Diversity Visa Lottery Registration Period Has Started

The Department of State announces the opening of the registration period for the DV-2018 Diversity Visa lottery. The Department grants 50,000 immigrant visas through this program each year to foreign citizens who have applied and qualified.

Due to technical issues, the registration period for DV-2019 is being restarted, and all entries made prior to October 18, 2017, will need to be resubmitted for the entrant to be considered.

  • We regret the inconvenience to Diversity Visa entrants. In order to ensure fairness and protect the integrity of the process for all those concerned, however, we must restart the entry process for this year (DV-2019).
  • The new registration period for DV-2019 opens for electronic entries at noon, Eastern Daylight Time, Wednesday, October 18, 2017, and closes at noon, Eastern Standard Time, Wednesday, November 22, 2017.
  • If you entered before Wednesday, October 18, 2017, that entry will not be considered, and you will need to submit another entry during the new registration period. You may submit one new entry without being disqualified for submitting multiple entries. Individuals who submit more than one entry during the new registration period will be disqualified.

All entries must be submitted electronically during the registration period by accessing the Electronic DV Entry Form at www.dvlottery.state.gov. Paper entries and entries received after the deadline will not be accepted. Each applicant may submit only one entry, otherwise they will be disqualified. Entrants should keep their registration number until the end of the entire program.

Registration is free of charge.

Applicants can check to see whether they were selected only at the website www.dvlottery.state.gov. No informational email will be distributed. The information will be available as of May 1, 2018 under the link Entrant Status Check. If you receive a notice by e-mail or regular mail telling you that you have been selected, it is a fake!

DV-2019 Program Instructions

The English version of the DV-2019 Program Instructions in PDF format are provided for your convenience and required use.

Protect yourself against fraud

In the past, there were many websites simulating official U.S. government pages and many fraudulent emails that purported to be announcements about the DV lottery, usually requesting money. These emails are not from the U.S. government. We also remind everyone that Diversity Visa applicants do not pay any fees until they appear at their interview at the U.S. Embassy.

The only trustworthy sources of information on U.S. visas and immigration to the U.S. are the website of the U.S. Embassy in the Czech Republic, the Department of State, the U.S. visa website, and websites of U.S. government agencies (ending with .gov). Instructions for the 2019 DV lottery are also available at https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/immigrate/diversity-visa/instructions.html or in this video: