Foreigners can now apply for the eagerly anticipated US Diversity Immigrant Visa program. Applications for the DV-2026 program, also known as the US Diversity Immigrant Visa Program will be accepted from October 2, 2024, until November 5, 2024.
American laws provide for a class of immigrants known as ‘diversity immigrants’ from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. For Fiscal Year 2026, up to 55,000 Diversity Visas (DVs) will be available.
The Diversity Visa is an annual program that grants visas to individuals from low-immigration nations who meet tight qualifying requirements for the United States.
There is no cost to register for the DV program, but selectees who are scheduled for an interview will be required to pay a visa application fee before making their formal visa application where a consular officer will determine whether they qualify for the visa.
Applicants must submit entries for the DV-2026 program electronically at dvprogram.state.gov between 12:00 pm (noon), Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Wednesday, October 2, 2024, and 12:00 pm (noon) Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5), Tuesday, November 5, 2024.
The law allows only one entry per person during each entry period. The Department of State uses sophisticated technology to detect multiple entries. Submission of more than one entry for a person will disqualify all entries for that person.
To be eligible for a DV, applicants who are chosen for the program (selectees) must fulfill straightforward but stringent eligibility standards. Selected individuals are chosen by the Department of State using a random computer drawing. The Department of State distributes diversity visas across six geographic zones, and no single country may receive more than seven percent of the available DVs in any one year.
If someone helps you, you should be present when your entry is prepared so that you can provide the correct answers to the questions and keep your unique confirmation number and a printout of your confirmation screen. You must have the printout of your confirmation page and a unique confirmation number.
For DV-2026, natives of some 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 – Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada China, India, Mexico, Nigeria, etc.
Further, each DV entrant must meet the education/work experience requirement of the DV program.
It is crucial to understand that being selected does not guarantee you a visa. To obtain a DV to immigrate to the United States, selectees must still complete all qualifying conditions under US law.
DV-2024 entrants had until September 30, 2024 to check the status of their entry using this website. The DV-2024 registration period ran from October 5, 2022, until November 8, 2022. DV-2025 entrants should maintain their confirmation number for at least September 30, 2025.