Starting with the DV-2027 lottery, the United States is introducing a mandatory requirement: a valid passport is needed not after winning, but at the moment of application. Without it, an applicant will not be able to participate, with rare exceptions. This change was prompted by widespread fraud in previous drawings.

Why a Passport Will Be Required at Application

The US State Department published new rules on March 11, 2026, which took effect on April 10 of the same year. They apply starting with the DV-2027 lottery.

The requirement was prompted by large-scale fraud. In the DV-2025 lottery, 2.5 million fraudulent and duplicate entries were identified and screened out. For comparison, in years when passport requirements were in effect, around 760,000 such repeat entries were screened out.

The State Department cited specific examples. In 2012, the US Embassy in Bangladesh discovered that more than 634,000 entries had come from a single IP address. Local authorities, upon inspection, found computers with thousands of forms, forged education documents, and staged wedding photos.

In Ukraine, fraudulent groups posing as travel agencies collected people’s personal data, buying or stealing it from open sources, and submitted entries on behalf of others without their knowledge. When one of these people ended up on the winners’ list, the fraudsters would demand up to $15,000 for the confirmation number.

Similar schemes are widespread in Uzbekistan and Cambodia. In Cambodia in 2023, extortion amounts ranged from $5,000 to $30,000.

What Passport Data Must Be Provided

The new form will include fields for passport information. Applicants will need to enter:

  • passport number
  • country or authority that issued it
  • first name, last name, middle name (if any) — exactly as written in the passport
  • expiration date

In addition, applicants must upload a scan of the page with the photo and personal data, as well as the signature page, if the signature is on a separate page.

Previously, no one could verify at the application stage whether the application data matched the passport. Now the consul will see both the application form and the passport scan simultaneously, which eliminates the possibility of deception.

Passport Data Required for the DV-2027 Form

What passport information will be required in the new lottery form

  1. Passport numberExact number from the document
  2. Country or authority that issued the passportCountry of issuance
  3. First name, last name, middle nameExactly as in the passport, no additions
  4. Expiration dateMust be valid at the time of application
  5. Scan of biographic pageJPEG, up to 5 MBPhoto and personal data
  6. Scan of signature pageJPEG, up to 5 MBIf signature is on a separate page

Technical Requirements for Passport Upload

The file is accepted only in JPEG format. The system does not accept PDF format. The State Department rejected requests to allow PDF and increase file size limits.

The file size must not exceed 5 MB. There will be no built-in compression tool on the site, so applicants will have to prepare files for upload on their own.

The time allotted for completing the form has officially been recalculated from 30 minutes to an hour and a half due to the addition of new requirements.

Exceptions to the Passport Requirement

The requirement applies with limited exceptions:

  • stateless persons
  • citizens of countries under communist rule who cannot obtain a passport from their own government
  • individuals granted an individual waiver approved by the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State (considered at the interview stage)

The State Department rejected all other proposals to expand the list of exceptions, including requests to extend the benefit to residents of conflict zones, politically unstable regions, and people facing financial hardship.

How to Prepare in Advance

DV-2027 registration has not yet opened, and dates have not been announced. However, the visa issuance period — from October 1, 2026, to September 30, 2027 — remains unchanged.

This gives more time to obtain or renew a passport now. When the registration window opens, it will last about a month, and lines at passport offices may become noticeably longer.

Special attention should be paid to the State Department’s advice: it is recommended to keep a copy or scan of the passport that will be listed at the time of application. Between application and interview, a year passes, sometimes a year and a half. During this time, a passport may be damaged, lost, or replaced. At the interview, if the document has changed, there will be no way to prove that the old passport was valid on the day of application.

It is recommended to make a notarized copy of all passport pages along with printed confirmation pages and the application number, and then keep this until the entire process is complete.

Очередь в коридоре паспортного стола

Average Cost of a Passport

The State Department provided economic calculations in response to criticism of the passport requirement. According to their calculations, the average cost of a passport across participating countries is $74. However, in some countries it exceeds $200.

The agency’s argument is that the emigration process to the US itself is very expensive, and a person who cannot afford a passport is unlikely to be able to complete the entire process, including other necessary expenses.