FTC Consumer Alert

Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection Division of Consumer & Business Education

Diversity Visa Lottery:

Read the Rules, Avoid the Rip-Offs

If you or someone you know is trying to get a green card — the right to live in the United States 

permanently — be on the lookout for unscrupulous businesses and attorneys. They’ll claim that, for a 

fee, they can make it easier to enter the U. S. State Department’s annual Diversity Visa (DV) lottery 

(also known as the “green card lottery”) or increase your chances of winning the DV lottery.

Each year, the State Department conducts a lottery through its DV program to distribute applications 

for 50,000 immigrant visas. Winners of the lottery have a chance to apply for an immigrant visa, 

which can be used to enter the U. S. Winners are selected randomly, and there is no fee to enter the 

lottery.

Entries to the DV lottery must be submitted online at www.dvlottery.state.gov. (This site is 

only accessible during the application period.) Paper entries or mail-in requests will not be accepted. 

Lottery entrants must include a passport-style digital photograph and separate digital photographs of 

any spouse and children under 21 years of age. Group photographs are not allowed. Check with the 

State Department for technical requirements of the digital photograph.

Entries are accepted for a limited time. For the DV-2009 Lottery (to be conducted in 2007), the 

application period is from October 3, 2007, through December 2, 2007. DV-2009 visas will be 

issued between October 1, 2008 and September 30, 2009. Check with the State Department for entry 

dates for future DV lotteries.

Entrants may submit only one entry during any particular DV lottery; those who submit more than one 

entry will be disqualified. Spouses may submit separate entries, however, if each meets the eligibility 

requirements. If only one spouse is selected, the other may enter the country on the Diversity Visa of 

the winning spouse.

The DV lottery has two eligibility requirements: 

1. The entrant must be from an eligible country. You must have been born in an eligible country, or have parents who were born in eligible countries and who were not residents of your 

country of birth, when you were born. For example, your parents might have lived temporarily 

in the ineligible country because of their jobs.

Every year, the State Department announces the countries whose natives are ineligible for 

application. For the DV-2009 lottery, natives of the following countries are not eligible 

to apply: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, 

El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, 

Russia, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, 
and Vietnam. Persons born in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan are eligible. Applicants should 

check with the State Department to determine the ineligible countries for future DV lotteries.

2. Entrants must meet an education or training requirement. You will have met the education requirement if you have a high school education or have successfully completed a 12-year 

course of elementary and secondary education. You will have met the training requirement

if you have at least two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation 

requiring at least two years of training or experience to perform. The U.S. Department of 

Labor’s O*Net OnLine database will be used to determine qualifying work experience. 

Green Card Lottery Scams

According the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, some 

businesses and attorneys misrepresent their services by saying that:

• they are affiliated with the U.S. government; 

• they have special expertise or a special entry form that is required to enter the lottery; 

• their company has never had a lottery entry rejected; 

• their company can increase an entrant’s chances of “winning” the lottery; 

• people from ineligible countries still are “qualified” to enter the lottery. 

In addition, some companies jeopardize an entrant’s opportunity to participate in the lottery by filing 

several entries. These companies also may charge lottery-winning applicants substantial fees to 

complete the application process. 

Protecting Yourself from Fraud

The FTC says the best way to protect against green card lottery scams is to understand how the State 

Department’s lottery works. 

• There’s no charge to enter the green card lottery. You can enter on your own at the State 

Department’s website — www.dvlottery.state.gov. You’ll need to answer a few questions and 

provide passport-style digital photographs. You’ll get an acknowledgment from the State Department once you’ve submitted your entry.

Hiring a company or attorney to enter the lottery for you is your decision, but the person you 

pay will have to follow the same procedure. And your chance of being selected is the same 

whether you submit the entry or you pay someone to do it for you.

• Submit only one entry. If you submit more than one, you will be disqualified.

• Selection of entries is random. Spouses who are eligible for the DV lottery can apply separately; the “losing” spouse can enter the country on the Diversity Visa of the “winning” 

spouse. This is the only legitimate way to significantly increase your chance of entering the 

U.S. through the DV lottery.

• Be alert to websites promising government travel or residency documents online or by 

mail. Except for entering the DV lottery, most applications for visas, passports, green cards, 
and other travel and residency documents must be completed in person before an officer of the 

U.S. government.

• Be thoughtful about who you send your personal documents to. Unless you have an established relationship with a business, do not mail birth certificates, passports, drivers’ licenses, 

marriage certificates, Social Security cards, or other documents with your personal identifying 

information to businesses promising to complete your application for travel or residency documents. These businesses may be engaged in identity theft.

• Be skeptical of websites posing as U.S. government sites. They may have domain names 

similar to government agencies, official-looking emblems (eagles, flags, or other American images like the Statue of Liberty or the U.S. Capitol), the official seals or logos of — and links to 

— other government sites, and list Washington, D.C., mailing addresses. If the domain name 

doesn’t end in “.gov,” it’s not a government site. Bogus sites may charge for government 

forms. Don’t pay; government forms and instructions for completing them are available from 

the issuing U.S. government agency for free.

For More Information

For details about the State Department’s Diversity Visa lottery, visit www.dvlottery.state.gov. You 

also may call the State Department’s Visa Services’ Public Inquiries Branch at 202-663-1225. This 

number has recorded information with an option to speak with a visa specialist during normal business 

hours. Those overseas should contact the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in 

the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a 

complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit ftc.gov or call toll-free,

1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, 

identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure online database 

available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

1-877-FTC-HELP FOR THE CONSUMER

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION ftc.gov

October 2007