The U.S. Department of State will require applicants to submit passport information when entering the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program , according to a final rule published March 11, 2026. The regulation, titled “Visas: Enhancing Vetting and Combatting Fraud in the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program,” introduces new documentation requirements aimed at strengthening identity verification and reducing fraudulent or duplicate applications. Beginning April 10, 2026, principal applicants entering the lottery must submit a valid, unexpired passport number along with scans of the passport’s biographic

The U.S. Department of State will require applicants to submit passport information when entering the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, according to a final rule published March 11, 2026.

The regulation, titled “Visas: Enhancing Vetting and Combatting Fraud in the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program,” introduces new documentation requirements aimed at strengthening identity verification and reducing fraudulent or duplicate applications.

Beginning April 10, 2026, principal applicants entering the lottery must submit a valid, unexpired passport number along with scans of the passport’s biographic and signature pages.

Spouses and unmarried children under 21 must still be listed in the entry but are not required to provide passport information during the registration stage. However, dependents must present valid passports if the principal applicant is selected and proceeds with the immigrant visa process.

The rule includes limited exemptions to the passport requirement. These apply to stateless individuals, nationals of countries where obtaining a government-issued passport is not possible, and applicants approved for individual waivers by U.S. authorities, with determinations made case by case during the visa interview process.

A similar passport requirement was introduced earlier but was struck down in 2022, when a federal judge ruled that the government had failed to follow proper administrative rulemaking procedures when implementing the policy.

Officials say the newly published regulation was issued as a formal final rule through the federal regulatory process, addressing the procedural concerns raised in that decision.

The Diversity Visa lottery is one of the most widely used legal immigration pathways for applicants from African countries.

The program distributes up to 55,000 immigrant visas annually to individuals from countries with historically low levels of immigration to the United States.

Immigration lawyers and diaspora advocacy groups have raised concerns that additional documentation requirements could make participation more difficult for some applicants. The African Communities Together, a U.S.-based immigrant advocacy organization, has raised concerns about administrative barriers in immigration processes, warning that documentation requirements such as obtaining passports can disproportionately affect applicants from lower-income regions.

Registration for the DV-2027 program has not yet opened, and U.S. officials say the start of the entry period may be delayed to give applicants additional time to obtain passports before the rule takes effect.

Applicants who cannot participate in the DV-2027 cycle would remain eligible to apply in future years.

The Federal Register notice also outlines several technical changes to the program’s regulations, including replacing the term “gender” with “sex,” adding the word “shall” to clarify guidance for consular officers, and replacing references to “age” with “date of birth.”

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