EDV / US Diversity Visa Lottery from Nepal: How to Apply Free, Dates, Results & Scam Warnings

The Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, run by the US Department of State, makes a limited number of US immigrant visas (green cards) available each year to people from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. In Nepal it is universally known as 'America ko chittha' or simply 'DV', and the online entry system is called the Electronic Diversity Visa, or EDV. By law up to 55,000 diversity visas are authorised each year; after a statutory set-aside, roughly 50,000 are actually available. No single country may receive more than 7 percent of them.

Selection is a genuine random draw done by computer at the Kentucky Consular Center in the United States. There is no skill, no interview and no way to improve your odds beyond submitting one correct entry, only one entry per person is allowed per year, and duplicate entries disqualify you. Nepal is an eligible country, and in recent years roughly 3,800 to 3,900 Nepalis have been selected annually, making Nepal one of the highest-selected countries in Asia.

If you remember nothing else from this page, remember this: entering the DV lottery is done only at the official US government website dvprogram.state.gov, entering has been free (with a small official fee introduced for DV-2027, explained below), and you do not need, and should not pay, any 'DV agent', cyber shop or consultant to enter for you. Every year Nepalis lose money to people who charge thousands of rupees to do something the applicant can do themselves in a few minutes.

For DV-2026 and every year before it, there was no fee at all to enter the lottery. The US Embassy in Nepal states plainly that the claim that you must pay to register is false: it is free to register, and you should not pay a visa consultant to register on your behalf. The Embassy explicitly recommends against using a consultant and suggests asking a trusted family member or friend instead if you need help.

For the DV-2027 programme, the State Department has introduced a nominal $1 entry fee, paid online only on the official site, together with a new requirement to provide valid passport details when you enter. This is a small government charge collected on dvprogram.state.gov itself, it is not money paid to any middleman. Whether the fee for a given year is $0 or $1, the honest amount you owe to enter is never the hundreds or thousands of rupees that 'agents' demand.

The paid-agent model is where most DV scams live. A shop may charge a large 'processing' or 'guaranteed selection' fee, submit a rushed or incorrect entry, keep your confirmation number (so only they can check your result and can then demand more money), or invent a 'you won, now pay' message later. None of that buys you anything the official free form does not. If you cannot use a computer confidently, the safest help is a literate relative or friend, not a commercial broker.

There are two eligibility tests, and you must meet both. The first is your country of birth (chargeability). Nepal is currently an eligible country, so a person born in Nepal qualifies on this count. If you were born in an ineligible country you may still be able to enter using your spouse's or, in limited cases, your parents' country of birth, the official instructions explain how.

The second test is education or work. Every entrant must have EITHER at least a high school education, defined as successful completion of a 12-year course of formal elementary and secondary education (in Nepal, roughly SLC/SEE plus the higher-secondary level, that is class 12 / +2), OR two years of work experience within the past five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience. You do not have to prove this when you enter, but if you are selected you must document it at your interview, selectees who cannot prove the education or work requirement are refused.

Other basics: there is no minimum age to enter, but because of the education/experience requirement almost all entrants are effectively 18 or older. A married couple may each submit a separate entry, and if either is selected the other can be included as a derivative, this legitimately doubles a household's chances. You must list your current spouse and all qualifying children on the entry, leaving out an eligible family member can cause disqualification later.

In a normal year the entry window opens in early October and closes in early November, and it is short, usually about one month, with no late entries and no extensions once it closes. For the DV-2026 programme the registration period ran from 2 October 2024 to 7 November 2024 (noon US Eastern time). Do not wait until the final day, the site is busiest, and slowness or errors near the deadline can cost you the whole year.

Results come out the following year. Selection outcomes for DV-2026 became available through the Entrant Status Check from 3 May 2025. So the broad rhythm to expect is: enter around October to November, then check your result from about May of the next year. The programme year runs to the following 30 September, and selection only lets you apply for a visa, visas are numerically limited and not guaranteed to every selectee.

Important 2026 note: the DV-2027 cycle has been reported as delayed, its registration dates were not announced on the usual schedule, and it comes with the new $1 fee and passport requirement. Separately, diversity-visa issuance for DV-2026 was reported to be on hold during 2026. Because these policies and dates are changing, treat any specific date you read anywhere (including here) as provisional and confirm the current-year schedule directly on travel.state.gov before acting. This guidance is accurate as of 2026.

Go to dvprogram.state.gov during the open registration window and choose to begin a new entry, this is the E-DV entry form and it is the only accepted way to enter. Fill in your details exactly as they appear on your official documents: full name, date and place of birth, gender, current mailing address, email, phone, and your highest level of education. For DV-2027 onward you also enter valid passport information. List your spouse and all qualifying children, each needs their own compliant photo.

Photographs are the single most common reason good entries are rejected, so treat them carefully. Each digital photo must be a recent colour image taken within the last six months, in JPEG format, square (equal height and width), at least 600 by 600 pixels, and 240 KB or smaller in file size. It must show a plain light background, a neutral expression looking straight at the camera, no glasses, no hat or head covering except for religious reasons, and it must not be an old, reused, filtered or edited photo. A wrong photo can void the entire entry.

When you submit successfully, the system shows a confirmation page with a unique confirmation number along with your name and year of birth. This is the most important thing you will receive. Print it, screenshot it, and save it somewhere you will not lose it, because it is the ONLY way you can later check your result. If an agent or shop entered for you and keeps this number, you are dependent on them, which is exactly how people get squeezed for more money.

There is only one legitimate way to learn whether you were selected: log in to the Entrant Status Check (ESC) at dvprogram.state.gov using your confirmation number, last name and year of birth. Results become available from around early May and stay online until the following September. If ESC says you were selected, it also gives you your case number and the next steps and forms, always follow the instructions shown inside ESC, not instructions sent to you by anyone else.

Here is the rule that stops most scams cold: the US government does NOT notify winners by email, letter, phone call, SMS or social media. The Kentucky Consular Center does not send 'congratulations, you won' messages of any kind. The only real way to know your status is to check ESC yourself. A reminder email simply telling you that results are available may be sent, but it will never say you won and will never ask for money.

Therefore, any message, however official it looks, that tells you 'you have been selected' and asks you to pay a fee, click a link, send documents, or wire money is fraudulent. Scammers copy US government logos and use lookalike addresses. Genuine US government sites end in .gov, and the US government will never ask you to pay by wire transfer, money order, gift card or to a personal bank account. When in doubt, ignore the message and go directly to dvprogram.state.gov yourself.

The DV lottery is one of the most heavily scammed topics affecting Nepalis, precisely because the prize (a US green card) is so valuable and the process is unfamiliar. The defence is simple: know what the real process looks like, and treat everything that deviates from it as fraud. Real entry is on dvprogram.state.gov, real results are on ESC, real notification never comes by email or phone, and the real cost is $0 (or the small official $1 fee for DV-2027), never a fee paid to a person.

If you are targeted, do not pay and do not share your confirmation number, passport scans or bank details. You can report suspected visa fraud and scam emails to the US Embassy in Nepal and to the State Department, and you should warn family members and neighbours, who are often approached by the same local 'agents'. Being selected is only the start of a lawful, documented immigrant-visa process, no one can shortcut it, guarantee it, or sell it to you.