Starting September 16, 2025, all participants in the Green Card Lottery will be required to pay a $1 application fee.
This change is an additional electronic application fee, which is charged at the time of application. Previously, participation was free, and the only fee was $330, which was paid only by those who applied for a visa and won.
The new fee is intended to distribute the costs of the lottery more fairly among all applicants, rather than just a few. In particular, the funds will cover the annual costs of data processing and protection, automatic selection of winners, and maintenance of the program’s technical infrastructure.
The basic $330 fee for processing a visa application remains unchanged.