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There are specific eligibility requirements that immigrants receiving the diversity visa must fulfill. They include the following.
Country of Birth
Would-be applicants are eligible to enter the diversity visa lottery if they were born in a country that has sent fewer than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the preceding five-year period.
The list changes over time. For example, individuals from the following countries were ineligible to participate in the 2025 diversity lottery (which had an entry period from October 4, 2023 to November 7, 2023):
- 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
- Vietnam
The Department of State provides an updated list each year showing the countries that are ineligible. Anyone whose country of origin isn’t on the list can apply.
Education or Work History
Diversity visas are available only to those who have successfully completed a high school education. Equivalency certificates, such as the GED®, do not qualify. The course of study must have been comparable to the 12-year experience of elementary through high school in the United States.
Those who do not have a high school diploma can qualify based on work experience instead, but they must have had at least two years of experience during the last five years in a specific occupation designated by the Department of Labor as one that requires training, experience or the completion of specific vocational preparation.
Selection in the Green Card Lottery
The only way to enter the U.S. on a diversity visa is to enter the diversity visa lottery and be selected in a drawing. The selection is random, although a certain percentage of visas are allocated to each region and country.
After the selection, the Entrant Status Check on the Electronic Diversity Visa (E-DV) website is updated to tell those who entered if their number was chosen.
No notification letters are sent or emailed, and U.S. embassies and consultants don’t provide a list of individuals who are selected. The only way to find out is to do an Entrant Status Check on the E-DV website.