The US is moving its entire green card lottery process online, the State Department has announced.
The new rules will end the long-standing practice of sending applications by mail to processing centres in the US.
Under the new system, all applicants must fill out an electronic form and download a personal colour photograph onto the website.
The State Department's new diversity lottery website www.dvlottery.state.gov will be open for registration between November 1st and December 30th for the next visa round.
The Bush administration has introduced the new system to improve efficiency and security. All applicants will be automatically screened for possible terrorist links.
"The Department of State is implementing the new electronic system in order to improve efficiency and make the diversity visa petition process less prone to fraud, thus making it less vulnerable to use by persons who may pose a threat to the security interests of the United States," the department said in a statement.
The State Department said the new system would also help reduce multiple applications by the same person.
The "diversity visa", which includes Ireland, is hugely oversubscribed. More than six million people applied for 55,000 immigrant visas last year.
In that round, applicants from the Republic received 305 places in the visa programme, while Northern Ireland received 51.
Every year, the US excludes countries from the visa system that have exceeded an immigration quota of 50,000 in the previous five years.
As with previous years, Britain is excluded from this year's DV2005 programme, but the ban does not include Northern Ireland. Other excluded countries include Canada; China (but the exclusion does not extend to Hong Kong and Macau); Colombia; the Dominican Republic; El Salvador; Haiti; India; Jamaica; Mexico; Pakistan; the Philippines; Russia; South Korea and Vietnam.