Diversity Visa (DV) Electronic Registration for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 opens October 6, 2021, at noon ET and closes on November 9, 2021, at noon ET.

There is no cost to register, but, if selected, applicants must pay the visa application or I-485 Adjustment of Status fees.

Individuals born in certain countries are not eligible to apply because more than 50,000 natives of those countries have immigrated to the United States in the past five years. The list of ineligible countries is basically the same as last year, except Guatemala has been removed and Venezuela has been added.

The ineligible countries for FY 2023 are:

Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong SAR), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, Venezuela and Vietnam. Individuals born in Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible.

Although there is no registration fee, individuals may not submit more than one application. Doing so will lead to disqualification. Eligibility requirements are on the Diversity Lottery website. Interested applicants should apply early and not wait until the last week when heavy demand could lead to website delays. Applicants must apply online. No late or paper entries are accepted.

A few highlights from the instructions:

• Applicants must have a valid, unexpired passport to apply. There are some waivers available, including for stateless applicants or applicants who cannot get a passport from a Communist-controlled country.
• Cross-chargeability is a possibility. Applicants can apply based upon the country of birth of a derivative spouse or possibly based upon the country of birth of either of their parents if neither parent was a “resident” (other than on a temporary basis) of the applicant’s country of birth at the time of the applicant’s birth.
• Applicants may apply from within the United States or from abroad.
• Eligible applicants must have at least a high school education or its equivalent or two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience as defined by the Department of Labor.
• No one eligible country will be allocated more than 7% of the 55,000 DVs that are available for the year.

FY 2023 DV entrants will be able to check the status of their applications online at www.dvprogram.state.gov starting on May 8, 2022.

Due to COVID-19, the 2021 Diversity Lottery has been mired in litigation. The hope is that the FY 2023 DV will not have similar problems.