DV Lottery 2027 (DV-2027): how to apply

What is confirmed and what is only reported

Checked on 23 October 2026. Confirmed means published by the U.S. government. Reported means it comes from law firms and news sites reporting on the court case, and the State Department has not announced it yet.

Until the dates appear on travel.state.gov and dvprogram.state.gov, treat every date on this page as provisional.

The court order and the 30-day window

Registration usually opens in early October. For DV-2027 it did not open in 2025, and on 14 October 2026 a federal judge in the Southern District of California issued a preliminary injunction in Red Eagle Law v. Rubio ordering the State Department to run it (Fragomen). The deadlines were then moved at both sides' request. As reported, the amended order sets:

• 29 October 2026: the State Department announces the registration period, the entry website and the requirements.
• 1 November 2026: registration opens, for 30 days.
• 3 December 2026: the people selected are notified.

Thirty days from 1 November would end around 1 December, but the closing date that counts is the one in the official announcement. Don't leave it to the last days: past instructions warn that heavy demand near the end can slow the website. A higher court could also still pause the order and change the timetable.

DV-2027 visas can only be issued until the end of the U.S. fiscal year, 30 September 2027, so people selected will have less time than usual to complete their cases.

New for DV-2027: the fee and your passport

The $1 fee. A State Department fee rule published on 16 September 2025 adds a $1 electronic registration fee for everyone who registers for the Diversity Visa program, collected at the time of registration. It is separate from the $330 visa application fee that only selected applicants pay later. DV-2027 is the first registration since the rule took effect. How you pay will be in the DV-2027 instructions; pay only on dvprogram.state.gov itself.

Your passport. A final rule of 11 March 2026, which the State Department is applying from DV-2027, requires on the entry:

• the number of your valid, unexpired passport, the country or authority that issued it, and its expiration date;
• a scan of the passport's biographic and signature page, as a JPEG file of at most 5 MB (PDF files are not accepted).

The only exemptions are for stateless people, nationals of a Communist-controlled country who cannot get a passport from that government, and people who have or expect an individual waiver. If you don't have a valid passport and none of these applies to you, apply for one now: the window is only about 30 days.

How to enter, step by step

These steps follow the latest published instructions (DV-2026) plus the two new rules. Check the DV-2027 instructions when they appear, since the form may change.

1. Wait for the official announcement, then open dvprogram.state.gov during the registration period. Type the address yourself instead of following links in messages.
2. Fill in your details exactly as in your passport: full name, gender, date, city and country of birth, your country of eligibility, mailing address, country where you live, phone and email.
3. Enter your passport number, issuing country and expiry date, and upload the scan of the biographic and signature page.
4. Answer the education and marital status questions, then list your spouse and every unmarried child under 21, even those who will not move with you. Leaving out an eligible family member makes you ineligible for the visa.
5. Upload a photo for every person: a 600 × 600 pixel JPEG of at most 240 kB, taken in the last 6 months.
6. Pay the $1 fee when the form asks for it, check everything, and submit once. More than one entry for the same person disqualifies all of them.
7. Save the confirmation page and number yourself, as a printout or a screenshot on your own phone. You need it to check your result with Entrant Status Check on the same site.

Photo rules

No change to the photo rules has been reported for DV-2027. Under the State Department's photo requirements and the DV-2026 instructions, each photo must be:

• in colour, taken within the last 6 months;
• square, 600 × 600 pixels, JPEG, 240 kB or less;
• framed so the head is 50–69% of the image height, facing the camera, on a plain white or off-white background;
• without glasses, with a neutral expression and both eyes open.

Everyone on the entry needs their own photo. Don't reuse a photo from an earlier year's entry, and don't cut your photo out of the passport scan: copies of documents are not accepted. The DV Lottery Photo Tool crops, sizes and checks a new photo on your phone, and the DV Photo Checker tests one you already have; neither uploads your photo. The DV photo requirements guide covers every rule.

Scam warning

Every DV year brings fake websites and messages, and this one gives scammers two new hooks: a fee and passport scans.

• Only dvprogram.state.gov takes entries. A site that offers to "register" you, or says DV-2027 is open before the official announcement, is not official.
• The entry fee is $1, paid on the official form. Nobody else collects it, and nobody can sell you a better chance.
• Never send your passport scan to someone who contacts you about the DV. Upload it only on the official entry form.
• Nobody is told by email, text or WhatsApp that they won. Results are only on Entrant Status Check, with your own confirmation number.
• Keep your confirmation number yourself, even if a cyber café or agent fills in the form for you.

More warning signs are in DV Lottery scams to avoid. Planning for next year? See DV-2028: how to apply.