The State Department requires you to list a patronymic in the green card lottery application only if it is written in Latin characters in your passport. In a Russian foreign passport, the patronymic appears only in Cyrillic, so it is not listed. In Uzbek, Kazakh, and other passports, the patronymic may appear in Latin characters as a separate field or as part of the name in the machine-readable line — in such cases it is entered as a middle name.
What the State Department Says About Names
The lottery instructions state: surname, first name, and middle name are entered exactly as they appear in your passport. A middle name is not entered if it does not appear in your passport. If your passport contains a first name, middle name, and surname, all of them are entered in the order: surname, first name, middle name.
The State Department does not ask whether you have a patronymic. It requires you to enter everything that is written in Latin characters in your passport. Everything depends on how your passport records your full name for the English language and machine reading.
Where to Look in Your Passport
In your passport, your name and surname are recorded twice. First, in the printed fields on the data page. Second, in two lines at the bottom of the same page. This is the machine-readable line, which scanners read at the border.
For the DV Lottery application, you need the data from the printed fields and machine-readable line, written in Latin characters. If a patronymic or father’s name appears in Latin characters in either of these places, it should be included in the application.
Examples from an Uzbek Passport
In an Uzbek passport, surname, first name, and patronymic (father’s name) are recorded separately. For example: surname Karimova, first name Dalnoza, and below — a separate field for father’s name Rustam Kase. This patronymic is in Latin characters.
In the machine-readable line after the double less-than sign it reads: Dalnoza Rustam Kase. The word Kase here is part of the patronymic, meaning daughter (for men, this position shows angles, meaning son).
In the application this is filled in as follows: surname — Karimova, first name — Dalnoza, middle name — Rustam Kase (two words together, not just Rustam).
Russian Foreign Passport
In a Russian foreign passport, the patronymic is written only in Cyrillic — in the section in Russian. In the English section of the passport, there is no patronymic. It does not appear in the machine-readable line either.
Following the same rule that requires entering what appears in Latin characters, the patronymic is not listed in the application — not because it is not considered, but because it does not appear in the English section of the passport.
General Rule for All Passports
Open the data page and find the fields written in Latin characters. Check whether there is a separate field for a patronymic or father’s name. Look at the first of the two bottom lines: after the page code comes the surname, then a double less-than sign, and everything after it consists of names.
If there are additional words besides the main first name, they go into the middle name field in the application exactly as written and in the same order. On all subsequent stages, the name is written the same way as in the first application — consistently.
Passport Signature and the New 2027 Rule
Starting with the 2027 lottery, the State Department requires uploading a scan of the data page and signature page from your valid passport to the application. The signature page confirms that the passport is genuine and issued to you.
If the signature line is blank, you must sign it before scanning, if there is space for this in your passport. The scan is uploaded in JPEG format, not PDF, with a file size not exceeding 5 MB.
A passport is required only for the primary applicant at the time of submission. However, if you are selected, be careful with the transliteration of your children’s names and surnames — it must match the information in their passports when you apply for them later.
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Reader experience is useful, but it is not advice: check the rules on the official site.
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