Participation in the Green Card lottery will become paid

The US Department of State has announced changes to the procedure for participating in the Diversity Visa (DV) lottery, known as the "green card lottery".

As reported by BAKU.WS with reference to Boundless.com, starting October 16, 2025, all those wishing to participate in the program will have to pay an electronic registration fee of 1 US dollar. This is the first time in the program's history that a fee is being charged simply for submitting an application.

The State Department noted that the innovation is aimed at a more equitable distribution of administrative costs for conducting the lottery. Previously, the financial burden fell exclusively on participants selected for further visa processing.

Now, a small fee is mandatory for all participants. The changes will take effect before the start of registration for DV-2027, which traditionally begins in early October. The exact registration dates will be announced separately.