The United States Department of State registered 129,516 prospective applicants for the 2026 Diversity Visa programme from over 20.8 million entries, ahead of a strict September 30, 2026, final deadline.
The annual Diversity Visa programme, widely known as the Green Card Lottery, allocates up to 55,000 permanent resident visas annually to nationals from countries experiencing historically low rates of immigration to the United States. Federal data shows that the Kentucky Consular Center processed 129,516 prospective applicants—including principal winners alongside their spouses and children—from a pool of 20,822,624 eligible entries submitted during the 2024 application window.
The number of visas available under the 2026 programme has been reduced to about 51,850 because of deductions required by US law. The available visas are shared among six geographic regions. Under the programme, no more than seven per cent of the available visas can be issued to people from any single country. The US Department of State advised selected applicants to complete the required visa or adjustment-of-status process as quickly as possible. Applicants selected for the DV-2026 programme who do not receive their visa or adjustment of status by September 30, 2026, will lose the benefit of their selection.
African Selectees Face Tight Deadlines and Visa Issuance Pauses
African nations represent a substantial share of the selectees for the 2026 cycle. State Department records show that 53,939 prospective applicants across 49 African countries secured selection under the programme. The figures, drawn from US State Department data, cover DV-2026 selectees along with their spouses and dependants.
Egypt led the continent with 5,527 prospective applicants, closely followed by Algeria with 5,457 and Sudan with 5,226. Kenya recorded 3,949 selectees, Morocco registered 3,670, Cameroon counted 3,533, and Ethiopia accounted for 3,287.
Additional selectees came from nations including Togo with 2,473, the Democratic Republic of the Congo with 2,210, Ghana with 1,642, Burundi with 1,616, Liberia with 1,593, and Uganda with 1,513, according to figures released by the State Department. Other recorded entries from African countries include Angola with 763, Benin with 1,064, Botswana with 7, Burkina Faso with 252, Central African Republic with 19, Chad with 482, Comoros with 12, and Cabo Verde with 35.
However, thousands of these selectees navigate a pressured environment. A fresh suspension of Diversity Visa issuance has left thousands of African selectees uncertain about completing the process before the deadline. Over 53,939 prospective applicants from 49 African countries face a critical race against time to complete their US Diversity Visa process before the September 30, 2026 deadline, as a suspension of visa issuance continues to complicate an already pressured timeline.
While applicants may still submit documents and attend scheduled interviews as the DV-2026 programme moves towards its September 30 deadline, no final visas can be issued, leaving a narrow window before the non-negotiable deadline. Any selectee who fails to secure an immigrant visa or complete an adjustment of status by that date permanently loses their selection.
Excluded Countries
Eligibility rules continue to bar nations with high recent immigration levels. 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. The US Diversity Visa 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 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, and Vietnam. The list was published by the US Department of State in its DV-2026 information.
Timeline and Transition to the DV-2027 Programme
Even as DV-2026 applicants race the end-of-fiscal-year cutoff, the U.S. government has outlined the schedule for the subsequent cycle. The United States Department of State has confirmed the visa application window for foreigners selected in the 2027 Diversity Visa (DV) lottery programme, setting the period as October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027.
The announcement, published on the department’s official travel website, came alongside a disclosure that certain changes are being made to how people enter the DV-2027 lottery. The US Department of State said it is making changes to the DV-2027 entry process, though it has not yet revealed the new registration start date. Authorities confirmed that the changes will not affect the application period for those already selected under the DV-2027 programme.
The government noted that these changes apply to the entry and registration process, not to the visa application timeline for those who have already been selected. The department said it would announce the start date for the DV-2027 registration period as soon as practicable.
It also said it would separately confirm when DV-2027 selection results would be made available through the Entry Status Check (ESC), which is the official online tool that lottery participants use to find out their status.
