USA Diversity Visa (Green Card) – How to Apply

The Diversity Visa Program provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for individuals from countries with relatively lower levels of immigration to the United States to secure a green card and build a future in the U.S. This vital program diversifies our immigration system and opens the door to educated, talented, hardworking people from around the world. Congress should protect and strengthen the Diversity Visa Program as part of efforts to modernize and expand the U.S. immigration system.

What is the Diversity Visa Lottery?

The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program provides individuals from countries with relatively lower levels of recent immigration to the United States an opportunity to apply for a visa and permanent residency (a green card).

The Diversity Immigrant Visa program is administered by the Department of State as a way to increase the diversity of the immigrants coming to live in the United States.

Each year, the Diversity Visa program allows more than 50,000 randomly selected people — only from countries that don’t send many immigrants to the United States — to obtain permanent residency (commonly called a “green card“). It’s a way for individuals and families who otherwise wouldn’t have any way to legally immigrate to the United States to get a green card.

Entering the Diversity Visa lottery (aka green card lottery) involves filling out a simple form online, and it doesn’t cost anything. You can enter the lottery every year from early October through early November. The winners are selected at random by a computer, and they and their immediate families receive green cards.

Where do USA diversity visa recipients come from?

Diversity visa recipients come from areas around the world that are underrepresented in other immigration programs. When the program was first established, most diversity immigrants came from European countries; over time, the majority shifted to African countries, while the share from Asia has increased slightly. Latin American and North American countries have represented a small share throughout the program’s existence, in contrast to other immigration programs.

Source: FWD.us analysis of State Department “Report of the Visa Office” for FYs 2001, 2011, and 2020. Regions are defined by the State Department. Note that FY2020 issuances were significantly reduced because of COVID-19.

Since FY 1995, more than 1.2 million diversity visa recipients and their families have been able to immigrate to the United States through the program.

This program has played a particularly important role in facilitating immigration from Africa. Since 1995, the Diversity Visa Program has enabled more than 480,000 individuals and their families from Africa to immigrate to the United States. Since the program started, more diversity immigrants have come from Africa than from any other region and, in recent years, the majority of African immigrants to the United States have come through the Diversity Visa Program.

USA Diversity Visa Cost

There is no fee to enter the green card lottery. However, if you’re selected and choose to apply for a Diversity Visa, you’ll need to pay the mandatory green card application fees. Once selected, you’ll receive information and details of the required fees on the Diversity Visa website at dvprogram.state.gov.

USA Diversity Visa Timeline

The winners of the green card lottery are typically notified 7 months after submitting their entry. Once selected, it can take up to 14 months to be scheduled for your interview and receive your visa, depending on how soon you apply for your visa.

For example, if you applied for the 2023 green card lottery during the registration period (Oct-Nov 2021), the winners would be announced sometime in May 2022. You would only be allowed to apply for your visa during fiscal year 2023, which is from Oct. 1, 2022 through Sept. 30, 2023. The sooner you apply during that year, the sooner you will be scheduled for your visa interview and be issued your visa.

Once you have your visa, you must enter the United States on or before the expiration date printed on your visa. A Diversity Visa is typically valid for up to 6 months from the date of it was issued.

USA Diversity Visa Eligibility

There are two main requirements when applying for a Diversity Visa:

1. Country of birth

In order to be eligible for the Diversity Visa, you must have been born in a country that sent less than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the past 5 years. There is some yearly variation in the countries that are eligible, but Canada, China, India, Mexico, and the United Kingdom never make the list, because these countries all send a large number of immigrants to the United States.

For the 2023 application period, nationals from the following countries were 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
• South Korea
• United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories
• Venezuela
• Vietnam

For more information, the State Department provides a list of all eligible countries.

If your native country is not eligible, there are still two ways you could qualify for the Diversity Visa:

• If your spouse was born in an eligible country, you can apply with your spouse and choose your spouse’s birth country on your application.
• If neither of your parents were legal residents in your own country of birth, you can choose your mother or father’s country of birth.

2. Education

The second major requirement for Diversity Visa applicants is that you must have at least a high school degree, or at least two years of work experience within the past five years in a profession that requires at least two years of training, as determined by the U.S. Department of Labor.

How to Enter the Green Card Lottery

Participating in the lottery is relatively easy. You fill out a form on the State Department’s website while it is available, from early October through early November. Most of the questions are easy to understand; however, there are a few places where these extra suggestions may be helpful:

• For “country of birth,” list the country you were born in, regardless of where you currently live. If the country has a different name now than it did when you were born, use the country’s current name.
• For “country of eligibility,” list either your country of birth, or—if you qualify to use your spouse’s or your parents’ birth countries—list that country. The country you currently live in is irrelevant for this question.
• Your spouse: You must list your spouse, even if he or she doesn’t live with you and does not intend to immigrate with you.
• Your children: You must list all of your biological children and all of your adopted children, no matter how old they are. You should also list all of your step-children under age 21, even if you are no longer married to their parent.

You’ll also need to include a recent photo (taken within the past 6 months) of you, your spouse, and your children. Follow the same photo requirements as for a green card application.

Once you submit your application, it’s essential to keep your confirmation number, because this is the only way to know if you’ve been selected

Selection and Notification

The winners of the Diversity Visa lottery are chosen at random by a computer program, with a certain number of visas allocated to each region of the world and no one country receiving more than 7% of the Diversity Visas available in any given year.

Although the exact dates vary, people who have entered the Diversity Visa lottery can check the status of their application beginning in early May the year following their application, by using the Entrant Status Check link on the Diversity Visa webpage. This is why it’s so important to save that confirmation number: Without it, you won’t be able to see if you’ve been selected or not.

If you’re selected in the green card lottery, you and your family members will have to meet the same requirements as any other U.S. green card applicant. Certain types of criminal records could make you ineligible for a green card. There are also some medical conditions that could make it difficult or impossible to get a green card.

Next Step?

If you’re selected in the green card lottery, it’s important to act fast, even though it could still be a year or more before you’re able to come to the United States. There are two reasons to act immediately: First of all, your application must be processed and your visa must be issued by the end of the fiscal year for which you were selected. Second, there are more people selected for the Diversity Visa than there are visas available, and if you wait until the last minute there might not be any visas left.

When you’re notified that you won the Diversity Visa, you’ll get a numerical rank, which will tell you when you can apply for your visa. Towards the end of July, you can check the State Department’s visa bulletin to see when you can submit your application. The first visas are available on October 1, the first day of the U.S. government’s fiscal year, and you can submit your application up to 90 days ahead of time.

If you’re outside the United States

The vast majority of people who are selected for the Diversity Visa aren’t in the United States, and will apply for a green card through the U.S. consulate in their home country. As soon as you see that there is a visa available, you should submit form DS-260 with the National Visa Center. Once your application is processed, it will be forwarded to the U.S. consulate, which will schedule a visa interview. If you meet all the requirements, you will be approved for your immigrant visa at the interview.

If you’re in the United States

If you’re in the United States in a temporary immigration status (technically known as “non-immigrant status”) when you win the Diversity Visa lottery, you’ll apply for a green card through United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) by filing Form I-485. You should submit your application as soon as a visa becomes available, based on the visa bulletin.

Avoiding Scams

Unfortunately, the Diversity Visa program is sometimes abused by scammers as a way to defraud hopeful immigrants. Here are a couple of tips to avoid common scams related to the Diversity Visa:

• Entering the Diversity Visa lottery is free. Anyone claiming to collect a fee on the Department of State’s behalf is scamming aspiring immigrants.
• The Department of State does not notify winners either by mail or by email; the only way to know if you’ve been selected is to check your application using Entrant Status Check.

Entering the Diversity Visa lottery is like entering any other lottery—the odds of winning aren’t high—but if you’re lucky, it can be a way to come to the United States even if you don’t have any family or employment contacts. If you’re married to a U.S. citizen, though, applying for a marriage green card is almost certainly the better option.

USA Diversity Visa FAQs

Am I eligible for the green card lottery if I’m married to a U.S. citizen or have other family in the United States?

If you’re married to a U.S. citizen, you could still apply for the Diversity Visa lottery. However, there’s little advantage to doing so, since you will almost always be able to come to the United States sooner by applying for a marriage-based green card instead.

If you have another family member who could sponsor your green card, it might still be worthwhile to apply for the Diversity Visa lottery. Some family-based immigration categories—for example, siblings of U.S. citizens—take a very long time, and you would be able to come to the United States much sooner if you won the Diversity Visa lottery.

How many Diversity Visas will go to each eligible country?

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) calculates the number of Diversity Visas allocated to each country based on a formula outlines in Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). No one country can received more than 7% of the total number of Diversity Visas available each year.

Is there a minimum age to apply for a Diversity Visa?

There is no minimum age requirement, but the need for a high school education or work experience disqualifies most people under 18 from applying.

How long does it take to get a Diversity Visa?

The winners of the green card lottery are generally notified 7 months after applying. It can take up to 14 months to for the government to schedule your interview and issue your visa, depending on how soon you apply for your visa.

Can I enter the Diversity Visa lottery if I’m in the United States?

Yes, you may enter the green card lottery from anywhere, including from within the U.S.

Can my spouse and I each submit separate entries?

Yes, each spouse may submit their own Diversity Visa entry. If one of the spouses is selected, then the other spouse will qualify for a green card as your dependent.

What if I’ve lost my confirmation number?

You need your confirmation number to access the Entrant Status Check — the online portal where you see whether or not you’ve been selected. If you lose your confirmation number, you can retrieve it using the email address you used to register for the lottery.

How much does it cost to enter the green card lottery?

There is no fee to enter the Diversity Visa lottery. However, if you’re selected and choose to apply for a Diversity Visa, you’ll need to pay the mandatory green card application fees.