DV-2027 passport requirement: the rule is final, the dates are not

The rule, published in the Federal Register on March 11, 2026 and effective April 10, 2026, applies from DV-2027 onward. The entrant provides the passport's unique number, the name as written there, the issuing country or authority, and the expiration date, and uploads a scan of the biographic and signature page from that valid, unexpired passport. The scan format is JPEG, capped at 5 MB.

The exceptions are narrow. The rule names categories along the lines of stateless people and nationals of Communist-controlled countries who cannot obtain a passport from their government, requires evidence for an exception claim, and states that financial hardship alone does not establish one. Passport requirements have swung before: earlier lotteries demanded a number, later instructions dropped it, and the 2026 rule restores the demand in stricter form. Old advice from either era misleads.

Prepare a recent digital photo that meets U.S. visa-photo standards, confirm the spelling and date of birth you will use, list your spouse and qualifying unmarried children under 21, and check country-of-birth eligibility. Country of eligibility is usually about where you were born, not where you live or your current nationality.

If you have a passport, check the name spelling and the expiry date, then make a clean JPEG scan of the biographic and signature page under 5 MB and store it privately until the window opens. If you do not have one, apply through your own passport authority now rather than waiting for the instructions: the rule wants the passport valid and unexpired when you submit, and passport queues in many countries run longer than a typical registration window. Never invent a number or borrow another person's document.

Two different things get called Diversity Visa rules and they move independently. The entry-stage rule described above governs what a registration must contain. Issuance guidance governs whether the State Department is handing out visas to people who were already selected and reached the visa stage. A change to one does not imply a change to the other, and neither one reopens or closes an entry window.

Issuance guidance has already changed more than once. The Department paused diversity visa issuance in December 2025 while it reviewed screening and vetting, then published that the pause was no longer in effect from August 28, 2026, citing a court order. Neither step altered the entry-stage passport requirement, because they operate on different stages of the program.

Because that track can move again, treat the State Department's own diversity visa issuance page as the record of where it stands, and read the dated statement at the top of it rather than older text further down. That page has carried a newer dated statement above older pause wording at the same time, so the position at the top is the one to read. QueueCheck keeps dated records of changes to that guidance in its news section.