With the commencement of the United States Diversity Immigrant Visa Program 2025, also known as US Visa Lottery, on Wednesday, October 4, 2023, the ineligibility status for the United Kingdom, with its dependent territories has been waived after many years of being on the ineligibility group.

Countries still placed on the ineligibility status include  Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, The People’s Republic of China (including mainland and Hong Kong born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea (South Korea), Venezuela, and Vietnam. Natives of Macau SAR and Taiwan.

The online registration period for the DV-2025 Program began on Wednesday, October 4, 2023, at 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4) and will be concluded on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, at 12:00 noon, Eastern Standard Time (EST) (GMT-5). 

The Department of State warned that “Submission of more than one entry for a person during the registration period will disqualify all entries for that person. Beware of fraud and scams. Some websites and emails attempt to mislead customers, posing as providers of official U.S. government information.”

All entries must be submitted electronically on the Electronic Diversity Visa (E-DV) website during the specified registration period. No late entries or paper entries are accepted. The law allows only one entry by or for each person during each registration period.

The Department of State annually administers the statutorily created Diversity Immigrant Visa Program. Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) provides for a class of immigrants known as “diversity immigrants” from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States.

For Fiscal Year 2025, up to 55,000 Diversity Visas (DVs) will be available. 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 prior to making their formal visa application where a consular officer will determine whether they qualify for the visa.

Applicants who are selected in the program (selectees) must meet simple but strict eligibility requirements to qualify for a DV. The Department of State determines selectees through a randomized computer drawing.

The Department of State distributes diversity visas among six geographic regions, and no single country may receive more than seven percent of the available DVs in any one year.

With the exception of the United Kingdom and its dependent territories, which are now eligible for DV-2025, there were no changes in eligibility from the previous fiscal year.

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