DV-2028 green card lottery: when registration opens

In a normal year DV-2028 entries would be open right now. Instead the State Department has yet to open DV-2027, and on October 29, 2026 an appeals court paused the order that set its dates. What is known about the 2028 draw, which rules already apply and how to prepare.

In detail

In a normal year DV-2028 entries would be open right now: the green card lottery usually takes entries in October. In 2026 there is nothing to file. The US State Department has yet to open the previous draw, DV-2027, and on October 29 a federal appeals court paused the order that had set its dates.

For natives of eligible countries the lottery remains one of the few routes to a green card that needs no employer, no investment and no US relative. Here is what is known about DV-2028, which rules already apply to it and how to prepare so you are ready the day registration opens.

When does DV-2028 registration open?

The State Department has not announced DV-2028 dates. In 2026 no official instructions have been published for DV-2027 or DV-2028.

The program normally runs on a fixed calendar. Entries are accepted for about five weeks from early October, a year before the program year begins: DV-2025 from October 4 to November 7, 2023, and DV-2026 in October and November 2024. Selectees learn the result the following May, and visas are issued from October 1 to September 30 of the program year.

The dates are published in the official instructions and in an official notice before the window opens. Entries are accepted only during that window: there are no paper or late entries.

What happened to DV-2027?

DV-2027 registration was due in October 2025. On November 5, 2025 the State Department said it would announce the start date as soon as practicable and kept the DV-2027 visa period at October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027. Registration never opened, and no draw took place in May 2026.

On October 14, 2026 a federal district court in California ordered the department to announce dates by October 29, open registration by November 1 and notify selectees by December 3, 2026. The government appealed. On October 29 the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit paused that order until the appeal is decided. It found that the plaintiff, an immigration law firm, is unlikely to be entitled to bring the claim, and stated that it did not endorse the department's failure to open registration.

For DV-2027 this means the November 1 deadline no longer binds the department, and there are no registration dates. The appeal continues on a schedule the court will set.

DV-2026 visa issuance did resume: the State Department paused diversity visas in December 2025 and resumed issuing them on August 28, 2026 under a separate court order, a month before that program year ended.

What does this mean for DV-2028?

The DV-2028 entry period depends on how the DV-2027 dispute ends. Until the State Department publishes official instructions, there is no registration to enter and nothing to pay: a website taking money or entries for DV-2028 today has nothing to do with the program.

The program itself stands. It is written into US immigration law, Congress has not repealed it, and it provides up to 55,000 visas a year. According to official data, about 100,000 entrants are selected for them each year, because not every selectee completes the process.

Use the pause to prepare. Entries are lost less often to luck than to mistakes: a photo that breaks the rules, a child missing from the form, an expired passport. Each of these disqualifies an entry, even one that has already been selected.

What rules already apply to DV-2028?

Two rules adopted in 2025 and 2026 cover every future draw, DV-2028 included.

• A valid passport is mandatory. Under a rule in force since April 10, 2026, every entry must include the details of a valid, unexpired passport and a scan of its data and signature pages. Exemptions are narrow, for example for stateless people. The State Department explicitly declined to postpone this requirement until DV-2028.
• Each entry costs $1. The registration fee has applied since September 16, 2025 and is paid online when you enter. Selectees then pay a $330 visa application fee per person.
• Online only, one entry per person. Entries are filed only through the State Department's E-DV website during the registration window. Paper and late entries are not accepted, and more than one entry in your name disqualifies you.

The core requirements are unchanged: a high school education, or 2 years of work in the last 5 in an occupation that requires at least 2 years of training or experience. This is checked at the visa interview.

Who can enter DV-2028?

Eligibility depends on your country of birth, not your citizenship. Natives of countries that sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the US over the previous five years cannot enter, and the list for each draw is set in its instructions.

In DV-2026 natives of 19 countries were excluded: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong), Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Venezuela and Vietnam. Cuba was the only change from the DV-2025 list.

If you were born in an excluded country, you can still enter through your spouse's country of birth when it is eligible: both of you must be named on the entry and move to the US together. In narrow cases a parent's country of birth also counts.

Separate US entry restrictions apply to citizens of some countries, and under them even a selectee can be refused a visa. Check this before you spend money on documents.

How should you prepare for DV-2028?

• Check your passport. It must be valid when you enter, and a renewal takes months in many countries.
• Take a compliant photo. A photo that breaks the rules disqualifies the entry, even one that has already been selected.
• List your whole family. The entry must name your spouse and all unmarried children under 21, including those who will not move with you. Leaving anyone out disqualifies the entry.
• Enter separately with your spouse. If you were both born in eligible countries, each of you files an entry listing the other, which doubles the family's chances.
• Keep the confirmation number. Results are checked only on the official website with this number. The State Department does not notify selectees by email or letter, so such messages are a scam.
• Plan the finances. At the interview you show that you will not rely on public benefits, through savings, a job offer or a US sponsor. Our guide to moving to the USA covers visas, taxes and housing.

Which US routes do not depend on the lottery?

The lottery is a draw that most entrants lose, and in 2026 it has no dates at all. Anyone serious about moving should run a second route in parallel.

All routes to permanent residence are compared in our guide to the US green card in 2026, and the full relocation plan is in our article on how to move to the US.

Our US relocation services

The lottery decides only whether your name is on the list. Documents, the interview, proof of funds and moving the family all come down to preparation, and that is where we help.

If you are selected, we prepare the visa application and the interview package for your consulate, document your finances and plan the first months in the US.

What are the alternatives outside the US?

US immigration in 2026 runs on court calendars. If you want residence or a second passport on predictable terms, choose countries where the rules are written down and followed.

Paraguayan citizenship after 3 years of residence and an Argentine passport give visa-free travel to the Schengen area and more than 140 countries. Remote workers can choose among digital nomad visas, and our overview of residence permits abroad compares the requirements country by country.

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