Every year the Department of State administers a Diversity Immigrant Visa lottery for individuals from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. Randomly selected individuals will be eligible to apply for a green card. 55,000 visas will be available for the fiscal year 2025.  There is no cost associated with registering for the lottery. Those selected must pay normal fees to apply for adjustment of status or immigrant consular processing.

Individuals born in the following countries are not eligible to apply because nationals of these countries had more than 50,000 people immigrate to the United States in the previous five years:

• Bangladesh

• Brazil

• Canada

• China (People born in Macau SAR and Taiwan can participate)

• Colombia

• Dominican Republic

• El Salvador

• Haiti

• Honduras

• India

• Jamaica

• Mexico

• Nigeria

• Pakistan

• Philippines

• South Korea

• Venezuela

• Vietnam

Those who cannot register because their country of birth is excluded may be able to qualify through a spouse who was born in an eligible country or, in certain circumstances, through a parent’s country of birth.

Applicants may submit entries beginning Noon EST October 4, 2023, through Noon EST November 7, 2023. Entries should be submitted online at dvprogram.state.gov. Only one entry per person is permitted during each registration period. Individuals with more than one entry will be disqualified. Applicants should carefully follow the State Department’s lottery instructions.

The Department of State will randomly select individuals through a computer process and the results of the lottery will be available online beginning May 4, 2024.

We encourage nationals from eligible countries to apply for the lottery as an alternative or in conjunction with employment-based immigrant visa options.