Do you qualify to enter the DV2027 Diversity Visa Lottery ?

Enrollment into the 2025 green card lottery, also known as the DV2027 Lottery immigration program, is open to most individuals world-wide. There are two requirements that must be met before you can enter the DV2027 Lottery:

1. To enter the DV Lottery, you must be born in a qualifying country

To enter the DV2027 Lottery, you must be born in a country with a low immigration rate to the United States. If you are born in a country with a high immigration rate to the United States, you are excluded from entering the DV Lottery. If you are born in one of the countries in the table below, then you are currently excluded from entering the DV Lottery. Please note that eligibility for the DV2027 Lottery is determined by the country of your birth. The most common misperception in qualifying for the DV Lottery program is that eligibility is based on country of citizenship or current residence, which is incorrect.

There was one change this year in the list of eligible countries and that was that people born in Cuba are no longer eligible to enter the DV2027 lottery.

If you are born in one of the countries in the following table, then you are excluded from entering the DV2027 Lottery
Bangladesh Brazil Canada China (Including Hong Kong SAR) Colombia
Cuba Dominican Republic El Salvador Haiti Honduras
India Jamaica Nigeria Mexico Pakistan
Philippines South Korea Venezuela Vietnam  

Persons born in the Gaza Strip are chargeable to Egypt for the DV Lottery this year.

Persons born in Macau SAR, and Taiwan are also eligible to enter the DV2027 Lottery.

Natives from all other countries may register for this years DV Lottery, the DV2027 Lottery.

If you were born in a non-qualifying country you may still qualify

If your spouse or one of your parents was born in a qualifying country, you may still be able to participate in the DV Lottery based on the country of birth of your spouse or one of your parents:


For example, if you were born in a country whose natives are ineligible to enter the DV Lottery, but your spouse was born in a country whose natives are eligible to enter the DV Lottery, you may claim your spouse’s country of birth as your country of eligibility, i.e. you may claim chargeability to the country where your derivative spouse was born, provided that both you and your spouse are on the selected DV Lottery application, but you will not be issued a DV Lottery green card unless

Example: If you were born in Canada, whose natives currently are not eligible to enter the DV Lottery, but your spouse was born in Italy, whose natives are eligible to enter the DV lottery, you can claim your spouse’s country of birth (Italy) as your country of eligibility, as long as, you include your spouse on your DV Lottery application.

In a similar manner, a minor dependent child can be “charged” to a parent’s country of birth.

Finally, if you were born in a country that is not eligible to participate in this year’s DV Lottery program (DV2027), you can be “charged” to the country that either of your parents were born in as long as neither parent was a resident of your country of birth at the time of your birth. For example, your parents might have lived temporarily in the ineligible country that you were born in because of their jobs. In general, people are not considered residents of a country in which they were not born or legally naturalized in if they are only visiting the country, studying in the country temporarily, or stationed in the country for business or professional reasons on behalf of a company or government.

If you claim alternate chargeability, you must indicate such information under country of chargeability on the DV Lottery entry form that you must complete after you have registered succesfully. Please be aware that listing an incorrect country of eligibility or chargeability (i.e. one to which you cannot establish a valid claim) may disqualify your DV Lottery entry.

2. Education or Work experience that qualifies for the DV2027 Lottery

To register for the DV2027 Lottery, you must comply with one of the following two requirements (Option 1 or Option 2 below):

OPTION 1:

To qualify for the DV2027 Lottery, you must have completed a United States high school education or a foreign equivalent of United States high school degree. “High School education or its equivalent” means the successful completion of a twelve year course of elementary and secondary education in the United States or successful completion in another country of a formal course of elementary and secondary education comparable to complete a 12 year education in the United States. Passage of a high school equivalency examination is not sufficient. It is permissible to have the education completed in less than twelve years or greater than twelve years if the course of study completed is equivalent to a United States High School Degree; or

OPTION 2:

  Within the last five years, you must have worked in one of the following occupations for at least two years:

You should not submit proof that you satisfy these requirements when entering the DV2027 Lottery, but proof that you do satisfy the above requirements will be requested by the consular officer that will interview you after your name has been selected and you formally apply for your permanent residence (Green Card) visa. If you do not match the above requirements, you should not enter the DV2027 Lottery. Again, note, you only need to provide proof of education or work experience and country of birth if you are selected. Therefore, we do not require this information in the application form for the DV2027 Lottery that you will fill out after successful registration.