America has implemented new rules in the Green Card Lottery (DV-2027). Now passport details and biographical page will be mandatory in the application. Its objective is to prevent fraud and make the process secure, reliable and transparent.
Green Card Rules: America has made major changes in its much talked about Diversity Immigrant Visa Program or Green Card Lottery. The new rules will come into effect from 10 April 2026. Under this, the application process has now been made more strict and secure than before. The US State Department has published a notification in this regard in the Federal Register. Its main objective is to make the visa process transparent, reliable and secure.
According to the new rules, now it will be mandatory for every applicant to provide details of valid passport in the online form. Along with this, a scanned copy of the biographical and signature pages of the passport will also have to be uploaded. Exemption can be given only in certain special circumstances.
What is Diversity Visa Program?
Under the Diversity Visa Program, approximately 55,000 visas are granted each year to citizens of countries from which the number of immigrants to the United States has been relatively low. This process is done through computer based random selection. Its objective is to ensure that people from different countries get equal opportunities.
However, in the last few years many irregularities have come to light in this program. A large number of fake applications, multiple applications by the same person under different identities and applications by agents or middlemen without information had become a common problem.
Importance of passport requirement
Now with the implementation of passport requirement, it will be easier to link every application to a real person. This will curb fraudulent networks and reduce the chances of a person applying multiple times. US officials indicated that there were networks operating in some countries that made multiple applications in people’s names without their knowledge. The new rules are an attempt to stop these activities.
Important information for application
Now candidates will have to provide the following information while applying for the Green Card Lottery.
- passport number
- Passport issuing country or authority
- passport expiry date
- Scanned copy of biographical page and signature page of passport
If an applicant does not upload these required information or documents, his/her application will be considered invalid.
In which cases exemption will be given
Exemptions may be given in some limited circumstances. For example, people without any citizenship or whose passport is not possible due to government restrictions in their country can get relief from this rule. Apart from this, special exemption given by US authorities will also be valid.
The rule has already been implemented
This rule of passport requirement is not new. This was implemented in the year 2019 also. Its purpose was to stop fake applications. But a US federal court struck it down in 2022 because the government did not follow a public process before implementing it. Now this rule is being implemented again.
change in technical terms
Under the new guidelines, changes have been made in some technical terms in the application form. Now in the form, instead of “Gender” you will have to fill “Sex” and instead of “Age” you will have to fill “Date of Birth”. Officials say this has been done to make the data collection process more clear and consistent.
When will the new rules come into effect
According to the US State Department, these changes will come into effect from the DV-2027 lottery. However, the registration dates for DV-2027 have not been announced yet. At present, the start of the application process has been postponed.
popularity of dv programs
DV Lottery attracts millions of people from all over the world every year. This is the most popular and accessible way to get permanent residence i.e. green card in America. Therefore, the change in rules is likely to affect a large number of people.
Background of application of rules
This program was temporarily stopped in December 2025. The cause was a serious incident involving the shootings at Brown University. Two people had died in this and the suspect was a citizen of Portugal. He entered the US through the DV program in 2017 and later obtained a green card.
After this incident, America ensured that the application process in future is more secure and fraud free. Passport requirement is the most important step under this.
Status for Indian citizens
Currently, Indian citizens will not be eligible for this program until 2028. This is because the Diversity Visa Lottery gives priority to citizens of countries from which the number of immigrants to the US is relatively low.
India is not able to live up to this standard. According to the data, 93,450 Indians went to America in 2021, 1,27,010 in 2022 and 78,070 in 2023. This number is much more than the prescribed limit of 50,000.
For this reason India has not been included in this lottery yet. Unless the number of people traveling from India to America falls below the prescribed limit, Indian citizens will not be able to apply for this program.
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