You must list your partner/spouse (if you are married) and all your children under 21 years on your DV Lottery application. Your spouse´s children must be listed too! Photos must be provided of all family members on the application!

This does not mean that all family members have to immigrate to the US. After winning, the principal applicant can decide who to take along or not! However, all family members must be listed on the initial DV Lottery application to avoid disqualification!

Since 2019, in addition to your name, gender, place and date of birth, address, email address, education level, passport photo, marital status, number of children, and dates and passport photos of spouses and children, a passport number and passport expiration date had to be included in the application.

The requirement to possess a valid passport for the DV Lottery was dropped for participation beginning with DV-2024 in 2022, as a court declared it invalid due to a formal error. Reinstatement of the passport rule, while still possible at this time, is unlikely.

The US State Department requires all applications to be filed electronically. Please be advised that any minor error in the application procedure will result in your immediate disqualification without further notice.

The photo requirements are very strict and must meet the following criteria:

Please do not use copies of identity cards or passports!

If an existing photo is scanned, it must have a resolution of at least 300 dots per inch (dpi). The original photo should be 2 x 2 inches in size. The maximum image size accepted will be 240 KB. Images should be taken directly facing the camera in front of a light-colored background. The face should cover between 50 % and 69 % of the height of the image.

After winning in the DV Lottery, you must prove that you meet one of the following educational requirements:

Your educational level is at least equivalent to an American high school diploma

OR

Within the last five years, you have worked for at least two years in a profession that requires at least two years of training.

Proof of these prerequisites is only necessary when a lottery participant wins a Green Card. They are not necessary at the time of applying for the DV Lottery.

Recommendation:
If you do not have the equivalent of a high school degree and are not sure if your job requires “two years of training” you should check the US Department’s of State Online Database ONET. Type in your profession and click on “Summary.” You will find an analysis of how many years of experience in your job are needed in the chapter “Job Zone.”

Your country of birth must be qualified to participate in the DV Lottery. Your citizenship is not relevant in this process. What counts is the birth country in accordance with current world political maps.

List of Excluded Countries

Almost everyone qualifies for the DV Lottery. The only exceptions are people born in a country with a very high emigration rate into the US.

Due to the high immigration rate into the United States, the following countries are currently excluded from the DV Program:

Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong SAR), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

People who were born in any of the above-mentioned excluded countries may apply if:

• their spouses were born in one of the eligible countries, or
• their parents (both not born in this excluded country) were only temporary residents of the excluded, non-eligible countries.