The US Diversity Visa, popularly known as the Green Card Lottery, excludes nationals of a number of countries each year based on their recent levels of immigration to the US.
For the DV-2026 programme, natives of 20 countries were not eligible to participate, according to the US Department of State.
The Diversity Visa programme makes immigrant visas available to people from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States.
Under US law, countries from which more than 50,000 natives immigrated to the US over the previous five years are generally excluded from the programme.
Full list of countries excluded from DV-2026
The US Department of State listed the following countries as ineligible for the DV-2026 programme:
- Bangladesh
- Brazil
- Canada
- China, including Hong Kong SAR
- Colombia
- Cuba
- Dominican Republic
- El Salvador
- Haiti
- Honduras
- India
- Jamaica
- Mexico
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- South Korea
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
The list was published by the US Department of State in its DV-2026 information.
Why are these countries excluded?
The Diversity Visa programme is designed to encourage immigration from countries that have historically sent relatively few immigrants to the United States.
Under the programme’s rules, countries with high levels of recent immigration can become ineligible. The list can therefore change from one Diversity Visa programme year to another depending on immigration figures.
The exclusion does not mean that citizens of these countries are generally banned from travelling to or immigrating to the United States. Rather, people born in the listed countries cannot normally enter the Diversity Visa lottery for that particular programme year.
Nigeria among the excluded countries
Nigeria is one of the countries that has repeatedly been excluded from the Diversity Visa programme because of its relatively high level of immigration to the United States.
For Nigerians hoping to obtain US permanent residence, this means the Diversity Visa Lottery is not an available immigration route while Nigeria remains on the exclusion list.
However, Nigerians may still qualify for other US immigration pathways, including family-sponsored and employment-based immigrant visas, subject to the relevant eligibility requirements.
Vanguard News
The post US Green Card Lottery: Full list of countries excluded from programme appeared first on Vanguard News.