The Green Card Lottery (DV-2028): Eligibility, Entry and Odds

An honest status update first

Historically, DV registration opened every fall for about five weeks, typically early October through early November. As of October 14, 2026, no official DV-2028 entry period has been announced, and the official entry site (dvprogram.state.gov) says entries are not being accepted. DV-2027 — whose registration would normally have opened in fall 2025 — also never opened. Congress has not repealed the program, and the statute still authorizes 55,000 diversity visas per fiscal year, but the old calendar pattern no longer tells you anything. Check dvprogram.state.gov and travel.state.gov directly; do not trust third-party sites claiming dates the government has not published.

What the program is

Each fiscal year, the Diversity Visa program makes up to 55,000 immigrant visas available to people from countries with historically low immigration to the United States. Visas are distributed across six geographic regions, with no single country receiving more than 7% of the total. Selection is by computerized random lottery — there is no merit ranking, no interview for selection itself, and no fee to enter.

Who qualifies: two tests

Eligibility rests on exactly two requirements, and both are checked:

1. Country of birth. You must be a native of a qualifying country — determined by birthplace, not citizenship or current residence. Countries that sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the US in the previous five years are excluded. The exclusion list is rebuilt every year; in recent cycles it has included Canada, China (mainland), India, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland), Vietnam, and others — but no country's status for DV-2028 is confirmed until the official instructions are published. Limited exceptions exist: you may claim the birth country of a spouse or parent under the "alternate chargeability" rules in specific circumstances.
2. Education or work experience. You need either a high school education or its equivalent (a completed 12-year course of primary and secondary education), or two years of qualifying work experience within the five years before the visa application, in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience (generally O*NET Job Zone 4 or 5).

There is no minimum age to enter, but the education/work requirement sets a practical floor. There is also no English requirement and no minimum wealth requirement to enter — though you must later show you will not become a public charge.

How to enter (when the window opens)

• Entry is electronic only, at dvprogram.state.gov — the single official site. There are no paper entries and no late entries.
• Entry is free. Anyone charging you a "lottery fee" is running a scam (see below).
• One entry per person per cycle. Submitting more than one entry disqualifies all of them. Married couples can each submit their own entry, effectively doubling the household's chances, and each can list the other as a derivative.
• You need a recent passport-style digital photo meeting strict technical specs (size, background, no glasses, no shadows). Photo rejection is one of the top reasons entries are invalidated.
• Save your confirmation number. The State Department does not email winners — you check your own status with the confirmation number through the Entrant Status Check on dvprogram.state.gov, typically starting the following May.

Selection and what winners must do

Being selected is not the same as getting a visa. Each year the Department selects more people than there are visas (roughly 100,000+ selectees for 55,000 visas) because many will not complete the process. Selectees receive a case number; lower numbers are processed first within each region. Then:

1. File Form DS-260 (immigrant visa application) online promptly — delay costs you your place in line.
2. Gather civil documents: birth certificate, police certificates, passport, education/work evidence.
3. Attend the consular interview (usually in your home country) with a medical exam.
4. If approved, you must enter the US before the fiscal year ends on September 30 — diversity visas cannot be carried over. Unused selectee slots simply expire.

The whole post-selection process is a race against the September 30 deadline. High case numbers in oversubscribed regions sometimes never get an interview slot.

Realistic odds

With roughly 55,000 visas and typically 15–25 million qualified entries per cycle, the headline odds look like a fraction of one percent — but that understates any individual's chances because odds vary enormously by region and country. Smaller regions and less-entered countries have meaningfully better odds than the global average suggests. The lottery is free, so the expected-value math favors entering every year you are eligible.

Scam warning

The DV program is surrounded by fraud. The State Department will never email, call, or text you to say you won — status is checked only by you, on dvprogram.state.gov, with your confirmation number. Ignore any message asking for payment to "release" your visa or "guarantee" selection. Legitimate help with the DS-260 and interview is fine; paying anyone for entry or selection is not.