Frequently Asked Questions 25 – 28

25. Will I receive information from the Department of State by email or by postal mail?

The Department of State will not send you a notification letter. The U.S. government has never sent emails to notify individuals that they have been selected, and there are no plans to use email for this purpose for the DV-2024 program. If you are a selectee, you will only receive email communications regarding your visa appointment after you have responded to the notification instructions on Entrant Status Check, if an immigrant visa interview becomes available. These emails will not contain information on the actual appointment date and time; they will simply tell you to go to the Entrant Status Check website for details. The Department of State may send emails reminding DV program applicants to check the Entrant Status Check for their status. However, such emails will never indicate whether the DV program applicant was selected or not.

Only internet sites that end with the “.gov” domain suffix are official U.S. government websites. Many other websites (e.g., with the suffixes “.com,” “.org,” or “.net”) provide immigration and visa-related information and services. The Department of State does not endorse, recommend, or sponsor any information or material on these other websites.

Warning: You may receive emails from websites that try to trick you into sending money or providing your personal information. You may be asked to pay for forms and information about immigration procedures, all of which are available free on the Department of State website, travel.state.gov, or through U.S. embassy or consulate websites. Additionally, organizations or websites may try to steal your money by charging fees for DV-related services. If you send money to one of these non-government organizations or websites, you will likely never see it again. Also, do not send personal information to these websites, as it may be used for identity fraud/theft.

Deceptive emails may come from people pretending to be affiliated with the Kentucky Consular Center or the Department of State. Remember that the U.S. government has never sent emails to notify individuals they have been selected, and there are no plans to use email for this purpose for the DV-2024 program. The Department of State will never ask you to send money by mail or by services such as Western Union, although applications to USCIS for adjustments of status do require mailing a fee. Visit this site for more details on adjusting status.

26. How many individuals will be selected for DV-2024?

For DV-2024, 55,000 Diversity Visas are available. The Department of State selects more than 55,000 selectees to account for selectees who will not qualify for visas and those who will not pursue their cases to completion. This means there will not be a sufficient number of visas for all those selected. The Department does this to try to use as many of the 55,000 DVs as we can.

You can check the E-DV website’s Entrant Status Check to see if you have been selected for further processing and later to see the status of your case. Interviews for the DV-2024 program will begin in October 2023 for selectees who have submitted all pre-interview paperwork and other information as requested in the notification instructions. Selectees whose applications have been fully processed and have been scheduled for a visa interview appointment will receive a notification to obtain details through the E-DV website’s Entrant Status Check four to six weeks before the scheduled interviews with U.S. consular officers overseas.

Each month, visas may be issued to those applicants who are eligible for issuance during that month, as long as visas are available. Once all the 55,000 diversity visas have been issued, the program will end. Visa numbers could be finished before September 2024. Selected applicants who wish to apply for visas must be prepared to act promptly on their cases. Being randomly chosen as a selectee does not guarantee that you will receive a visa or even the chance to make a visa application or to schedule a visa interview. Selection merely means that you may be eligible to apply for a Diversity Visa. If your rank number becomes eligible for final processing, you may have the chance to make an application and potentially may be issued a Diversity Visa. A maximum of 55,000 visas may be issued to such applicants.

27. How will successful entrants be selected?

Official notifications of selection will be made through Entrant Status Check, available May 6, 2023, through September 30, 2024, on the E-DV website, dvprogram.state.gov. The Department of State does not send selectee notifications or letters by regular postal mail or by email. Any email notification or mailed letter stating that you have been selected to receive a DV that does not come from the Department of State is not legitimate. Any email communication you receive from the Department of State will direct you to review Entrant Status Check for new information about your application. The Department of State will never ask you to send money by mail or by services such as Western Union, unless you are adjusting status. See this site for more information on adjusting status.

All entries received from each region are individually numbered; at the end of the entry period, a computer will randomly select entries from among all the entries received for each geographic region. Within each region, the first entry randomly selected will be the first case registered; the second entry selected will be the second case registered, etc. All entries received within each region during the entry period will have an equal chance of being selected. When an entry has been selected, the entrant will receive notification of his or her selection through the Entrant Status Check available starting May 6, 2023, on the E-DV website, dvprogram.state.gov. For individuals who are selected and who respond to the instructions provided online via Entrant Status Check, the Department of State’s Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) will process the case until those selected are instructed to appear for visa interviews at a U.S. embassy or consulate or until those in the United States who are applying to adjust status apply with USCIS in the United States.

28. I am already in the United States. If selected, may I adjust my status with USCIS?

Yes, provided you are otherwise eligible to adjust status under the terms of Section 245 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), you may apply to USCIS for adjustment of status to permanent resident. You must ensure that USCIS can complete action on your case, including processing of any overseas applications for a spouse or for children under 21 years of age, before September 30, 2024, since on that date your eligibility for the DV-2024 program expires. The Department of State will not approve any visa numbers or adjustments of status for the DV-2024 program after midnight EDT on September 30, 2024.

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