You’ll need more than luck in the Visa Lottery: Trump administration wants to change the rules
The rules for the popular Diversity Visa Lottery — which allows thousands of people each year to legally immigrate to the United States and apply for a green card — could soon change under a new proposal from the U.S. Department of State.
The proposed measures, published Tuesday in the Federal Register, are aligned with several immigration and national security policies reinstated under the Trump administration.
Officially known as the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) Program, the initiative is now under review to improve “vetting and combatting fraud.”
Key data under scrutiny
The Department of State’s proposal would increase screening for applicants to the program, whose immigrant visas are granted through a computerized lottery.
The agency is seeking to require DV applicants to submit “valid, unexpired passport information and a scanned copy of the passport biographic page and signature page uploaded with their electronic entry form.”
Another change would involve replacing the term “gender” with “sex,” in compliance with Executive Order 14168, as well as using “date of birth” instead of “age” in an effort to improve “the accuracy of information collected and maintained by the Department throughout the immigrant visa process.”
The DV Program is administered by the Department of State and benefits countries with historically low rates of immigration to the U.S.: specifically, nationals of countries from which fewer than 50,000 people have immigrated to the U.S. over the past five years.
According to official data, millions of applicants submit their DV entries every year through an online registration form.
What is the goal of the changes?
The Department of State says the proposed requirements would strengthen the security framework against fraud in the DV application and adjudication process.
“Requiring passport information with the DV entry would make it substantially more difficult for unauthorized third parties to submit entries on behalf of individuals with partial information,” the rule states. “This requirement would also enable the Department to more effectively and efficiently confirm the identities of entrants. The Department also anticipates that this requirement would reduce the number of fraudulent marriages that occur within the DV Program.”
Early identification of potential fraud would reduce the need to dedicate “significant resources” to resolving inconsistencies between the DV entry and the visa application, and to “determine whether the explanation provided by the applicant is credible or whether the entry was fraudulent.”
Each year, 55,000 Diversity Visas are made available to those who meet eligibility criteria and qualify under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and State Department regulations.
Passport information: You’ll need it before the interview
The proposal includes amending certain visa application forms to require “a passport number or unique identification number associated with the applicant’s valid, unexpired passport; the name on the passport; the country or authority that issued the passport; and the expiration date of the passport.”
Additionally, DV applicants would be required to submit a scanned image of the passport’s biographic and signature pages. This would, according to the proposal, “significantly enhance” the department’s ability to verify applicants’ identities — part of the response to Trump’s Executive Order 14161, Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States, issued on January 20, 2025.
With access to a scanned passport image, the department “seeks to reduce the likelihood of a falsified passport number” and enable adjudicators “to compare the spelling of the principal entrant’s name in the native alphabet on the passport with the spelling of the entrant’s name in English as provided on the entry form.”
Under the new rules, some applicants would need to obtain a valid passport at the time of submitting their DV entry, rather than after being selected for an interview at a consular office or embassy.
The proposed rule is open to public comment for 44 days and is scheduled to close on September 19, 2025.
