US opens lottery for Diversity Immigrant Visa Program

The United States on October 2 opened lottery registration of visa for foreigners wishing to immigrate to that country. Foreigners the world over are now eligible to apply for the much sought-after US Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, or DV-2026 program. The last date to apply is November 5, 2024 and, in all, 55,000 Diversity Visas (DVs) are available for the fiscal year 2025-’26, or FY26.

The annual program pertains to ‘diversity immigrants’ with tight qualifying requirements, who belong to nations with historically low immigration rates to the United States. Registering for the DV program is free of charge and applicants must submit entries for the DV-2026 program electronically at dvprogram.state.gov.

The US Department of State gives out Diversity Visas across six geographic zones, and no nation is given more than 7 per cent of the allotted DVs in a particular year. A draw is randomly done on computer and applicants can find out if they won on the website, typically in the month of May.

Those who win in the lottery process would need to apply along with a visa application fee at a US embassy or consulate, where a designated official would decide if they are eligible for the visa. A selectee is eligible for one entry in an entry period, and submitting more than one entry would lead to disqualification.

To obtain a DV, a selectee must meet conditions laid out under the US law, including education and work experience demands of the DV program. It must be noted that citizens of certain countries are currently not eligible to apply for DV-2026 because over 50,000 residents of these nations have immigrated to the United States in the last five years.