Did you know that the USA dishes out thousands of green cards at random every year?

Established as part of the 1990 Immigration and Nationality Act, the Diversity Visa lottery’s purpose is to diversify the population of the U.S. To this end, every year, 55,000 United States green cards are offered out via a lottery.

But there’s a catch: over 2 million people apply every year, so the chances of winning are low, and not everyone can enter. Until very recently, neither could people born in the UK (with the exception of those born in Northern Ireland).

Who can enter the Diversity Visa lottery?

(a) Natives of countries with a historically low rate of immigration to the U.S.

This can change every year.

The lottery is designed to offer out green cards to diversify the population of the U.S. Eligibility is restricted to those born in countries who send low numbers of immigrants to the U.S. (specifically, less than 50,000 over the past 5 years).

Usually, the UK is above the 50,000 threshold—in fact, FY 2025 was the very first time that the U.S. had ever extended the DV lottery to all natives of the UK. The Covid-19 pandemic helped to bring our 5-year total down, and we were only just below the 50,000 mark even then. The table below illustrates how the UK ended up qualifying.

Persons obtaining lawful permanent resident status in the USA from the UK (2018-2023):

2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
9,910	11,340	9,660	9,230	9,140	9,720

The U.S. Department of State provides a list of all eligible countries.

Note that if you’re not a native of the UK and your country is not eligible, there are other ways you could still qualify (USCIS Policy Manual goes into this in more detail here):

• If your spouse was born in an eligible country, you can apply with your spouse and choose your spouse’s birth country on your application.
• If neither of your parents were legal residents in your own country of birth, you can choose your mother or father’s country of birth.

(b) Education requirement

As well as being a native of one of the eligible countries for FY 2026, you must also have either:

• A high school education or equivalent; or
• Two years of work experience within the past five years in a qualifying occupation.

Only the principal applicant must meet this requirement. Your spouse and children do not. Read more here.

When and how can UK natives apply for the Diversity Visa lottery this year?

Last year, the Diversity Visa program opened on October 2nd, 2024, and ended on November 5th, 2024.

But this year, the Department of State has not announced when the program will open, or even if UK natives will be eligible. It’s not exactly clear what’s causing the delay, but it would appear that it has something to do with the new $1 fee that the government will supposedly be introducing.

We’re checking the Department of State’s website daily for updates, but in the meantime, we all just have to sit and wait. The DV program is established by statute and has to go ahead at some point—we just don’t know when.

UPDATE (DEC 19, 2025): Media outlets are reporting that Kristi Noem, Department of Homeland Security Secretary, is ordering USCIS to pause the the DV program. We’ll be monitoring the situation closely.

How much does it cost to enter the Diversity Visa lottery?

As of 2025, the government has announced that it would be implementing a $1 fee to register for the DV program for FY 2027. That said, it’s not clear how registrants will pay, and the government’s ongoing delay in announcing this year’s program raises questions over whether they’ll be able to implement the fee at all this year.

What are my chances of winning the Diversity Visa lottery?

Your odds of winning are quite low (< 1%). If you’re serious about moving to the U.S. then you should look into other options as well. But as they say, if you don’t buy a ticket, you won’t win the raffle…

When do I find out if I won the Diversity Visa lottery?

Usually, we can expect the announcement by May each year.

Where do I go to find out if I won the Diversity Visa lottery?

Registrants should go to the State Department’s Diversity Visa Lottery website to find out if they’ve won. Note that this is the only way to find out—you won’t get a direct notification to lottery winners.

What’s next if I win the Diversity Visa lottery?

If you’re selected, you can submit an application for U.S. permanent residence during FY 2026, which begins on October 1, 2025.

Confused about what happens next?

Diversity Visa Lottery FAQs

1. Does registering for the lottery affect my current visa status or future applications?

No. Merely entering the lottery is not itself indicative of ‘immigrant intent’, so applying does not disqualify you from holding some other type of immigration status in the U.S.

Of course, if you actually win the lottery and then submit an application to immigrate to America, that changes things. In that case, you would be considered to have ‘immigrant intent’.

2. What are my chances of winning the Diversity Visa lottery?

It’s very difficult to say, and each year your odds will be different. But the (slightly cop-out) answer we’ll give here is that your chances are low—but better than zero!

3. So if I win the lottery, I’ll definitely get a green card?

No. It’s not that simple. If you win, you then have to apply for an immigrant visa. And, as noted above, there are a limited number of those visas available, so if you don’t get yours before they run out you’ll be out of luck. Also, if you’re inadmissible to the U.S. for any reason, you’ll still have to navigate that process when you apply; winning the lottery doesn’t cure that reality.