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DV lottery

DV lottery 2027: how to apply, dates, $1 fee, passport

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Key answer

In short, as of Oct 26, 2026

DV-2027 registration is not open yet: under a court order the State Department must open it by Nov 1, 2026, for 30 days.

  • The dates must be announced by Oct 29; the government asks the appeals court to stay the order.
  • Enter only on dvprogram.state.gov.
  • New: a $1 fee at entry (since Sep 16, 2025) and a scan of the principal entrant's passport (since Apr 10, 2026).
  • Selectees are notified by Dec 3, 2026; visas run to Sep 30, 2027.
  • Prepare now: the passport, photos of the whole family, spouse and children details in Latin letters, a way to pay the $1.
01.11deadline to open registration under the court order
30days of registration
$1entry fee, since Sep 16, 2025
4,977DV chat messages on Oct 12-25, 7.6 times more

DV-2027 dates: what is known as of Oct 26, 2026

  1. by Oct 29The State Department announces the registration dates, the entry website and the requirements on travel.state.gov and in the Federal Register

    by midnight EST; court order ECF 31 of Oct 21, 2026

  2. by Nov 1Registration opens - for 30 days

    by midnight EST, Nov 1, 2026; the same order

  3. by Dec 3Selectees are notified through Entrant Status Check

    the State Department may ask the court to extend it if it files by Oct 30

  4. to Sep 30, 2027DV-2027 visas are issued - or until they run out

    the same order; 22 CFR 42.33(a)(1)

Appeal: on Oct 23, 2026 the government asked the Ninth Circuit for an emergency stay of the order (26-6943); no ruling as of Oct 26. If it is stayed, these deadlines stop running.

Timing: in past years registration opened and closed at 12:00 noon Eastern time. DV-2026 ran 37 days, Oct 2 - Nov 7, 2024.

Order: Red Eagle Law v. Rubio, US District Court for the Southern District of California, 3:26-cv-04738, docket entry ECF 31 of Oct 21, 2026. We update the dates the day the State Department announces.

Why DV-2027 did not open in October

Registration usually ran in October-November. The timeline from State Department notices, the Federal Register and the Red Eagle Law v. Rubio court record.

  1. Sep 16, 2025State Department rule on a $1 lottery registration fee, in force the same day (90 FR 44524).
  2. Nov 5, 2025The State Department said it was changing the entry process and would announce the DV-2027 start date "as soon as practicable"; the visa period for selectees stays Oct 1, 2026 - Sep 30, 2027.
  3. Mar 11, 2026Final rule on a passport at registration (91 FR 11891), in force from Apr 10, 2026. Registration was still not announced.
  4. Aug 19, 2026Suit asking the court to compel the State Department to resume the DV-2027 program (open registration).
  5. Sep 3, 2026Temporary restraining order denied without prejudice.
  6. Oct 14, 2026Bench ruling: the court granted the preliminary injunction and ordered the State Department to run DV-2027; the written reasons followed on Oct 19 (ECF 24).
  7. Oct 20, 2026The government appealed the injunction to the Ninth Circuit (case 26-6943).
  8. Oct 21, 2026Amended injunction (ECF 31): by midnight EST on Oct 29, 2026 announce on travel.state.gov the DV-2027 registration dates, the entry website and the requirements, and publish them in the Federal Register; open registration by Nov 1, 2026 for 30 days; notify selectees by Dec 3, 2026 (the State Department may ask by Oct 30 to move that date) and process their applications until the allocation runs out or Sep 30, 2027. The court denied a stay pending appeal (ECF 32).
  9. Oct 23, 2026The government asked the Ninth Circuit for an emergency stay; the plaintiff's response is due Oct 26, 2026.

How to enter DV-2027: 7 steps

  1. Check that you can enter

    • The country is your country of birth, not citizenship. If yours does not qualify, you may use your spouse's (you immigrate together) or a parent's, if neither parent was born or living in your country when you were born.
    • Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan were eligible for DV-2026; the DV-2027 list comes with the announcement.
    • The principal entrant needs completed secondary school (comparable to a US high school) or 2 years of work in the last 5 in an O*Net occupation. Correspondence courses and GED-type certificates do not count; you show the proof at the interview.

  2. A passport - the principal entrant's only

    • Number, name, issuing country, expiry date and a scan of the page with the photo and signature: JPEG, no PDF, up to 5 MB. The spouse and children need no passport for the entry.
    • It must be valid on the day you enter. Keep a copy: a selectee may be refused who cannot show this passport was valid at registration.
    • Without a passport - only stateless people, nationals of a Communist-controlled country that will not issue one, and holders of an individual waiver. Lack of money is not an exemption.

  3. A photo of everyone

    • Yours, your spouse's and each child's - taken within the last 6 months, to the US visa photo standard.
    • Last year's photo or an edited one disqualifies the entry.
    Photo requirements →

  4. Family details

    • Your spouse - even if you live apart or the spouse will not move (only a divorce or a court-ordered legal separation leaves them out).
    • Every unmarried child under 21, adopted children and stepchildren included. US citizens and green card holders are not listed.
    • Leaving someone out disqualifies the whole family. Names in Latin letters, as in the passports.

  5. The $1 fee

    • Paid at entry through a US government payment portal, before the entry is submitted.
    • The rule does not say whose card it must be; someone else may submit the entry at your request - but one entry per person.
    • The State Department will name the payment methods in the announcement. In community experience Russian bank cards do not pay US fees.

  6. The form on dvprogram.state.gov

    • 60 minutes, no saved drafts - prepare everything first.
    • One entry per person: a second one disqualifies them all. Spouses may each submit their own.
    • An error and no confirmation number - the entry was not recorded, submit again. Have the number - do not submit again. Enter early.

  7. The confirmation number

    • Keep the number and a screenshot: the result is checked only with it in Entrant Status Check, under the court order by Dec 3, 2026.
    • There are no winning letters, emails or calls. A lost number is retrieved there with the entry email.

How many get selected: former USSR countries, DV-2022 - DV-2026

People including spouses and children, from the State Department "Selected Entrants" pages. The bar is DV-2026; the mini chart on the right shows five years. No country gets more than 7% of the year's visas. Entries by country are not published for these years, so per-country odds cannot be computed.

  • Russia5,510
  • Ukraine5,283
  • Uzbekistan3,754
  • Tajikistan3,708
  • Kyrgyzstan3,324
  • Kazakhstan2,723
  • Armenia2,639
  • Turkmenistan2,542
  • Azerbaijan1,817
  • Belarus1,545
  • Georgia1,406
  • Moldova1,208

Three times the entries of DV-2022, the same number selected

  • DV-20227.3M
  • DV-20239.6M / 119,262 selected
  • DV-202422.2M / 143,000 selected
  • DV-202519.9M / 131,060 selected
  • DV-202620.8M / 129,516 selected

Entries are the State Department's "qualified entries"; in the passport rule it cited 2.5 million fraudulent entries in DV-2025.

Case numbers: how far Europe got

  • The case number is your place in the region: the first entry drawn gets the first number (State Department instructions, question 27). Every former USSR country is in the DV "Europe" region.
  • Each month the visa bulletin names the number below which people are called. In DV-2025 Europe reached 23,000 (Russia 22,950) with an annual limit of 52,056 visas: higher numbers got no interview.
  • In DV-2026 Europe reached 47,500 by September 2026, but DV issuance was paused from December 2025 to Aug 28, 2026 - the Medani v. Trump court declined to reserve about 40,000 unused visas.
DV-2025DV-2026Europe cut-off, by bulletin month
  • Oct6,0007,750
  • Nov6,0007,750
  • Dec6,0007,750
  • Jan12,0008,500
  • Feb12,00011,000
  • Mar13,00011,000
  • Apr16,00020,000
  • May16,00020,000
  • Jun17,50020,000
  • Jul19,00023,000
  • Aug22,00029,000
  • Sep23,00047,500

Section B of each State Department visa bulletin, October 2024 - September 2026. DV-2027 numbers appear only after the draw.

What the chats ask

1,131 questions about the lottery on Oct 12-25, 2026 in the community chats; one question can touch several topics. Counts only, no names or quotes. Tap a topic to jump to the answer.

If you win: the interview and the deadline

  • The Warsaw interview: what the embassy says

    • Who goes there: residents of Russia - Warsaw (the main immigrant visa post for residents of Russia on the State Department list); if you live in another country, that country's post. Warsaw requires a Schengen visa.
    • The medical comes before the interview and the results must be ready: with the embassy’s listed doctors in Poland, Belarus (Minsk, IOM) or Russia (Moscow, IOM).
    • Extra for DV: a printout of the appointment from Entrant Status Check, the proof of education or work experience (principal applicant) and $330 per applicant paid at the embassy cash desk.
    • Cash desk: cash in Polish zloty only, at the embassy’s rate, or by card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Diners); no US dollars, euros or checks.
    • Interview language: English, Polish, Russian; otherwise bring one interpreter.
    • Before the interview the embassy advises checking your original entry: if a spouse or a child under 21 is missing from it, no one in the family gets a visa and fees are not refunded.
    • Rescheduling is at usvisascheduling.com, but for DV the embassy warns the visas may run out by the new date and can only be issued until September 30.

    Embassy instructions for immigrant visas, updated Jul 29, 2026. Warsaw: community reports →

  • The timeline is tight: under the order DV-2027 visas are issued until Sep 30, 2027. Get the diploma, police certificates and the medical ready right after the result. Each DV applicant pays $330 at the interview; it is not refunded on a refusal.
  • Selection is not yet a visa: more people are selected than there are visas (up to 55,000 a year by law), and a visa is issued once the case number goes current in the visa bulletin. The immigrant-visa pause for 75 countries, Russia among them, is vacated by a court (CLINIC v. Rubio), but the appeal is pending.

How not to get scammed

  • There is one official site - dvprogram.state.gov; official US government sites end in .gov.
  • The entry itself costs $1. Sites charging more for "entering" are middlemen; the State Department does not endorse them.
  • Nobody writes or calls about a win, and the State Department never asks for money by Western Union.
  • Keep the confirmation number yourself: the State Department says facilitators have kept it and demanded money for the result.
  • Nobody can raise your odds: a computer picks entries in each region at random, with an equal chance for all.

Frequently asked questions

Is the DV lottery 2027 open yet?
Not yet. Under the court order it must open by Nov 1, 2026, for 30 days, unless the Ninth Circuit stays it. On Oct 21, 2026 the court in Red Eagle Law v. Rubio ordered the State Department to announce the dates, the entry website and the requirements by midnight EST on Oct 29 and to notify selectees by Dec 3, 2026. As of Oct 26, 2026 no dates are announced and the E-DV site takes no entries. In past years registration opened at 12:00 noon Eastern time.
What is the official site to apply for the DV lottery 2027?
dvprogram.state.gov - and nothing else. Under the court order the State Department publishes the announcement with the dates on travel.state.gov and in the Federal Register. Any other site that "already takes entries" or charges more than $1 is not official.
How do I pay the $1 DV-2027 entry fee, and can someone else pay?
The fee is paid at entry through a US government payment portal (State Department rule, 90 FR 44524, in force since Sep 16, 2025). The rule does not say whose card it must be, and someone else may submit the entry at your request (22 CFR 42.33(b)). The State Department will name the payment methods in the DV-2027 announcement - we add them the day it is out. In community experience Russian bank cards do not go through for US fees.
Do my spouse and children need passports?
Not for the entry. The State Department rule (91 FR 11891, in force since Apr 10, 2026) requires passport details and a scan only from the principal entrant. Photos are needed for everyone, and family members will need passports if you win and go to the interview.
My passport expires soon - can I enter with it?
Yes, if it is valid on the day you enter: the rule requires a valid passport at registration. But keep a copy or the passport itself - a selectee may be refused who cannot show the number on the entry was their valid passport that day. The State Department says a passport obtained for DV-2027 can be used in later lotteries while it stays valid.
Do 9 grades plus a college diploma count?
The rule requires a completed formal secondary education comparable to a US high school (12 years) - it names no exact number of years for other countries. Under Russian law a college program after 9 grades includes full secondary education (article 68 part 3 of Federal Law 273-FZ on education), the same level as 11 grades. The consular officer decides at the interview on the documents; correspondence programs and GED-type certificates are not accepted. If in doubt, there is the second route - 2 years of work in the last 5 in an O*Net occupation.
Can Russians enter the DV lottery 2027?
Russia was not on the excluded list for DV-2026, and 5,510 people from Russia were selected for DV-2026. The DV-2027 country list will be in the State Department announcement. The country of birth is what counts: someone born in Russia can enter with any citizenship, and a Russian citizen born in an excluded country only through a spouse's or parent's country of birth.
Which countries cannot enter the DV lottery 2027?
Natives of 19 countries that sent over 50,000 immigrants in five years were excluded from DV-2026: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong), Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Venezuela, Vietnam. Macau and Taiwan were eligible. The State Department publishes the DV-2027 list in its announcement.
Why did the DV-2027 lottery not start in October?
On Nov 5, 2025 the State Department said it was changing the entry process and would announce the DV-2027 start date later; by autumn 2026 it still had not. On Aug 19, 2026 the law firm Red Eagle Law sued, on Oct 14, 2026 the court ordered the State Department to run DV-2027, and on Oct 21 it set the deadlines: announce the dates by Oct 29 and open registration by Nov 1, 2026. In the meantime two new rules took effect - the $1 fee (Sep 16, 2025) and the passport at entry (Apr 10, 2026).
Up to which case number were Europeans called for interviews?
In DV-2025 - up to 23,000 (Russia 22,950) per the September 2025 bulletin; higher numbers got no interview. In DV-2026 the Europe cut-off reached 47,500 by September 2026, but DV issuance was paused for most of the year. Every former USSR country is in the DV Europe region.
Can I enter if I am already in the US?
Yes, you can enter from any country. If you win and are in the US in lawful status, you may apply for the green card through USCIS (I-485) - but it has to be done before the fiscal year ends.
Can DV-2027 still be cancelled?
The appeal decides it. The government appealed the order to the Ninth Circuit (26-6943) and on Oct 23, 2026 asked for an emergency stay; if the court grants it, the registration deadlines stop running. The district court refused a stay. We follow the case and update this page the day it rules.

Where next

Consulates where people interview

WarsawAlmatyTashkentTbilisiYerevan

Sources

This page is reference, not legal advice; the State Department publishes the DV-2027 rules in its announcement - verify on uscis.gov.