In a move that will fundamentally change the way hundreds of thousands of hopeful immigrants apply to the United States each year, the U.S. Department of State on March 10 announced a final rule reinstating the requirement that every Diversity Visa (DV) applicant possess a valid, un-expired passport before they can even enter the annual lottery. The passport mandate, first introduced in 2019 and struck down by a federal court in 2022 for procedural defects, is now back after a full notice-and-comment rule-making process. The Department says the rule, which takes effect 30 days after its publication in the Federal Register, is aimed at cutting rampant fraud in the program. Analysis of past DV cycles shows that as many as 17 percent of entries were ultimately disqualified for using false identity documents; consular managers say forcing applicants to provide a passport number up front makes large-scale fabrication far harder. For U.S. employers the immediate business impact is limited, because the DV program does not accommodate employment sponsorship. What does change is the compliance environment for global mobility teams that frequently advise foreign staff on long-term U.S. options: HR professionals now need to verify that candidates from under-represented countries can realistically obtain a passport in time for the next lottery window this autumn. In many low-income nations the document can cost the equivalent of several months’ wages, raising equity concerns that the new rule will tilt the “green-card lottery” toward middle-class applicants.
![State Department Revives Passport Requirement for Diversity Visa Lottery Entrants]()
For applicants scrambling to secure a passport on short notice, VisaHQ’s online platform can streamline the process. The company’s U.S. portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-states/) offers step-by-step guidance, real-time status tracking, and concierge assistance that can help prospective DV entrants obtain the necessary travel document—and, if needed, explore alternative U.S. visa options.
Immigrant advocacy groups were quick to criticise the measure, arguing that it will hamper access for exactly the populations Congress intended to benefit when it created the DV category—particularly in parts of sub-Saharan Africa where passport issuance is slow, local offices are often distant from rural communities, and official fees are only the beginning of the expense. Several NGOs are already weighing fresh litigation, but most legal observers believe the State Department has cured the administrative-law defects that doomed the Trump-era interim rule. For now, multinational companies should update internal guidance: prospective DV-2028 entrants will need to supply a passport number at the point of online registration, and employees currently in the United States in non-immigrant status who hope to “self-sponsor” through the lottery will also need to ensure their home-country passports are valid for the duration of the upcoming cycle. Although the rule’s text cites an average worldwide passport cost of US $75, in practice prices vary widely—from under US $20 in some Asian countries to well over US $250 once “expedition” and travel costs are factored in for many African jurisdictions. HR departments may therefore see a spike in requests for financial assistance from assignees who plan to try their luck in the 55,000-visa draw. Over the longer term, the change could reduce the raw number of lottery entries, easing chronic processing backlogs at Kentucky Consular Center and freeing up capacity for other visa categories. But unless Congress addresses the DV quota, the effect is unlikely to alter country-of-chargeability caps that have left thousands of selectees without an interview slot in recent years. Mobility managers should continue to treat the DV route as a “nice-to-have” back-up rather than a core workforce-planning tool.
For applicants scrambling to secure a passport on short notice, VisaHQ’s online platform can streamline the process. The company’s U.S. portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-states/) offers step-by-step guidance, real-time status tracking, and concierge assistance that can help prospective DV entrants obtain the necessary travel document—and, if needed, explore alternative U.S. visa options.
Immigrant advocacy groups were quick to criticise the measure, arguing that it will hamper access for exactly the populations Congress intended to benefit when it created the DV category—particularly in parts of sub-Saharan Africa where passport issuance is slow, local offices are often distant from rural communities, and official fees are only the beginning of the expense. Several NGOs are already weighing fresh litigation, but most legal observers believe the State Department has cured the administrative-law defects that doomed the Trump-era interim rule. For now, multinational companies should update internal guidance: prospective DV-2028 entrants will need to supply a passport number at the point of online registration, and employees currently in the United States in non-immigrant status who hope to “self-sponsor” through the lottery will also need to ensure their home-country passports are valid for the duration of the upcoming cycle. Although the rule’s text cites an average worldwide passport cost of US $75, in practice prices vary widely—from under US $20 in some Asian countries to well over US $250 once “expedition” and travel costs are factored in for many African jurisdictions. HR departments may therefore see a spike in requests for financial assistance from assignees who plan to try their luck in the 55,000-visa draw. Over the longer term, the change could reduce the raw number of lottery entries, easing chronic processing backlogs at Kentucky Consular Center and freeing up capacity for other visa categories. But unless Congress addresses the DV quota, the effect is unlikely to alter country-of-chargeability caps that have left thousands of selectees without an interview slot in recent years. Mobility managers should continue to treat the DV route as a “nice-to-have” back-up rather than a core workforce-planning tool.
