No. You do not file Form DS-260 before you are selected. The DS-260 is the visa application. It comes after the drawing, and only if your entry is picked. There is no DV-2027 drawing, because the entry form never opened. A person who offers to start your DS-260 today is not entering you in the lottery.
The entry and the visa form are two different papers. How do I check DV lottery results? explains the page that would tell you if you were selected. Is it too late to enter the DV-2027 lottery? explains why that entry is still closed.
What does a closed DS-260 mean for me?
You wait. You do not fill out a visa form, and you do not pay a helper to hold one.
Picture a raffle and a prize desk. The raffle ticket is the lottery entry. The prize desk is the DS-260. The desk will not take your name until a clerk says your ticket was drawn. November 10, 2026 is not a draw day. No DV-2027 ticket has been issued, so there is no name for the desk to accept.
A hearing on December 11, 2026 is a meeting for lawyers about a request to open registration. It is not a DS-260 appointment, and it is not an entry day. Does the December 11 hearing open the DV lottery?
What are the two forms?
The first form is the entry. The law calls it a petition. You file it on a website the State Department names, during a period of at least 30 days. Before that period starts, the Department publishes the website and the exact dates in the Federal Register, the government’s public journal. No Diversity Visa instruction notice for DV-2027 or DV-2028 is published there.
The rule effective April 10, 2026 calls this entry the DS-5501, Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form. It is online at dvprogram.state.gov and can be sent only during the entry period. A complete entry shows a confirmation screen with your name and a confirmation number. Print it. That number is how you later open Entrant Status Check.
The second form is the DS-260, Online Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration Application. You use it only after Entrant Status Check says you were selected. The DV-2026 instructions say both the form and the interviewing officer ask about eligibility, including crime and security.
| Step | What it is | Where it stands on November 10, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Entry (DS-5501) | The lottery petition. One per person in a government year. | Not open. No posted start, end, or website for DV-2027. |
| Entrant Status Check | The only selection notice. You sign in with the confirmation number from your own entry. | There is no DV-2027 entry, so there is no DV-2027 result. |
| DS-260 | The visa application, after selection, using the case number from Entrant Status Check. | You cannot file a real one. There is no case number. |
| Interview | A consular officer decides whether you qualify. | There is no DV-2027 interview list. |
One petition per person is allowed in one fiscal year, the U.S. government year from October 1 to September 30. 22 CFR 42.33 says a second petition for the same person in that year makes all of them void. None of them count. A DS-260 is not a second entry, and a private site is not the petition.
What is a confirmation number, and what is a case number?
They are not the same number. Mixing them up is how people pay a stranger for a form the government will not accept.
The confirmation number is printed when the official entry is accepted. You type it into Entrant Status Check. The DV-2026 instructions said the government would not email a selection. Embassies and the Kentucky Consular Center could not look the number up for you, except through a tool on that page that can send it back to the email on the entry. DV-2027 instructions are not published. Keep your own copy.
The case number is a different number. It appears in Entrant Status Check only if you are selected. The State Department page on the DS-260 says you type that case number into the form. On the Sign and Submit page, you type it again without the zeros. The page’s example: if the case number is 2023AF0000012345, you enter 2023AF12345. Typing the full number with the zeros makes the form reject it. That example is not a DV-2027 number. No DV-2027 case number exists.
What do I do if I am selected later?
These steps are on the State Department’s pages for people already selected. If a later notice differs, follow that notice.
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Read the result yourself. The If Selected page says the Department will not mail a letter and will not email you. An embassy will not give you a list of names.
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File a DS-260 for yourself and for each family member who will apply. You use the case number to open the information from your entry. Add a spouse or child only if the marriage or birth happened after you entered. That person must be a spouse, or an unmarried child who was not yet 21 when you entered, and you upload proof of the relationship. Leaving off a spouse or child who already existed can make the whole family ineligible. So can listing someone who was not really your spouse or child.
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On the last page, type the case number without the zeros, and print the confirmation page. Bring that page to the interview. It shows you sent the form. It is not the visa.
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Do not mail papers to the Kentucky Consular Center. A notice for DV-2024 and later years says selectees send only the DS-260. Bring documents to the interview. The country list is on the supporting documents page. KCC destroys paper mailed to it. Email, if you must, goes to kccdv@state.gov with your name, date of birth, and case number as they appear in Entrant Status Check.
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An interview is scheduled only when a visa number is available. After the DS-260 is reviewed, the case can be scheduled if the rank is inside that month’s Visa Bulletin range. The November 2026 Visa Bulletin has no Diversity Visa chart, because DV-2027 has no selectees. Selection is not a visa and not a promise of an interview. Some selectees reach the end of the year with neither.
Can a DS-260 finish a DV-2026 case?
No. DV-2026 ended on September 30, 2026. A form filed after that day cannot produce a DV-2026 visa. Can I still get a DV-2026 visa? explains the deadline.
USCIS handles adjustment of status for a winner already legally in the United States, and that path must also finish by September 30 of the lottery year.
What should you do now?
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Do not file a DS-260. There is no DV-2027 case number to type in.
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Do not pay for an early form. A private page is not dvprogram.state.gov.
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Ignore a message that says you won, or that you must pay to release a DS-260. The DV-2026 instructions say the government has never emailed a selection and will not ask you to send money by mail or by Western Union. A fee mailed to USCIS is different, and only after a real selection, for adjustment of status. USCIS does not run the lottery. Its scam page, last reviewed August 4, 2026, gives the same warning.
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Enter once, after a notice names the website and the dates. The notice last updated November 5, 2025 says the start date will be announced as soon as the Department can. That is not a calendar day. Keep the confirmation number yourself.
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Pay the government on the official site, after it opens. A rule effective September 16, 2025 sets a $1 registration fee, taken when you register, in addition to the $330 Diversity Visa application fee. The $330 comes later, only if you are selected and you apply. Money sent to release a DS-260 is neither fee.
What photo can I prepare?
The photo goes on the entry, not on a DS-260 you cannot file. You can make the file now. You cannot upload it until the form opens.
DV-2027 photo instructions are not published. 22 CFR 42.33 says each photo is a color JPEG taken within six months, facing the camera, on a plain light background, with the head about 50 percent of the frame and the face in focus. No eyeglasses. Include yourself, a spouse you must list, and each unmarried child under 21. Skip a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident.
Until a later notice says otherwise, use the DV-2026 file numbers: 600 by 600 pixels, 240 KB or smaller, head at 50 to 69 percent of the height. If six months pass, take a new photo. The same photograph from an earlier entry makes you ineligible under those instructions. How to make a DV lottery photo while you wait walks through the measurements. So do the size and file size pages.
The tool on this site exports a 600 by 600 JPEG. dvlotteryphoto.com makes one such JPEG per order, with the background corrected and the file size checked, made to those DV-2026 measurements. Order one file per person who must be listed. That is not State Department approval. It does not submit an entry, pay the $1 fee, or file a DS-260. A finished photo does not guarantee selection or a visa.
This is general information from public rules and notices, not legal advice. How this site labels records is on the editorial policy.
Questions
Do I file the DS-260 before I am selected?
No. The DS-260 is the visa application. You file it only after Entrant Status Check says you were selected. There are no DV-2027 selectees, because the entry form never opened.
What is the difference between the entry and the DS-260?
The entry is the lottery petition, called the DS-5501 in the rule effective April 10, 2026. It is filed only during a posted entry period, and it gives you a confirmation number. The DS-260 is the later visa form. It uses a case number that appears only if you are selected.
Can I file a DS-260 for DV-2027 today?
No. A real DS-260 needs the case number from Entrant Status Check. DV-2027 has no entries and no case numbers. A private website cannot create one.
Does the DS-260 use my confirmation number?
No. The confirmation number opens Entrant Status Check. The case number is a different number, shown there only if you are selected. On the last page of the DS-260, the State Department’s instructions say to type that case number without the zeros. The page’s example turns 2023AF0000012345 into 2023AF12345. That example is not a DV-2027 number.
Can a DS-260 finish my DV-2026 case?
No. A DV-2026 visa that was not issued by September 30, 2026 cannot be issued now. Filing a DS-260 does not add days to that year.
Does a finished photo file my DS-260?
No. A photo made to the written measurements is a file for a later entry. It is not State Department approval. It does not submit an entry, pay the $1 fee, or file a DS-260, and it does not guarantee selection or a visa.
Sources
- U.S. Department of State, “If Selected.” https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/diversity-visa-program-entry/diversity-visa-if-you-are-selected.html
- U.S. Department of State, “Submit Your Immigrant Visa and Alien Registration Application.” https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/diversity-visa-program-entry/diversity-visa-if-you-are-selected/diversity-visa-submit-your-iv-and-alien-registration-application.html
- U.S. Department of State, “Diversity Visa 2024 Update,” document submission to the Kentucky Consular Center suspended for DV-2024 and onward. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/diversity-visa-2024-update.html
- U.S. Department of State, “Prepare Supporting Documents.” https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/diversity-visa-program-entry/diversity-visa-if-you-are-selected/diversity-visa-prepare-supporting-documents.html
- Diversity Visa instructions for DV-2026, Federal Register, October 1, 2024. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/10/01/2024-22482/diversity-visa-instructions-for-dv-2026
- 22 CFR 42.33, Diversity immigrants, amended at 91 FR 11900, March 11, 2026. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-22/chapter-I/subchapter-E/part-42/section-42.33
- Visas: Enhancing Vetting and Combatting Fraud in the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, final rule effective April 10, 2026. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/11/2026-04737/visas-enhancing-vetting-and-combatting-fraud-in-the-diversity-immigrant-visa-program
- Schedule of fees for consular services, final rule effective September 16, 2025. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/09/16/2025-17851/schedule-of-fees-for-consular-services-department-of-state-and-overseas-embassies-and
- U.S. Department of State, “Changes to Entry Period for 2027 Diversity Visa (DV) Program,” last updated November 5, 2025. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/changes-to-2027-dv-program-entry-period.html
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, “Common Scams,” last reviewed August 4, 2026. https://www.uscis.gov/scams-fraud-and-misconduct/avoid-scams/common-scams
- U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, “Green Card Through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program,” last reviewed July 8, 2025. https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-eligibility/green-card-through-the-diversity-immigrant-visa-program
DV Lottery Guide is an independent, unofficial guide and is not affiliated with the U.S. government. A photo made to the written DV requirements is not approved by the State Department. Entering the lottery does not guarantee selection or a visa.