Diversity Visa Lottery Eligibility Checker
This Diversity Visa lottery eligibility checker tests the four questions that decide whether you can enter: were you born in an eligible country, can you use a spouse’s or a parent’s birth country instead, and do you meet the education or work test. It uses the DV-2026 country list provisionally for DV-2027, because the official DV-2027 instructions have not been published yet.
- Visas per year
- Up to 55,000
- Per-country cap
- 7% in any year
- Deciding factor
- Country of birth
- Entry fee, DV-2027
- 1 dollar
- Selection notice
- Entrant Status Check only
Read this first — two things about DV-2027 are not final yet.
First, the official DV-2027 instructions have not yet been published, so the ineligible-country list in this checker is the DV-2026 list used provisionally. The DV-2027 list may differ; confirm it in the official instructions when they appear.
Second, the DV-2027 dates below are court-ordered and an appeal is pending, so they could change: announcement by October 29, 2026, registration opening by November 1, 2026 for 30 days, selectees notified by December 3, 2026, and visas issued through September 30, 2027. Always confirm dates and rules at dvprogram.state.gov and travel.state.gov before you act.
Your circumstances
Eligibility follows your country of birth, not your citizenship and not where you live. Countries marked ineligible are the DV-2026 list, used provisionally for DV-2027. Hong Kong-born applicants are counted under China and are ineligible; Macau-born and Taiwan-born applicants are eligible; United Kingdom-born applicants are eligible.
Spouse route (optional)
All three positive conditions must hold, and neither disqualifier must apply. A spouse who is a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident cannot be used for this route, and a legally separated spouse cannot immigrate through your entry.
Parent route (optional)
Both boxes must hold, and at least one parent’s birth country must itself be eligible. If either parent was born in or legally resident in your birth country when you were born, this route is closed.
Education or work (principal applicant only)
You need one of the two, not both. GED and other equivalency certificates are generally not accepted as a substitute for 12 years of formal schooling; check the official instructions for the exact rule for your case. This test applies to the principal applicant only, not to a spouse or children.
What this checker does not decide
Eligibility is only the door. Selection is a random drawing, and more people are selected than there are visas, so an eligible entrant may still never receive a visa. Visas are issued in case-number order within each region, and every DV-2027 visa must be issued by September 30, 2027. A result of eligible here is not a promise of selection or of a visa.
Only unmarried children under 21 may be listed as derivatives on an entry. Each person may submit only one entry; multiple entries disqualify all of them.
How Diversity Visa eligibility works — birth country first, then two narrow exceptions
The Diversity Visa program, created by section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, makes up to 55,000 immigrant visas available each fiscal year to people from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States, divided across six geographic regions. Up to 5,000 of the 55,000 may be set aside under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA). No single country may receive more than 7 percent of the visas in any year, and selection within each region is by randomized drawing.
The test is your country of birth. Citizenship does not decide it, residence does not decide it, and the passport you hold does not decide it. A country counts as low-admission, and therefore eligible, when 50,000 or fewer of its natives were admitted to the United States as immigrants over the most recent five years.
The State Department publishes the resulting ineligible list every year in the DV instructions, and the list changes as admission totals move: for DV-2026 the only change from the prior year was the addition of Cuba.
Three edge cases catch people out. A person born in Hong Kong is counted under China and is ineligible, because the DV-2026 list covers China including mainland and Hong Kong born natives. A person born in Macau or in Taiwan is eligible: neither appears on the ineligible list. And a person born in the United Kingdom is eligible, despite what some secondary guides claim; the United Kingdom is not on the DV-2026 ineligible list, and this checker follows the official list rather than those guides.
| DV-2026 ineligible birth countries (used provisionally for DV-2027) | Note |
|---|---|
| Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including mainland and Hong Kong born), Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea (South Korea), Venezuela, Vietnam | 19 countries, with Hong Kong counted under China. Macau and Taiwan are eligible. The United Kingdom is eligible. Confirm the DV-2027 list when the official instructions are published. |
Born in an ineligible country? The spouse route is the first exception
If you were born in an ineligible country, you may still enter by being charged to your spouse’s eligible birth country — but only when every condition holds at the same time:
- Your spouse is named on your entry. An unnamed spouse cannot carry the route.
- Your spouse is found eligible and issued a visa. The spouse must qualify in their own right and actually receive a visa.
- Your spouse enters the United States at the same time as you. A spouse who stays behind, or enters later on a different basis, does not satisfy the rule.
Two disqualifiers close the route outright. A spouse who is a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident cannot be used, because the route exists to charge you to a foreign country of birth, and such a spouse has no DV chargeability to lend. And a legally separated spouse cannot immigrate through your entry at all. The checker tests all five points and names the one that fails.
Example. An India-born applicant whose spouse was born in Nepal, with the spouse named on the entry, found eligible and issued a visa, and entering at the same time, is eligible through the spouse route — provided the applicant also passes the education or work test. Remove any one condition, for instance the spouse entering later, and the route fails.
The parent route is the second exception — and the narrowest
If you were born in an ineligible country, you may alternatively be charged to a parent’s eligible birth country, but only when both of these hold:
- Neither parent was born in your birth country.
- Neither parent was legally resident in your birth country when you were born.
The rule exists for children born in a country their parents were merely passing through. If either parent was born in your birth country, or was legally resident there at your birth, the route is closed even if the other parent was born somewhere eligible. The parent’s country must itself be eligible: being charged to an ineligible country gains nothing.
Example. A Mexico-born applicant whose mother was born in Guatemala, where neither parent was born in Mexico and neither was legally resident in Mexico at the applicant’s birth, is eligible through the parent route, subject to the education or work test. The same applicant with both parents born in and resident in Mexico at birth has no parent route at all.
Education or work: the test every principal applicant must pass
Country eligibility alone is not enough. The principal applicant — the person entering, not a spouse or child — must also satisfy one of two requirements:
- Education: at least 12 years of formal elementary and secondary education, or its equivalent. GED and other equivalency certificates are generally not accepted as a substitute for 12 years of formal schooling, so check the official instructions for the exact rule for your case.
- Work: two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience. The State Department measures this with the O*NET system: the occupation must fall in Job Zone 4 or 5 and carry a Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) rating of 7.0 or higher.
Either route suffices, and the work route exists precisely for applicants without 12 years of schooling: a Nigeria-born applicant with qualifying work experience but no 12-year schooling is eligible on the work test, while the same applicant with neither is not, whatever their birth country. Meeting the education or work test never rescues an applicant who fails the country test, and passing the country test never rescues one who fails both education and work.
Entry, fees and selection: one entry, one official check, no emailed notices
One entry per person. Submitting more than one entry disqualifies all of them, so never let anyone file a second entry “just in case”. Each entry lists a spouse, if any, and all unmarried children under 21.
New for DV-2027: a 1 dollar registration fee. DV-2027 is the first cycle to charge for entry; DV-2026 stated there was no cost because it predates the rule. The 1 dollar fee is separate from the 330 dollar immigrant visa fee paid later by selectees who apply for a visa. Any site charging more than 1 dollar to enter is not the official process: entry is made only through the Electronic Diversity Visa portal at dvprogram.state.gov.
New for DV-2027: a passport requirement. Entrants must provide valid, unexpired passport information and upload a scan of the passport biographic and signature page, subject to limited exemptions. Keep a valid passport ready before the registration window opens.
Selection is notified one way only. Check Entrant Status Check at dvprogram.state.gov with your confirmation number. The United States government never emails or mails selection notices, so any message claiming you have been selected is a scam. Keep your confirmation number until the end of the fiscal year.
Selection is not a visa. More people are selected than there are visas, because some selectees do not complete the process or do not qualify. Visas go in case-number order within each region, and for DV-2027 every visa must be issued by September 30, 2027. A high case number in a region that runs out of visas means no visa, even for a selected entrant.
Worked examples — ten cases the checker decides
These are the cases this checker is tested against. Change the inputs above to reproduce any of them.
| Case | Result |
|---|---|
| Pakistan-born, no spouse or parent route, 12 years of schooling | Not eligible — birth country is on the ineligible list |
| United Kingdom-born, 12 years of schooling | Eligible by country of birth |
| India-born, spouse born in Nepal, all spouse conditions met, 12 years of schooling | Eligible through the spouse route |
| India-born, spouse born in Nepal, but spouse not entering at the same time | Not eligible — the same-time spouse condition fails |
| Mexico-born, both parents born in and resident in Mexico at birth, 12 years of schooling | Not eligible — no parent route, and birth country is ineligible |
| Mexico-born, mother born in Guatemala, neither parent born in or resident in Mexico at birth, 12 years of schooling | Eligible through the parent route |
| Nigeria-born, qualifying work experience only, no 12-year schooling | Eligible by the work test (birth country still fails, so this case is not eligible — see the note below) |
| Nigeria-born, neither schooling nor qualifying work | Not eligible — the education and work test fails |
| Hong Kong-born, 12 years of schooling | Not eligible — counted under China |
| Taiwan-born, 12 years of schooling | Eligible by country of birth |
Correction to the seventh case as written. A Nigeria-born applicant with qualifying work experience but no 12-year schooling passes the education-or-work test yet still fails the country test, because Nigeria is ineligible and no spouse or parent route was given. The correct result is therefore not eligible, on the country test — the work test alone cannot rescue an ineligible birth country.
The checker applies the rule as written in the “How eligibility works” section: eligible only when a country route passes and the education-or-work test passes. A qualifying-work applicant born in an eligible country, by contrast, is fully eligible.
How we check — method and sources
This checker follows the Diversity Visa rules in order:
- Country of birth. Compare the birth country against the DV-2026 ineligible list, used provisionally for DV-2027. Hong Kong counts under China; Macau, Taiwan and the United Kingdom count as eligible.
- Spouse route. Pass only when a spouse’s eligible birth country is entered, the spouse is named on the entry, will be found eligible and issued a visa, and will enter at the same time — with no United States citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse and no legal separation.
- Parent route. Pass only when at least one parent’s birth country is eligible, no selected parent was born in the applicant’s birth country, and neither parent was born in or legally resident in the applicant’s birth country at the applicant’s birth.
- Education or work. Pass when the principal applicant has 12 years of formal schooling or qualifying work experience (2 years in the past 5 years, O*NET Job Zone 4 or 5, SVP 7.0 or higher).
- Combine. Eligible only when a country route passes and the education-or-work test passes. The result names the route used, or the specific test that failed.
Quota, cap and region figures come from section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act: up to 55,000 diversity visas per fiscal year, up to 5,000 of them set aside under NACARA, six regions, and no country above 7 percent in any year. Eligibility, spouse and parent rules, the education and work tests, the one-entry rule and the Entrant Status Check rule come from the United States Department of State DV-2026 Program Instructions.
DV-2027 items — the 1 dollar fee, the passport requirement, and the court-ordered dates with a pending appeal — are flagged as new and unconfirmed in the official instructions wherever they appear on this page.
Diversity Visa lottery checker — common questions
What makes a country eligible for the Diversity Visa lottery?
Eligibility is decided by your country of birth, not your citizenship or where you live. A country is eligible when 50,000 or fewer of its natives were admitted to the United States as immigrants over the most recent five years. The State Department publishes the ineligible list each year in the DV instructions; the list used on this page is the DV-2026 list, used provisionally for DV-2027 until the official DV-2027 instructions are published.
Am I eligible if I was born in an ineligible country but my spouse was born in an eligible one?
Yes, if every condition is met: your spouse must be named on your entry, must be found eligible and issued a visa, and must enter the United States at the same time as you. If any one of those conditions fails, the spouse route does not work. A spouse who is a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident cannot be used for this route, and a legally separated spouse cannot immigrate through your entry.
Can I use a parent’s birth country for the Diversity Visa lottery?
Only in a narrow case: you may be charged to a parent’s eligible birth country if neither parent was born in your own birth country and neither parent was legally resident in your birth country when you were born. If either parent was born in or legally resident in your birth country at your birth, the parent route is closed. The parent’s country must itself be eligible.
What education or work experience do I need for the Diversity Visa lottery?
The principal applicant must meet one of two tests: either at least 12 years of formal elementary and secondary education, or two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience, measured as O*NET Job Zone 4 or 5 with a Specific Vocational Preparation rating of 7.0 or higher. GED and other equivalency certificates are generally not accepted as a substitute for 12 years of formal schooling, so check the official instructions for the exact rule for your case. The education and work test applies to the principal applicant only, not to a spouse or children.
How much does it cost to enter the Diversity Visa lottery, and what is the new 1 dollar fee?
For DV-2027 a new 1 dollar registration fee applies, the first cycle to charge for entry; DV-2026 stated there was no cost because it predates the rule. The 1 dollar fee is separate from the 330 dollar immigrant visa fee paid later by people who are selected and apply for a visa. Beware of any site charging more than 1 dollar to enter: entry is made only through the official Electronic Diversity Visa portal.
How will I know if I am selected in the Diversity Visa lottery?
Only through Entrant Status Check at dvprogram.state.gov, using your confirmation number. The United States government never emails or mails selection notices, so any email or letter claiming you have been selected is a scam. Keep your confirmation number safe until the end of the fiscal year.
Does selection in the Diversity Visa lottery guarantee a visa?
No. More people are selected than there are visas, because not every selectee completes the process or qualifies. Visas are issued in case-number order within each region, and all DV-2027 visas must be issued by September 30, 2027. Selection is the start of the process, not a visa.
What is new for DV-2027, and what is still unconfirmed?
Three things are new for DV-2027: a 1 dollar registration fee, a passport requirement (valid unexpired passport information plus an upload of the passport biographic and signature page scan, subject to limited exemptions), and a court-ordered schedule (announcement by October 29, 2026, registration opening by November 1, 2026 for 30 days, selectees notified by December 3, 2026, visas through September 30, 2027), with an appeal pending that could change the dates.
The official DV-2027 instructions have not yet been published, so the ineligible-country list on this page is the DV-2026 list used provisionally and may differ. Always confirm against dvprogram.state.gov and travel.state.gov.
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