.
• Copy of the receipt from the State Department for the Diversity Visa lottery processing fee.
• Two passport-style photographs and a copy of your birth certificate.
• Form I-693, Report of Medical Examination and Vaccination Record.
• Copy of your passport page with your nonimmigrant visa (if applicable) and copy of the passport page with your admission (entry) or parole stamp (if applicable), plus Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record.
• Certified diploma equivalent to a US high school diploma or translated original school transcripts showing completion of a 12-year course of study, or evidence of 2 years of work experience within the past 5 years in an O*NET occupation with an SVP range of 7.0 or higher.
• Marriage certificate or birth records proving cross-chargeability or derivative relationships, if applicable.
• Certified copies of court records (if you have ever been arrested) and Form I-601, Application for Waiver of Grounds of Inadmissibility (if applicable).

Spouses, children, CSPA age-outs, and family changes

Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 may accompany or follow to join you as derivatives, even if born in an ineligible country. They count against the annual DV limit and must get their visas or adjust status before September 30 of the same fiscal year. If the principal selectee dies before adjusting status, surviving family members cannot adjust status, because statutory survivor protections in the INA do not apply to Diversity Visa cases.

On your initial lottery entry, you must list your existing spouse and all existing natural-born, adopted, and stepchildren under 21 (with their name, date and place of birth, and photographs), even if they do not live with you or do not intend to immigrate with you. Only spouses or children who are already US citizens or lawful permanent residents are excluded. Omitting an existing spouse or child generally results in denial for both the principal and any derivative applicants.

Spouses or children acquired after submitting your entry (by marriage, birth, step-relationship, or adoption) before you become a permanent resident can still accompany or follow to join you, and a child born into a marriage that existed when the principal becomes a permanent resident may also accompany or follow to join. An adopted child who has not yet met the 2-year legal custody and joint residence rules when you immigrate can still join if they meet those requirements before the fiscal year ends. If you marry or adopt after adjusting status, you can petition for your family members through the family-based petition process.

Under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA), derivative children have protection against aging out when they turn 21. First, the officer finds the child's biological age on the first day of the month a visa becomes available in the current Visa Bulletin chart (not the advance notification chart). Next, the officer calculates the pending time, which is the number of days from the start of the DV registration period to the date of the DV selection letter. Subtracting that pending time from the child's biological age gives the CSPA age, and if the CSPA age is under 21 and the child remains unmarried, they qualify as a derivative child. In the USCIS Policy Manual's worked example, subtracting 7 months of pending time (October 1, 2017 to May 1, 2018) from a child aged 21 years and 4 months on November 1, 2018 gives a CSPA age of 20 years and 9 months, keeping the child under 21.

Consular processing winners: paying the USCIS Immigrant Fee

Selectees who immigrate through consular processing abroad receive a sealed immigrant visa packet, an Immigrant Data Summary, instructions for paying the USCIS Immigrant Fee, an Alien Number (the letter A followed by 8 or 9 numbers), and a DOS Case ID formatted for Diversity Visa immigrants as 4 numbers, 2 letters, and 5 numbers (such as 0000AB01234).

You must pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee online (separate from State Department immigrant visa application fees) so USCIS can process your packet and produce your Permanent Resident Card (Green Card). Only specific groups are exempt from the USCIS Immigrant Fee: children entering under orphan or Hague adoption programs, Iraqi and Afghan special immigrants, certain other Afghan nationals, returning lawful permanent residents (SB-1s), and K nonimmigrants. Diversity Visa immigrants are not exempt. USCIS strongly encourages paying after picking up your immigrant visa from the Department of State and before departing for the United States, though a family member, friend, employer, attorney, or accredited representative can also pay for you using your A-Number and DOS Case ID, or you can pay after arriving in the United States.

You can pay for yourself and accompanying family members in a single online transaction using a credit card, debit card, single pre-paid debit card with enough funds for everyone, or a US bank checking account and routing number via Automated Clearing House (ACH). When you arrive at a US port of entry with your sealed visa packet, you are admitted as a lawful permanent resident. If you do not pay the USCIS Immigrant Fee, you still keep your status as a lawful permanent resident, but you will not receive a physical Green Card and your only proof of status will be the temporary I-551 stamp that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) places in your passport at admission, which is valid for 1 year.

USCIS mails your Green Card to the US mailing address you gave the Department of State at your immigrant visa interview or the updated address you give the CBP officer when admitted. If you move after entering the United States, update your address through your USCIS online account and with the US Postal Service. You can track your card through USCIS Case Status Online, and if it does not arrive within 90 days of paying the fee or entering the United States (whichever is later), submit an inquiry through USCIS's online help form or e-request tool.

Practice example

How do you meet the Diversity Visa education or work experience requirement, and did you list all of your family members on your initial lottery entry?

State clearly whether you are qualifying through a formal 12-year high school education or through 2 years of qualifying work experience within the past 5 years. If you qualify by education, have your certified high school diploma or translated original academic transcripts ready to hand over, and remember that equivalency certificates like a GED do not count. If you qualify by work experience, name your exact occupation, the dates you worked over the last 5 years, and how your duties match an occupation in the Department of Labor's O*NET OnLine database with a Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) range of 7.0 or higher. For the family part of the question, confirm that every spouse and unmarried child under 21 who existed when you entered the lottery was listed on your initial entry, or explain with marriage or birth certificates if you married or had a child after submitting your entry.

A USCIS or consular officer confirms your Diversity Visa eligibility at adjudication, and failing the 12-year education or O*NET SVP 7.0 work requirement or omitting an existing spouse or child from the initial lottery entry generally leads to denial under the USCIS Policy Manual.

This is interview practice, not legal advice. For questions about your own case, talk to an immigration attorney. Visaful is not affiliated with the U.S. government or the Department of State.