Due to technical issues, the registration period for DV-2019 is being restarted, and all entries made prior to October 18, 2017, will need to be resubmitted for the entrant to be considered, according to the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe.

The new registration period for DV-2019 opens for electronic entries at noon, Eastern Daylight Time, Wednesday, October 18, 2017, and closes at noon, Eastern Standard Time, Wednesday, November 22, 2017.  For those who registered before Wednesday, October 18, 2017, those entries will not be considered, and they will need to submit another entry during the new registration period.

The technical issue was a failure to properly account for country of eligibility if the entrant was selecting a country of eligibility other than his/her place of birth, which is permitted in certain limited circumstances.

This was not a result of any outside interference or hacking attempt, press release issued by the U.S. Embassy says.

“In order to ensure fairness and protect the integrity of the process for all those concerned, however, we must restart the entry process for this year (DV-2019),” the press release notes. 

Applicants can access the electronic DV entry form (E-DV) at the official E-DV website, dvlottery.state.gov, during the registration period. DV instructions also are available on the Department of State’s public webpage at usvisas.state.gov/dv/instructions.