The Green Card Lottery (DV Lottery)

The requirements, a photo that meets the rules, the mistakes that get entries deleted, and the new DV-2027 rules — in plain language.

Official form names and terms are kept in English throughout, exactly as they appear on the government forms.

1. What is the DV Lottery?

The DV Lottery (also known as the Green Card Lottery or Diversity Immigrant Visa Program) is an official programme of the U.S. Department of State. Each year the government makes 55,000 permanent-resident visas available to people from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.

Winners are chosen by a random computer drawing. If you are selected and complete the process, you and your family (spouse and unmarried children under 21) can obtain the right to live and work in the United States legally.

2. Eligibility requirements

You must meet two main requirements:

2.1 An eligible country

You must be a native of an eligible country of birth. Most African countries — including Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda — qualify. The official list can change every year, so when a programme opens, check the country list in that year's official instructions on travel.state.gov.

The rule most people get wrong: if your country of birth is not eligible, you may be able to claim your spouse's country of birth — if that spouse is eligible and you both intend to enter the US together. There are also parent and grandparent chargeability rules with their own conditions — read the official instructions carefully.

2.2 Education or work experience

You need one of the following:

• High school education or its equivalent: for a Tanzanian, the safe route is Form 6 (ACSEE) — 12 years of schooling. Form 6 or any higher certificate is unambiguous. Form 4 alone may or may not be accepted: the system counts years of schooling, and the US side has no way to verify how Tanzanian years map. There is no certainty here, so do not rely on Form 4 alone.
• Two years of work experience within the past 5 years, in an occupation requiring at least two years of training or experience under the US O*NET system (Job Zone 4).

3. Costs and the official website

For DV-2026 and earlier, entering was completely free — there was no fee to apply. From DV-2027, there is a new USD 1 fee per entry, paid online through Pay.gov when you submit. The fee is non-refundable.

All entries are submitted through one official government website: dvprogram.state.gov — during the registration period only.

Larger fees come after you win — never at entry:

4. Photo specifications

The photo is the number-one reason entries get disqualified. Make sure yours — and every family member's — meets all of the following:

• The face: in colour, taken within the last 6 months, looking straight at the camera, full face visible, head centered in the frame.
• Background: plain white or off-white, with no shadow on your face or behind you.
• Glasses: not allowed at all — even prescription glasses. Take them off before the photo.
• Hats and religious attire: hats are not allowed. Religious clothing (like a hijab) is allowed only if it leaves your full face visible from chin to crown, with no shadow.
• Digital specs: JPEG, between 600×600 and 1200×1200 pixels, square (width = height), file size no more than 240 KB.
• No editing: do not submit a retouched or altered photo, or the same one you used in a previous year.

5. Information you must provide

On the online form (DS-5501, Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form) you enter:

1. Your full name exactly as in your passport — now mandatory (see the new rules above).
2. Your date and place of birth.
3. Your valid passport details + upload a scan of the biographic and signature page (DV-2027 onwards).
4. Your qualifying digital photo.
5. Email and mailing address; the nearest consular post.
6. Your highest level of education; your marital status.
7. Details of your spouse (even if not travelling together) and all children under 21 and unmarried — each with their own photo.

6. Mistakes that get you removed

1. Submitting more than one entry. The system catches over 2.5 million duplicate entries each year — all of them are deleted, including your genuine one. One person, one entry.
2. Hiding family members. See section 5. This disqualifies even selectees.
3. A non-compliant photo. Edited, shadowed, or with glasses on — the entry is deleted.
4. Entering outside the window or using an incorrect email address — you lose access to your confirmation number.
5. Claiming education or experience you do not have. At the interview you must prove it — with genuine documents only.
6. Handing your confirmation number to someone else. Anyone holding your number can check your status — scammers have used this against entrants. If you lose it, the only official recovery is on dvprogram.state.gov.

7. After you enter: results and the winning steps

Registration window: it usually opens in October and closes in November each year — the exact dates are announced on travel.state.gov every year. For example, DV-2026 registration ran 2 October – 7 November 2024; the DV-2027 programme was postponed while the new rules were prepared.

Results: they come out in May of the following year. You check dvprogram.state.gov using your Confirmation Number from when you entered. Only you can do this — there is an official page for recovering a lost confirmation number, and the government will not provide it any other way.

There is no winning email. The US government does not send an email, SMS or call to tell you that you won. Any such message is a scam.

7.1 If you are selected

1. Complete the DS-260 (immigrant visa application) online and pay its fee.
2. Gather your education/work certificates, birth and marriage certificates, and police certificates — for each applying family member.
3. Complete the medical examination with the embassy's approved physician.
4. Attend the interview at the US Embassy in Dar es Salaam — every family member.

Critical warning: selection is not a visa. There are fewer visas than selectees, and your place is lost if you miss the timing. Interviews and visa issuance must finish by the end of the government's fiscal year (30 September); unused slots are cancelled.

8. Official sources only

• travel.state.gov — Diversity Visa Program — official programme information
• dvprogram.state.gov — the only official entry and results site
• DV-2026 instructions (PDF) — official instructions, including the country list
• federalregister.gov — DV-2027 final rule — the new passport and fee rules
• usa.gov/dv-lottery-eligibility — official eligibility summary
• tz.usembassy.gov — US Embassy, Tanzania

This is general information, not legal advice, and the author is not an immigration attorney. Rules, fees and dates change — verify everything on the official sites before paying or submitting. The visa decision belongs to the Department of State alone.