What is the DV Lottery?

What is the DV Lottery?
Up to 55,000 people from countries that have historically had low rates of immigration to the United States of America can qualify each year for immigrant visas, popularly known as Green Cards, according to the congressionally required Diversity Visa Program (DV Lottery).
The scheme is known as the "Green Card Lottery" or "dvlottery" because the winners are chosen at random from among the 10–12 million applicants who submit applications each year.
The US takes pride in being an immigrant-rich nation. However, several nations are sending significantly more citizens to the USA than are other nations. For instance, the total number of immigrants coming from just Mexico, China, and the Philippines dwarfs that coming from the majority of the other nations combined. US regulations control immigration from various parts of the world to preserve diversity in the population.
Because of this, the USA has received 55,000 fictitious "Green Cards" at random through the DV Lottery each year since 1994.
DV Lottery 2024 Eligible Countries list
The nations whose citizens qualify for DV-2024 are listed below, organized by geographic region. The region of the ruling nation includes dependent territories abroad. Using the formula under Section 203(c) of the INA, USCIS determined which nations' citizens are ineligible for the DV-2024 program. Following each of the regional listings are a list of the nations whose citizens are ineligible for the DV program because they are the primary source nations for family-sponsored and employment-based immigration, or "high-admission" nations.
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Argentina
Armenia
Australia (including components and dependent areas overseas
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas, The In North America, natives of Canada and Mexico are not eligible for this year’s DV program.
Bahrain
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brunei
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burma
Burundi
Cabo Verde
Cambodia
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
Comoros
Congo
Congo, Democratic Republic of the
Costa Rica
Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Ecuador
Egypt*
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Eswatini
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Gambia, The
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel*
Italy
Japan***
Jordan*
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macau Special Administrative Region**
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Micronesia, Federated States of
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands (including components and dependent areas overseas)
New Zealand (including components and dependent areas overseas)
Nicaragua
Niger
North Korea
North Macedonia
Northern Ireland***
Norway (including components and dependent areas overseas)
Oman
Palau
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Poland
Portugal (including components and dependent areas overseas)
Qatar
Romania
Russia****
Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome and Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
South Sudan
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria*
Taiwan**
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Vatican City
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
The Diversity Visa (DV) program was created by the Immigration Act of 1990, and it began in fiscal year 1995 with an annual electronic lottery for 55,000 immigrant visas. By choosing applicants mostly from nations with low rates of immigration to the United States during the previous five years, the Electronic Diversity Visa Lottery seeks to diversify the immigrant population in the country.
The program is known as the "Green Card Lottery" or "Electronic Diversity Visa Lottery" because the winners are chosen at random from among the 10–12 million applicants who submit applications each year from all over the world.
To complete your entry, you must supply all of the required data. Your eligibility for a DV will be revoked if you do not accurately submit the necessary information.
Name (last/family name, first name, middle name), precisely as it appears on your passport (for instance, if your passport only lists your first and last/family name, please list your last/family name, followed by your first name; do not add a middle name unless it exists on your passport). Please put your names in the following order: last/family name, first name, middle name, if your passport includes a first, middle, and last name. You must provide your last name or family name if you only have one name.
male or female gender.
Date of birth: day, month, and year.
location of your birth.
Country of birth: Mention the name of the nation that now occupies the location of your birth. DV program eligibility by country - Typically, the country where you are eligible will be the same as the country where you were born. Where you live or your nationality, if it differs from your country of birth, have no bearing on your country of eligibility. Please read the Frequently Asked Questions to discover if there is another method you might be eligible if you were born in a country that is not listed.
Your current, undated international travel passport's number, issuing nation, and expiration date. The dependents are exempt from this obligation. Unless you qualify for an exemption, you must provide information from a current passport good for international travel. If you are stateless, a citizen of a country under Communist control who is unable to get a passport from the government of that country, or the recipient of an individual waiver approved by the Secretaries of Homeland Security and State, you may be excused from the rule.
Entrant photo(s): Recent photos of you, your spouse, and all of your children (taken within the previous six months) are required. For compositional and technical requirements, see Submitting a Digital Photograph. You are not need to submit a photo of a spouse or kid who is already a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States, but you will not face any consequences if you do. The DV entrance photos must adhere to the same requirements as the US visa photos. If the submission photos for you and your family do not completely fulfill these requirements or have been altered in any way, you will not be qualified for a DV. You won't be eligible for a DV if you submit the identical photo that was submitted with an entry from the previous year.