October 4th, 2023 – The 2025 Diversity Visa Lottery Program (DV-2025) will open for registration starting noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (GMT-4), Wednesday, October 4th, 2023, and conclude at noon, EDT, Tuesday, November 7th, 2023. Prospective applicants must submit their entries online using the electronic DV entry form (E-DV) accessible at www.dvlottery.state.gov. It’s important to note that paper submissions will not be entertained.
To ensure a smooth process, applicants are advised to avoid last-minute submissions. Owing to potential high demand, the website may experience delays. All entries post the deadline of noon, EDT, November 7th, 2023 will be disregarded.
The Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery Program, mandated by Congress, is overseen annually by the Department of State (DOS) as stipulated under Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). This initiative grants up to 55,000 Diversity Visas annually, catering to individuals from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the U.S.
The DV Lottery Visa program, while simple, has stringent eligibility criteria. Applicants are chosen through a computer-generated random draw. Distribution of these visas takes into account six geographic regions, with a higher quota allocated to regions showcasing lower immigration rates. It’s important to note that countries with over 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the past five years are excluded from this lottery. Hence, no country can secure more than seven percent of the available Diversity Visas annually.
For the DV-2025 cycle, Nigeria has been removed from the list of eligible countries.
Ineligible countries for DV-2025 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.
However, natives from Macau SAR and Taiwan remain eligible.
The DOS, since the DV-2005 program, has employed an electronic registration system to enhance the efficiency and security of the Diversity Lottery Visa process. Rigorous technology and methods are used to detect fraudulent entries or multiple submissions.
DV-2025 will maintain the online system for notifying entrants of their selection status and subsequent visa application details. Starting May 4th, 2024, DV-2025 entrants can verify their selection status online at https://dvprogram.state.gov/ using the unique confirmation number received at the time of registration.
For comprehensive details on the entry prerequisites and other frequent queries related to the DV program, please refer to the DV-2025 instructions available at this link.
For any further questions or clarifications regarding U.S. Immigration and Nationality Laws and their impact, please reach out to the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Lawyers at the NPZ Law Group – VISASERVE – at info@visaserve.com or call 201-670-0006 (x104). Further details can also be accessed on our official website www.visaserve.com