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If you applied for the previous Diversity Visa Lottery, (DV-2003), click here.

What is the Diversity Visa Lottery Program?
Each year, 50,000 immigrant visas are made available through a lottery to people who come from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. None of these visas are available for people who come from countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the past five years.

The State Department holds the lottery every year, and randomly selects approximately 110,000 applicants from all qualified entries. The State Department selects the approximately 110,000 applications since many will not complete the visa process. However once 50,000 are issued or the fiscal year ends, the lottery is closed.

If you receive a visa through the Diversity Visa Lottery Program you will be authorized to live and work permanently in the United States. You will also be allowed to bring your spouse and any unmarried children under the age of 21 to the United States.

The latest visa lottery is for fiscal year 2004. However, the applications must be received between noon on Monday, October 7, 2002 and noon on Wednesday, November 6, 2002 (not before or after). Persons who are selected are entitled to apply for an immigrant visa that will be issued between October 1, 2003 and September 30, 2004.

Am I Eligible?
You must be from a qualified country and meet an education or training requirement:

You or your spouse must be a native of a country that is eligible to participate in the Diversity Visa Lottery (if you were born in an ineligible country but your spouse was born in an eligible country, you can claim your spouse’s country of birth as long as you are issued visas and enter the U.S. simultaneously). You may also be eligible to apply if your parent was born in a country that is eligible to participate (if you were born in an ineligible country, but neither of your parents was born there or resided there at the time of your birth, you may be able to claim nativity in one of your parents’ country of birth). For a list of eligible countries, click on the appropriate region:

You must also have a high school diploma or the equivalent, defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education; OR you must have two years of work experience within the last five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience to perform.

How Do I Apply?
Follow all directions exactly. Millions of applications are rejected each year for failure to follow the directions.

Example of addressing envelope...
An applicant who was born in Australia and now lives in France may submit one entry to the appropriate address for Oceania; the envelope should look like this:

Note: All entries by an applicant will be disqualified if more than ONE entry for the applicant is received, regardless of who submitted the entry.

How Much Does the Lottery Cost?
There is no fee for entering the diversity visa lottery. If you win, you must pay a fee for an immigrant visa and a separate visa lottery surcharge.

While you may apply for the lottery yourself without a fee, you may also choose to have a private service assist you. These firms will generally charge between $50-$70. An attorney will typically charge more.

A qualified entry received directly from you has an equal chance of being selected by the computer at the Kentucky Consular Center as does an entry received through a private service or attorney who completes the entry for you. There is no advantage to mailing early, or mailing from any particular place. Every entry received during the mail-in period will have an equal random chance of being selected within its region. However, receipt of more than one entry per person will disqualify the person from registration, regardless of the source of that entry.

Please note: There is no fee charged by the U.S. Government for sending an entry to the lottery program. A diversity processing fee is only charged after you win, when you apply for the diversity visa at a U.S. Consular office. At that time, you and each accompanying family member will be charged a diversity visa processing fee and an immigrant visa fee. Both of these fees are not refundable if the visa is refused. If the visa is issued, a separate visa issuance fee is charged for each visa.

How Can I Find Out If I Won?
Applicants will be selected at random by computer from among all qualified entries. Those selected will be notified by mail between May and July 2003 at the addresses listed on their applications. Only the winners will be notified. Persons not selected will NOT receive any notification. U.S. embassies and consulates will NOT be able to provide a list of successful applicants.

Winners will be sent instructions and information on fees. Being selected as a winner in the diversity visa lottery does not automatically guarantee that you will be issued a visa, even if you are qualified. The number of entries selected is greater than the number of immigrant visas available, because not everyone selected will be qualified for the visa or will choose to complete the processing. Once all 50,000 visas have been issued, the diversity visa program for the year will end.

DV-2003 visas will be issued between October 1, 2003 and September 30, 2004. Applicants must meet ALL eligibility requirements under U.S. law in order to be issued visas. Processing of entries and issuance of diversity visas to successful applicants and their eligible family members MUST occur by midnight on September 30, 2004. Under no circumstances can diversity visas be issued or adjustments approved after this date, nor can family members obtain diversity visas to follow to join the applicant in the U.S. after this date.

The registration period is over for the previous Diversity Visa Lottery, DV-2003, which ran from October 1, 2001 through October 31, 2001. Winners were contacted by mail, and only those selected were notified. If you did not receive written notification, then you were not selected for the DV-2003 lottery. Neither the National Visa Center nor U.S. embassies and consulates abroad will be able to provide a list of successful applicants.

If you choose to apply for DV-2004, please note that there are changes to the entry process and format. Follow the directions exactly as described in the new instructions.