Visa Lottery Tightens Up: Scan Your Passport or Stay Home
Published Date: 3/11/2026
Rule
Summary
Starting April 10, 2026, people applying for the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program must provide a valid, unexpired passport and upload a scan of its key pages to help stop fraud. This change affects all applicants and makes the process more secure and clear. The government is also updating some language to keep things simple and accurate.
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 3 costs, 0 mixed.
Passport and Passport Scan Required
If you apply to the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, you must provide valid, unexpired passport information and upload a scan of the passport biographic and signature page (or indicate you are exempt). The rule is effective April 10, 2026 and will be implemented with the DV-2027 program.
Specified Passport Rule Exemptions
Some entrants may be exempt from the passport requirement: petitioners who are stateless; nationals of a Communist-controlled country unable to obtain a passport from that government; and petitioners granted an individual waiver approved by the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State, determined case-by-case at interview.
Mandatory $1 DV Entry Fee
All entrants seeking to participate in the DV program must pay a $1 fee when submitting their entry, with no waivers for that fee, as of the Department's published fee rule.
Estimated Time and Passport Cost Burden
The Department estimates an average passport fee of $74.43 in DV-eligible countries, adds an additional 60 minutes of application time (revising total time burden to 90 minutes), and values the extra hour at $4.56. For an estimated 10,000,000 entrants, the Department projects an added time cost of $45,600,000 and a total annual estimated global cost of $68,400,000.
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Key Dates
Related Federal Register Documents
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