For Immediate Release
September 29, 2017
The Department of State made the formal public announcement of Diversity Visa (DV) 2019 program on September 13, 2017. The DV-2019 will be conducted entirely electronically at dvlottery.state.gov.
The registration period will run from 12:00 noon, Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on October 3, 2017, through 12:00 noon, EST, on November 7, 2017. During this registration period, applicants may access the electronic Diversity Visa entry form (E-DV) at dvlottery.state.gov. Paper entries will not be accepted.
There is no charge to complete the electronic Diversity Visa entry form. Entrants will receive an official confirmation number when they register. It is very important to keep that number until at least September 30, 2019. This confirmation number will be the sole means by which applicants can find out if they have been selected for DV-2019. All entrants, including those not selected, will be able to check the status of their entry through the Entrant Status Check available at dvlottery.state.gov as of May 1, 2018. Selected individuals who respond to the notification instructions provided on the E-DV selectee confirmation page on Entrant Status Check also will receive notification of their scheduled immigrant visa appointment through Entrant Status Check. DV-2019 data will be available through Entrant Status Check until at least September 30, 2019. Notifications to those selected will NOT be sent by e-mail or regular mail.
Please note that any person who receives a letter or email that states that he or she has been selected in the Diversity Visa program or promises a Green Card should consider the contents illegitimate and fraudulent. Furthermore, there are no third-party payments in the Diversity Visa process. The only required payment is the visa fee itself, which is paid at the U.S. Embassy.
The law allows only one entry for each person during each registration period. Individuals with more than one entry will be disqualified. However, a husband and a wife may each submit a separate entry, listing the other as a derivative dependent, if each meets the eligibility requirements.
Instructions for the DV lottery are posted in both English and Bulgarian on the Embassy’s website bg.usembassy.gov. If you have any additional questions after reading the instructions, please send us an email at iv_sofia@state.gov.
