Data / Federal rules / 2026-04737

Visas: Enhancing Vetting and Combatting Fraud in the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program

The State Department published this final rule in the Federal Register on March 11, 2026. It took effect on April 10, 2026.

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What the agency says

The Department of State ("Department") is amending regulations governing the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program ("DV Program") to improve the integrity of, and combat fraud in, the program. These amendments require a petitioner to the DV Program to provide valid, unexpired passport information and to upload a scan of the biographic and signature page in the electronic entry form or to otherwise indicate that he or she is exempt from this requirement. Additionally, the Department is standardizing and amending its regulations to add the word "shall" to simplify guidance for consular officers; ensure the use of the term "sex" in lieu of "gender"; and replace the term "age" in the DV Program regulations with the phrase "date of birth" to accurately reflect the information collected and maintained by the Department during the immigrant visa process.

Key facts

Document number: 2026-04737
Type: Final rule
Action: Final rule
Agency: State Department
Published: March 11, 2026
Takes effect: April 10, 2026
Dates: This rule is effective on April 10, 2026.
Docket: Public Notice: 12948
Regulation ID (RIN): 1400-AF76
Code of Federal Regulations: 22 CFR 42
Topics: Immigration; Passports and visas
Significant: Yes, under Executive Order 12866
Pages: 12

The document on federalregister.gov PDF

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Everything from the State Department · Rules on immigration · Rules on passports and visas · Published in March 2026

Read from the Federal Register API, last updated 2026-10-23. The document on federalregister.gov is the official record; dates and dockets can change through later corrections. Free to reuse with credit to SpecStream under CC BY 4.0.