This article focuses on the requirements and dates for the DV lottery 2025. The Diversity Visa Program is a program that is administered annually by the US Department of State. Section 203 (c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides for a class of immigrants known as diversity immigrants from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States.
For Fiscal Year 2025, up to 55,000 Diversity Visas (DVs) will be available. The entry submission period for DV-2025 is from 12:00 PM EDT (GMT -4) on October 4, 2023, to 12:00 PM EST (GMT -5) on November 7, 2023. The entry form will only be available for submission during this period only.
There is no cost to register for the DV program. Applicants who are selected for the program must meet simple but strict eligibility requirements to qualify for a DV. The Department of State distributes diversity visas among six geographic regions and no single country may receive more than seven per cent of the available DVs in any one year.
Countries ineligible for DV-Lottery 2025
For DV-2025, natives of the following countries and areas are not eligible to apply, because more than 50,000 natives of these countries immigrated to the United States in the previous five years. The countries include; Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, The People’s Republic of China (including mainland and Hong Kong born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea (South Korea), Venezuela, and Vietnam. Natives of Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible.
With the exception of the United Kingdom and its dependent territories, which are now eligible for DV-2025, there were no changes in eligibility from the previous fiscal year.
What Are The Eligibility Requirements For DV Lottery 2025?
1. Natives of countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States may be eligible to enter. If you are not a native of a country with historically low rates of immigration to the United States, there are two other ways you might be able to qualify.
- If your spouse is a native of a country with historically low rates of immigration to the United States, you can claim your spouse’s country of birth, provided that you and your spouse are named on the selected entry, are found eligible and issued diversity visas and enter the United States at the same time.
- If you are a native of a country that does not have historically low rates of immigration to the United States, but in which neither of your parents was born or legally resident at the time of your birth, you may claim the country of birth of one of your parents if it is a country whose natives are eligible for the DV-2025 programs.
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.
- 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. The Department of State will use the US Department of Labor’s O Net Online database to determine qualifying work experience.
- You should not submit an entry to the DV program unless you meet both requirements.
Entry Period
Applicants must submit entries for the DV-2025 program electronically at dvprogram.state.gov between 12:00 pm (noon), Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Wednesday, October 5, 2022, and 12:00 pm (noon), Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5), Tuesday, November 8, 2022. No late entries or paper entries will be accepted. The law allows only one entry per person during each entry period. Submission of more than one entry for a person will disqualify all entries for that person.
You can submit your Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form online at dvprogram.state.gov. Incomplete entries or entries sent by any other means will not be accepted. There is no cost to submit the online entry form.
You must provide all of the following information to complete your entry. Failure to accurately include all the required information will make you ineligible for a DV.
- Name- last/family name, first name, middle name- exactly as it appears on your passport.
- Gender- male or female.
- Birth date- day, month, year.
- The city where you were born.
- Country where you were born- use the name of the country currently used for the place where you were born.
- Country of eligibility for the DV program. Your country of eligibility will normally be the same as your country of birth.
- Entrant photographs. Recent photographs taken within the last six months, of yourself, your spouse and all your derivative children are included in your entry. You will be ineligible for a DV if the entry photographs for you and your family members do not fully meet these specifications or have been manipulated in any way. Submitting the same photograph that was submitted with a prior year’s entry will make you ineligible for a DV.
- Mailing address, in care of address line 1, address line 2, city/town, district/country, province/state postal code/zip code country.
- Country where you live today.
- Phone number (optional).
- Email address. An email address to which you have direct access and will continue to have direct access through May of the next year.
- Highest level of education you have achieved as of today. This includes; Primary school only, some high school, no diploma, high school diploma, vocational school, some university courses, university degree, some graduate-level courses, masters degree, some doctoral level courses or doctorate.
- Current marital status; unmarried, married and my spouse is not s US citizen or US Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR), Married and my spouse is a US citizen or US LPR. Divorced, widowed or legally separated. Enter the name, date of birth, gender, city/town of birth and country of birth of your spouse, and a photograph of your spouse meeting the same technical specifications as your photo. Failure to list your eligible spouse or listing someone who is not your spouse will make you ineligible as the DV principal applicant and your spouse and children ineligible as DV derivative applicants.
Number of children. List the name, date of birth, gender, city/town of birth and country of birth for all living, unmarried children under 21 years of age, regardless of whether they are living with you or intend to accompany or follow to join you, should you immigrate to the United States. Submit individual photographs of each of your children using the same technical specifications as your own paragraph.
DV Lottery 2025 Photo 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.
• 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
Do you want to scan an existing photo? In addition to the digital image requirements, your existing photo must be:
• 2 x 2 inches (51 x 51 mm)
• Scanned at a resolution of 300 pixels per inch (12 pixels per millimetre)
Taking photos of your baby or toddler
When taking a photo of your baby or toddler, no other person should be in the photo, and your child should be looking at the camera with his or her eyes open.
Tip 1: Lay your baby on his or her back on a plain white or off-white sheet. This will ensure your baby’s head is supported and provide a plain background for the photo. Make certain there are no shadows on your baby’s face, especially if you take a picture from above with the baby lying down.
Tip 2: Cover a car seat with a plain white or off-white sheet and take a picture of your child in the car seat. This will also ensure your baby’s head is supported.
How To Submit Your DV Lottery 2025 Application
To submit your DV Lottery 2025 application, visit https://dvprogram.state.gov. Please note that submission of more than one entry for a person will disqualify all entries for that person.
Selection of Entries
Based on the allocations of available visas in each region and country, the United States Department of State will randomly select individuals by computer from among qualified entries. All DV-2025 entrants must go to the Entrant Status Check using the unique confirmation number saved from their DV-2025 online entry registration to find out whether their entry has been selected in the DV program.
Entrant Status Check will be available on the E-DV website at dvprogram.state.gov from May 4, 2024, through at least September 30, 2025. If your entry is selected, you will be directed to a confirmation page providing further instructions, including information about fees connected with immigration to the United States. Entrant Status Check will be the ONLY means by which the Department of State notifies selectees of their selection for DV-2025. The Department of State will not mail notification letters or notify selectees by email. U.S. embassies and consulates will not provide a list of selectees. Individuals who have not been selected also ONLY will be notified through the Entrant Status Check. You are strongly encouraged to access Entrant Status Check yourself. Do not rely on someone else to check and inform you.
Commonly Asked Questions
1. Do you need a passport to make an application for the DV lottery 2025?
Unlike in the past years, you will not need a passport during the DV Lottery 2025 application. However, if you get selected come May next year, you will need it while filling out your DS-260.
2. What are the requirements for education or work experience?
U.S. immigration law and regulations require that every DV entrant must have at least a high school education or its equivalent or have two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience.
3. Is there a minimum age to apply for the E-DV Program?
There is no minimum age to apply, but the requirement of high school education or work experience for each principal applicant at the time of application will effectively disqualify most persons who are under the age of 18.
4. Which family members to include in your DV entry?
Spouse and Children. If you are legally married, you must list your spouse regardless of whether he/she lives with you or intends to immigrate to the United States. You must list your spouse even if you currently are separated from him/her unless you are legally separated. You must also list ALL your living children who are unmarried and under 21 years of age at the time of your initial DV entry, whether they are your natural children, your stepchildren (even if you are now divorced from that child’s parent), your spouse’s children, or children you have formally adopted in accordance with the applicable laws.
5. How to know if you have been selected?
You must use your confirmation number to access the Entrant Status Check available on the E-DV website at dvprogram.state.gov from May 4, 2024, through September 30, 2025. Entrant Status Check is the sole means by which the Department of State will notify you if you are selected, provide further instructions on your visa application, and notify you of your immigrant visa interview appointment date and time.
6. How many individuals will be selected for DV-2025?
For DV-2025, 55,000 Diversity Visas are available.
7. How much does it cost to enter the Diversity Visa program?
There is no fee charged to submit an electronic entry. However, if you are selected and apply for a Diversity Visa, you must pay all required visa application fees at the time of visa application and interview directly to the consular cashier at the U.S. embassy or consulate. If you are a selectee already in the United States and you apply to USCIS to adjust your status, you will pay all required fees directly to USCIS. If you are selected, you will receive details of the required fees with the instructions provided through the E-DV website at dvprogram.state.gov.
8. If I apply for a DV, but don’t qualify to receive one, can I get a refund of the visa fees I paid?
Visa application fees cannot be refunded. You must meet all qualifications for the visa as detailed in these instructions. If a consular officer determines you do not meet the requirements for the visa, or you are otherwise ineligible for the DV under U.S. law, the officer cannot issue a visa and you will forfeit all fees paid.
Check Out:
