US has introduced a registration fee to register for the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery program. A registration fee of $1 has been set for all those registering for the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery program. The $1 fee to register for the DV lottery will be in addition to the $330 Diversity Visa Application fee or the Diversity Immigrant Lottery Fee.
DV Lottery Program Fee
The DV lottery program will now require a $1 registration fee, effective September 16, 2025, to cover operational costs associated with the annual lottery.
In another change, the State Department informs that, ‘No fee will be collected at the time of submission of a petition, but a processing fee may be collected at a later date.’
By creating a new fee for the lottery registration, the Department will more fairly put the cost of managing the lottery on those who register for it. This change will also help to reduce specious registrations by those seeking to exploit unsuspecting potential entrants.
Diversity Visa Immigrant Visa Program
The Department of State administers the Diversity Visa (DV) immigrant visa program, which is an annual program for immigration to the United States. Up to 55,000 immigrants can enter the United States each year from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.
National Defense Authorization Act’s amendment of NACARA’s provisions has reduced the DV-2026 annual limit to approximately 52,000. DVs are divided among six geographic regions. No one country can receive more than seven percent of the available diversity visas in any one year.
The Department announces a period of not less than thirty days during each fiscal year, within which foreign nationals may submit petitions for approval of eligibility to apply for visa issuance during the following fiscal year.
All DV-2025 diversity visa program applicants can obtain their visa or adjust status by the end of the fiscal year 2025, which is September 30, 2025.
All DV-2026 diversity visa program applicants can obtain their visa or adjust status by the end of the fiscal year 2026, which is September 30, 2026.
Entitlement to immigrant status in the DV category lasts only through the end of the fiscal (visa) year for which the applicant is selected in the lottery. The year of entitlement for all applicants registered for the DV-2026 program ends as of September 30, 2026. DV visas may not be issued to DV-2026 applicants after that date.
The online registration period for the DV-2026 Program began on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, and concluded on Thursday, November 7, 2024. One can check the status of their DV-2026 entry through the Entrant Status Check on the E-DV website until September 30, 2026.