Free Tool

DV Lottery Eligibility Checker

Find out in 30 seconds whether you qualify to enter the DV-2027 Diversity Visa Lottery. Built directly from the U.S. State Department's official eligibility rules.

DV-2027 Eligibility Checker

Free · 30 seconds · Built on official State Dept. data

1. Your country of birth

Use the country where you were physically born, not your citizenship.

2. Education or work

You need at least one of these.

High school education or equivalent

12 years of formal primary and secondary education completed

Two years of qualifying work experience

Within the past 5 years, in an occupation requiring 2+ years of training (per O*NET)

How this tool works

The Diversity Visa Lottery has two basic eligibility requirements: (1) you must be from an eligible country, and (2) you must have either a high school education or two years of qualifying work experience. This tool checks both against the official DV-2027 country list and U.S. State Department rules.

Eligibility is necessary but not sufficient. The DV Lottery selects winners by random drawing from millions of entries. Each year roughly 100,000+ people are selected for 55,000 available visas. Even selectees can miss out if they have a high case number and the annual cap is reached before their turn.

Countries excluded from DV-2027

Each year the State Department excludes countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the prior five years. The list typically includes:

Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (excluding Northern Ireland), Venezuela, Vietnam

If you were born in an excluded country, you may still qualify by claiming your spouse's eligible country of birth, or — in narrow cases — a parent's eligible country.

Read the full DV Lottery guide

Eligibility is just the first step. Our complete DV Lottery Guide walks through entry procedures, scams to avoid, what happens after selection, and the costs involved.