The U.S. State Department has finalized new rules for the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, introducing stricter identity requirements aimed at reducing fraud and improving vetting. According to the final rule published by the Department of State in the Federal Register on March 11, entrants will be required to provide information from a valid, unexpired passport and upload a scan of the passport’s biographic and signature pages when submitting the electronic entry form.
The new rule takes effect on April 10, 2026, and the State Department said it will apply beginning with the DV-2027 entry period. The change represents one of the most significant updates to the lottery process in recent years and is intended to address long-standing concerns about fraudulent entries, duplicate applications, and third parties submitting applications without the knowledge of the actual entrant.
According to the State Department, fraud in the program remains extensive. In the DV-2025 cycle alone, the department said it identified 2.5 million fraudulent entries. Officials said many of these submissions were tied to third parties, including criminal operators, that entered people into the lottery without their consent and then withheld confirmation numbers unless fees were paid. The department said requiring passport details and passport scans will make that type of abuse more difficult because unauthorized third parties are less likely to have access to those documents.
New Identity Rules and Program Changes
Under the final rule, entrants must include passport information directly in the DS-5501 Diversity Visa entry form and upload a JPEG image of the required passport pages. Certain applicants may still qualify for limited exemptions, including stateless individuals and some people who are unable to obtain passports from particular governments. Those applicants will be allowed to attest to an exemption instead of providing passport documentation.
The rule also includes several additional regulatory changes. According to the State Department, the updated language replaces the word “gender” with “sex,” changes “age” to “date of birth” to better reflect the information collected during the visa process, and standardizes instructions by using the word “shall” in guidance for consular officers.
The department said these revisions are meant to improve clarity and consistency in how the program is administered. Immigration law firms including Fragomen and Erickson Immigration Group also noted that the revised rules will require updates to the electronic system used for Diversity Visa registration.
Fraud Prevention and Participation Impact
The State Department said the passport rule is expected to bring new costs for entrants but argued that the security and fraud prevention benefits outweigh those burdens. According to the final rule, the department estimates the average passport cost in eligible countries at $74.43 and revised its time-burden estimate for compliance to 90 minutes per response.
Officials also argued that the passport requirement does not prevent legitimate participation. The rule notes that while entries dropped during previous years when a similar passport requirement was in place, the program still received more than enough qualified applicants across all regions to use all available visas.
According to the State Department, the program offers 55,000 diversity visas annually. The department estimates that around 10 million people may still enter the DV-2027 program despite the tighter documentation rules and the additional $1 entry fee introduced in 2025.
For applicants, the change means the lottery process will now require more preparation at the entry stage rather than later in the visa process. For the government, the rule reflects a broader effort to tighten screening earlier and reduce the administrative burden created by fraudulent or duplicate filings.
