The U.S. Department of State will begin accepting online registrations for the 2025 Diversity Visa (DV) lottery starting Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2023, at noon EDT. For Fiscal Year 2025 (FY2025), the DV lottery will allow a maximum of 55,000 “diversity immigrants” to obtain permanent residence in the United States if they are from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Entries for the DV-2025 lottery must be submitted electronically by noon EST on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2022. Applicants may access the electronic Diversity Visa entry form (E-DV) at https://dvprogram.state.gov/ during the registration period. Paper entries will not be accepted. More details on the DV lottery are available here. 

The DV lottery is administered on an annual basis by the U.S. Department of State. For FY2025, natives of the following countries remain ineligible to apply for the DV lottery because the countries sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the previous five years: 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 and Vietnam. Persons born in Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible. Instructions for entering the DV-2025 lottery are available at the U.S. Department of State website: DV Lottery Instructions.

Designation of Israel into the Visa Waiver Program

The Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security jointly announced that Israel has been accepted into the Visa Waiver Program. This will allow citizens and nationals of Israel to apply seek entry to the United States for tourism or business purposes for up to 90 days without first obtaining a U.S. visa at a U.S. Consulate or Embassy. According to the government, the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) will be updated by Nov. 30, 2023, thereby allowing Israelis to participate in this program. Acceptance into this program is of tremendous value to its participants. The program builds comprehensive security partnerships between the United States and designated countries that meet strict requirements related to counterterrorism, law enforcement, immigration enforcement, document security and border management.