Won the Green Card Lottery? What happens next, all the way to the visa

You checked Entrant Status Check and saw the sentence millions of people hope for every year: you have been selected. So you won the green card lottery. What happens next? What you have won is not yet a green card but the right to apply for a Diversity Visa. From this moment a deadline is running, one the law sets in stone, and there are more selectees than visas. If you know the next steps and move on them quickly, you hold the best cards.

The order from result to entry is fixed: form, documents, fees, medical exam, interview, and adjustment of status if you're already in the US. But first, an honest look at where the program stands, because in fall 2026 things are unusual.

1As of 1 November 2026: which round you could have won

Each lottery round belongs to a US fiscal year, which runs from 1 October to 30 September. By law, selectees remain eligible only until the end of the fiscal year for which they were selected (8 U.S.C. 1154(a)(1)(I)(ii)(II)). Selection in the DV-2026 round was therefore valid until 30 September 2026. Since then, no visa may be issued and no adjustment of status approved for that round, and nothing carries over to the next year (22 CFR 42.33(d)).

The next round, DV-2027, still has no winners. The State Department has postponed opening registration and says so itself in its rule of 11 March 2026. It has not published entry instructions for DV-2027 or DV-2028 in the Federal Register, where it announced them every year up to the DV-2026 round. The opening is being fought over in court: a federal district court in California ordered it by preliminary injunction on 14 October 2026. On 29 October 2026, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed that injunction pending appeal. For now, the Department doesn't have to open registration, and the case isn't over.

What this means for you in practice: any message saying you've won the 2027 green card lottery is false right now, no matter how official it looks. Once registration opens, everything below applies to that round's selectees. When that happens is up to the Department or a court. How entering works is explained in our guide to the Green Card Lottery.

2Won the green card, now what? Selected doesn't mean approved

The State Department deliberately selects more entrants than there are visas, because some selectees don't follow through or don't qualify. The law provides for up to 55,000 Diversity Visas a year. The Department's own figures show the gap: in the 2025 round, 81,179 people were selected and, according to preliminary figures, 47,045 visas were issued; in the 2024 round, there were 78,767 selectees and 54,554 visas, including adjustments of status in the US (Table 1 of rule 2026-04737).

The entry instructions say it explicitly: selection guarantees neither a visa nor even an interview; it only means you may apply (DV-2026 Instructions). Selectees are processed in a random rank order by world region (22 CFR 42.33(c) and (e)). If the visas run out before 30 September, the round ends for everyone still waiting too.

The DV-2026 round showed that politics can step in as well. On 23 December 2025, the Department paused the issuance of all Diversity Visas to overhaul its security vetting. The instruction: applications and interviews continue, visas are not issued, no exceptions. That's no reason not to take your chance. It's a reason to start early and give nothing up until the visa is in your passport.

3Step 1: Check the result yourself and keep your confirmation number safe

Winners learn their result only through the Entrant Status Check on the official portal dvprogram.state.gov, using the confirmation number from registration. The Department sends no letters and no winner emails, and embassies and consulates keep no list of selectees (DV-2026 Instructions). For the DV-2026 round, results were available from 4 May 2025.

Your results page shows your case number and instructions on what to do next. Save the page, note the number and keep your registration confirmation. You'll only get emails from the Department later, and only about the details of your interview appointment. For rounds registered after 10 April 2026, there's one more thing: keep a copy of the passport you registered with. If you can't prove that exactly this passport number was valid at registration, you can be refused (rule 2026-04737).

4Step 2: Complete Form DS-260

The actual visa application is the online form DS-260, the immigrant visa application (22 CFR 42.63). Every family member immigrating with you needs their own form. Without a complete DS-260, the Department won't schedule an interview, as it explicitly reminded the 2026 selectees (Update on DV Program 2026).

The form asks about your education, jobs, addresses, travel, family, criminal record and security matters. Your answers must match what you entered at registration and what your documents show. The consular officer looks especially closely at the details on your spouse and children.

5Step 3: Gather your documents

Which documents you need is set by federal law (22 CFR 42.65). For you and each accompanying family member, the core list is:

• Passport, valid beyond the visa.
• Birth certificate showing date, place and parents.
• Police certificates from your country of nationality and your country of residence, if you lived there at least six months, and from any other country where you lived for at least a year.
• Court and prison records, if any, and military records, if you served.
• Marriage certificate, divorce decrees and documents for your children.
• Proof of your education or work experience.

That last item decides the lottery's basic requirement. You need schooling equivalent to twelve years of US elementary and high school, or two years of work experience within the last five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience. Whether your occupation counts is checked by the consular officer against the US Department of Labor's O*Net database (22 CFR 42.33(a)). If you left school after fewer than twelve years and then did an apprenticeship, as is common in Germany, Austria or Switzerland, for example, document this point especially carefully.

On top of that comes proof that you won't depend on public assistance in the US (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(4)). The entry instructions explicitly ask selectees to read the Department's guidance on this test and prepare their evidence.

6Step 4: The fees

The lottery itself has two official fees: $1 at registration and $330 as the application fee for each person who applies for a Diversity Visa after selection (22 CFR 22.1, item 33; 22 CFR 42.33(i)). After the visa is issued, there's the USCIS Immigrant Fee of $235, which USCIS uses to produce your green card after you arrive (8 CFR 106.2).

You pay for the medical exam directly to the doctor, and the same goes for translations and certificates. Anyone asking you for further fees "on behalf of the State Department" is scamming you. The Department never asks for money by mail or through money transfer services.

7Step 5: The medical exam

Every applicant is examined, regardless of age, by a doctor approved by the consulate (a panel physician; 22 CFR 42.66). Your family doctor won't do. The results must be ready for the interview, as the Department told the 2026 selectees (Update on DV Program 2026). So schedule the exam so the results are in well before your interview.

8Step 6: The consular interview

An immigrant visa is only issued after an in-person interview with a consular officer. For children under 14, the officer can waive their appearance (22 CFR 42.62). The officer checks whether you qualify and whether any ground of inadmissibility applies, such as a criminal record, health grounds or concern that you'll rely on public benefits. They may ask any question they consider relevant.

Bring all originals plus copies, and keep your answers just as consistent as on the form. You'll see your appointment in the Entrant Status Check. Because selectees are called in rank order, a lot of time can pass between selection and interview. That's no reason to wait on your documents.

9Step 7: Visa, entry, green card

If the visa is issued, it is valid for six months at most (22 CFR 42.72). It ends sooner if your passport expires first: no later than 60 days before the passport's expiry date. For children it is valid at most until the day before their 21st birthday, and they must still be unmarried and under 21 when they enter. You have to enter the USA within this window. On entry you become a Permanent Resident; the card itself is issued by the immigration agency USCIS once the Immigrant Fee has been paid.

10If you already live in the USA: adjustment of status instead of the consulate

If you are lawfully in the USA on a temporary status when you are selected and meet the other requirements, you can apply for the green card there through adjustment of status (8 U.S.C. 1255). The form is the I-485, filed with USCIS; the fee is $1,440 from age 14 (8 CFR 106.2). The deadline applies here too: after September 30 of the program year, USCIS can no longer approve any adjustment of status from this round. Whether your temporary status qualifies depends on the visa; the visa comparison shows how the routes differ.

11Family: who can immigrate with you

Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 receive the same status as you, whether they come with you or follow later (8 U.S.C. 1153(d)). The condition: you listed them when you registered, including stepchildren and children who don't live with you. Anyone who left out an eligible child, or listed someone who isn't their child, can be disqualified, and the whole family with them (DV-2026 Instructions). September 30 also applies to family members following you: after that date, none of them can get a visa from your round.

12How to spot fake winner notices

The lottery attracts scammers, and the trick is almost always the same: an email or a call telling you that you've won, along with a fee. In its regulation, the State Department describes a case in which scammers contacted selectees and demanded up to $15,000 to hand over their confirmation number (Regulation 2026-04737). Three rules keep you safe:

• The State Department has never notified anyone of a win by email. Only the Entrant Status Check counts.
• The only payment is the official fee within the official process, never by mail or through a money transfer service.
• Never give your confirmation number to anyone who offers to "manage" it for you.

13What to expect after you arrive

With a green card you are a US tax resident for every calendar year in which you hold it, even for a single day (26 U.S.C. 7701(b)(1)(A)(i)). What that means for the year you move is explained in Your tax return in the year you move. The green card is also the path to citizenship; the requirements are under Becoming a US citizen.

14To the USA without the lottery

While no round is open, nobody can win the green card lottery. But if you bring something to the table, you don't need luck. With your own business and a real investment, the E-2 investor visa takes you to the USA; an investment through the EB-5 visa gets you the green card directly; and Green card for entrepreneurs lays out every route for the self-employed and business owners. The full overview is under US visa and green card.

Which route to the USA is open to you, with a lottery selection or without one, is something you can work out in a consultation on US visas and green cards.

In short

• If you are selected in the green card lottery, you may apply for a Diversity Visa. Selection is no guarantee of a visa or an interview, because more people are drawn than there are visas.
• Eligibility ends on September 30 of the program year. After that, this round offers neither a visa nor adjustment of status, not even for family members following you.
• The steps: check your result in the Entrant Status Check, complete the DS-260, gather your documents, pay the $330 application fee, have the medical exam with a panel physician and attend the interview at the consulate.
• The State Department has not opened registration for DV-2027; any message about a win in this round is fake. Only the Entrant Status Check counts.

How we help you

• Visa consultationFind out which route to the USA is open to you.