U.S. to charge $1 fee for DV lottery registration

The U.S. Department of State (DOS) announced today that, beginning October 16, 2025, all individuals registering for the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery (or “green card lottery”) must pay a $1 electronic registration fee. This is the first time that participants will be charged simply to enter the annual lottery, Bloomberg reported.

The change is intended to distribute the costs of managing the DV lottery more evenly across all registrants, instead of placing the burden only on the small number of applicants who are selected to apply for a visa.

The new policy comes just before the registration period for the 2027 DV lottery, which opens in early October (exact dates to be announced by DOS). 

The $330 DV application fee for selected applicants remains the same. However, certain administrative costs once covered by this fee will now be covered in the registration fee instead.

Registration fees will not be refunded, regardless of lottery results or whether applicants move forward with a visa application. Fees cannot be transferred between lottery years.

The DV lottery grants up to 55,000 immigrant visas each year to applicants from countries with historically low levels of immigration to the U.S. In recent years, the program has received tens of millions of entries annually, resulting in significant administrative costs for the government.

According to DOS, the new fee structure means that an estimated 25 million annual registrants will help cover program expenses, rather than only the 55,000 lottery winners who move forward with applications. This change is expected to generate approximately $25 million annually in new revenue for the DV lottery’s operational costs, which include system upgrades, enhanced data collection, and security reviews.

The Department also noted that the fee could help reduce fraud by discouraging third-party scammers from submitting multiple fake entries.