TheDiversity Immigrant Visa program, also known as thegreen card lottery, is a United States governmentlottery program for receiving an immigrant visa followed by apermanent resident card. TheImmigration Act of 1990 established the current and permanent Diversity Visa (DV) program.

The lottery is administered by theDepartment of State and conducted under theImmigration and Nationality Act (INA). It provides up to 55,000 immigrant visas annually and aims to diversify the immigrant population in the United States, by selecting applicants from countries with low numbers of immigrants in the previous five years. More than 22 million people apply for the lottery each year, which means that fewer than 1 in 400 applicants receive visas.

Applicants enter the lottery by completing a form on the Department of State website.

Attempts have been made to end the program since 2005. In December 2025, the U.S. government suspended the issuance of diversity visas and green cards, in response to ashooting whose suspect had previously immigrated under the program.^[1][2]

Starting in 1986, the United States established several temporary immigrant visa programs outside of the usual immigration preferences (family members or by employment). The first program was NP-5, run from 1987 to 1989, where a limited number of visas was issued on a first-come, first-served basis. The second program was OP-1, run through a lottery from 1989 to 1991 and available for natives of countries with low levels of recent immigration to the United States.^[3][4] The third program, AA-1, from 1992 to 1994, was available for natives from a select group of countries that had been "adversely affected" by earlier immigration laws. Intentionally and in practice, people fromIreland andNorthern Ireland benefited disproportionately from these programs. They were also known as theDonnelly,Berman andMorrison visas, respectively, after the sponsoring congressmen.^[5] The Government of Ireland has actively supported the various lottery bills and similar legislation since their inception.^[6]

The Donnelly visa benefited "several thousand Irish" (almost 4,000) and the Berman visa had some 500 Irish beneficiaries.^[7] Under the three-year Morrison program (1992–94), by far the largest in size, those born inIreland orNorthern Ireland received a set-aside of 40% of all diversity visas, for a total of 48,000 set aside visas out of 120,000. Natives or citizens of Poland, via the sheer volume of applicants, received the second largest number of visas. The United Kingdom came in a distant third with some 6,000 visas in the Morrison program.^{[8][9][10][11]}

TheImmigration Act of 1990 was passed with bipartisan support and signed by President George H. W. Bush.^[12] The legislation established the current and permanent Diversity Visa (DV) program, where 55,000 immigrant visas are available in an annual lottery. The lottery aims to diversify the immigrant population in the United States, by selecting applicants mostly from countries with low numbers of immigrants to the United States in the previous five years.^[11]

From fiscal year 1999, the number of visas in the DV program was reduced by up to 5,000, to partially compensate the number of immigrants under theNACARA program, and from fiscal year 2025, also to compensate the number of immigrants under theNational Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024.^[13] As a result, the number of visas in the DV program was reduced to 50,000 from fiscal years 1999 to 2019, about 54,800 from 2020 to 2024, and about 51,600 in 2025 and 2026.^[14][15]

The first DV lottery, for fiscal year 1995, was named DV-1. For fiscal years 1996 to 1999, the name was in the format DV-YY, where YY was the last two digits of the year. Since fiscal year 2000 the lotteries have been named in the format DV-YYYY, with the full year number.^[16] The year in the name refers to the fiscal year when the immigrant visas will be given, which starts in October of the previous calendar year, and the entry period for the lottery occurs almost a year earlier. Therefore, there is a two-year difference between the lottery name and its entry period. For example, for DV-2017 (fiscal year starting in October 2016), the entry period was in 2015.^[17]

Initially, the DV lottery was administered entirely by mail, and only winners were notified. The entry form moved to an online system starting in DV-2005, but still only winners were notified, by mail.^[8] Starting in DV-2010, all applicants are able to verify online whether they were selected.^[18] Notification of winners also by mail continued until DV-2011, but since DV-2012 it is done exclusively online.^[19]

In DV-2012, a computer error caused a non-random selection of lottery applicants, leading the Department of State to cancel the initial result.^[20] About 22,000 applicants had already been notified and were disappointed to find that their selection was canceled. The Department of State later ran a new selection after correcting the error.^[21][22]

Starting in 2019, for DV-2021, applicants had to hold a valid passport and provide its number on the lottery entry form. This requirement reduced the number of applicants by more than half compared to previous years. In 2022, the requirement was removed after a federal court found that the Department of State had not followed the proper procedure, with a public notice and comments, before implementing it.^[23] In 2025, the Department of State issued a public notice accepting comments to restore the passport requirement.^[24]

In DV-2025 and DV-2026, the lottery was initially run without updating the list of eligible countries, so it incorrectly excluded the United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) from both years and incorrectly included Cuba in DV-2026. After an applicant filed a lawsuit complaining about the error,^[25] the Department of State selected applicants from the United Kingdom for both years, and notified selected applicants from Cuba in DV-2026 that they were ineligible.^[26][27]

Initially there was no fee to enter the lottery, and only applicants selected in the lottery were charged to continue the process. In 2025, the Department of State added a fee ofUS$1 to enter the lottery, while maintaining the fee for selected applicants unchanged.^[28]

Criticism of the program has focused on instances of fraud, racism^[29] and the random nature of the lottery, as well as criminal or terrorist actions perpetrated by certain lottery winners.^[30][31]

In 2002, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, an Egyptian immigrant who maintained residency in United States through his wife's diversity visa,^[32]killed two people and injured four others atLos Angeles International Airport before being shot to death by an El Al security guard.^[33][34][35] This led to criticism of the lottery as a security threat.^[36][37]

Several attempts have been made to eliminate the lottery. In December 2005, theUnited States House of Representatives voted 273–148 to add an amendment to the border enforcement billH.R. 4437 abolishing the DV. Opponents of the lottery said it was susceptible to fraud and was a way for terrorists to enter the country. The Senate never passed the bill. In March 2007, CongressmanBob Goodlatte (R-VA) introducedH.R. 1430, which would eliminate the Diversity Visa program. In June 2007, the U.S. House passedH.R. 2764 to eliminate funding for the program, and the Senate did likewise in September.^[38]

However, the final version of this bill with amendments, signed into law on December 26, 2007, did not include the removal of funds for the program. Although H.R. 2764 was an appropriation bill and could only cut funds for the lottery during one fiscal year, this was the first time that both the House and the Senate passed a bill to halt the Diversity Visa program.

Rep. Goodlatte reintroduced his Security and Fairness Enhancement for America Act (formerly H.R. 1430, nowH.R. 2305) on May 7, 2009. The bill would have amended the Immigration and Nationality Act to eliminate the diversity immigrant program completely, but did not pass. Rep.Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) introduced the Save America Comprehensive Immigration Act of 2009 (H.R. 264) on January 7, 2009. The bill would have doubled the number of diversity visas available to 110,000 yearly. This bill did not pass.^[39] A comprehensive analysis of DV lottery issues was prepared in 2011 by Congressional Research Service.^[40]

In 2013, the so-called "Gang of Eight" - abi-partisan group of eight United States Senators - introduceda bill that would have comprehensively reformed the immigration system. The bill would have repealed the Diversity Immigrant Visa program.^[12][41] The legislation passed the Senate, but was defeated in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives amid Republican opposition.^[12]

In 2017, Sayfullo Habibullaevich Saipov, who had immigrated fromUzbekistan on a diversity visa in 2010,killed eight and injured eleven when he drove his truck down a bike path inLower Manhattan.^[42][43] In response, PresidentDonald Trump, who had earliercalled for a return to a "merit-based" immigration system,^[44][45] called for an end to the program.^[46][47] Following Trump's call to end the program, White House Press SecretarySarah Huckabee Sanders, indicated that diversity visa lottery recipients lack thorough vetting, something Politifact rated as false, noting that all recipients of the visa undergobackground checks, security screenings, and interviews by consular officers before arrival in the United States.^[48]

In December 2025, by order from President Trump,Secretary of StateMarco Rubio andSecretary of Homeland SecurityKristi Noem suspended the issuance of diversity visas and green cards, in response to ashooting at Brown University, whose suspect had previously immigrated under the program.^[1] However, previous litigation had confirmed that the government did not have the authority to suspend the issuance of diversity visas without the approval of Congress.^[49]

To enter the lottery, applicants must be chargeable to an eligible country. The country of chargeability is the applicant's country of birth, with two exceptions: the applicant may claim the spouse's country of birth instead if desired, or a parent's country of birth if neither parent was born in the applicant's country of birth and neither parent legally resided there when the applicant was born. The applicant's country of residence or nationality is irrelevant to the lottery. In addition, applicants must have completed at least a high school education or at least two years of work experience in an occupation which requires at least two other years of training or experience.^[50]

Applicants enter the lottery by completing a form on the Department of State website.^[51] The form asks for the applicant's name, gender, date and place of birth, country of chargeability, digital photograph, mailing address, country of residence, telephone number, email address, education level, and marital status; as well as the name, gender, date and place of birth, and digital photograph of the applicant's spouse and unmarried children under age 21 who are not U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents.^[50] In 2025, the Department of State added a fee of US$1 to enter the lottery.^[28]

Applicants selected in the lottery must also pay a fee to continue the process.^[52] To qualify for the immigrant visa, they must also satisfy general requirements applicable to all immigrants, mainly related to health, criminal background and means of support.^[53]

Those chargeable to a country that was the origin of more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States via family and employment categories in the previous five years are not eligible to receive a diversity visa. For DV-2026 (the most recent lottery, with entry period in 2024), those chargeable to the following countries were ineligible:Bangladesh,Brazil,Canada,China (mainland andHong Kong),Colombia,Cuba,Dominican Republic,El Salvador,Haiti,Honduras,India,Jamaica,Mexico,Nigeria,Pakistan,Philippines,South Korea,Venezuela, andVietnam.^[50]

The limit of 50,000 immigrants refers only to people who immigrated via family and employment categories, and does not include other categories such as refugees, asylum seekers, or previous diversity immigrants. For this reason,Afghanistan,Guatemala andUkraine were not on the ineligible list as of 2024, despite being the origin of over 50,000 total immigrants in the previous five years.^[54]

The first program was in fiscal year 1995, and the following 12 countries were ineligible from the start: Canada, China (mainland), Dominican Republic, El Salvador, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom and its dependent territories (except Northern Ireland and Hong Kong), and Vietnam.^[55] Since then, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Haiti, Honduras, Nigeria, Pakistan and Venezuela have been added to the ineligible list, Taiwan and the United Kingdom have been removed from it, and Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, Poland and Russia have been added and later removed from the ineligible list, reflecting shifting levels of immigration from these countries.

Macau was ineligible as part of China only for DV-2002, whose entry period (October 2000) was after the transfer of sovereignty of Macau from Portugal to China (December 1999) but before enactment of the Macau Policy Act (December 2000), which specified that U.S. law would treat Macau as it did before the transfer.^[56] Hong Kong was considered as a separate country for the lottery and eligible from the start, but became ineligible as part of China from DV-2022.^[57]

Historical eligibility for the Diversity Immigrant Visa lottery, by fiscal year

Country	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
Bangladesh	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Brazil	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Canada	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
China[a]	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Colombia	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Cuba	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Dominican Republic	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Ecuador	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
El Salvador	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Guatemala	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Haiti	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Honduras	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
India	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Jamaica	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Mexico	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Nigeria	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Pakistan	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Peru	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Philippines	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Poland	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Russia	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
South Korea	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Taiwan	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
United Kingdom[b]	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Venezuela	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No
Vietnam	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Others	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

The visas are distributed among six regions:Africa,Asia,Europe,North America,Oceania, andSouth America.Cyprus,Turkey, and allpost-Soviet states are included in the region of Europe, even though some of them are geographically in Asia. The region of North America consists only ofCanada and theBahamas.Mexico,Central America and otherCaribbean countries are included in the region of South America.^[50][58]

Dependent territories are treated as part of their respective sovereign countries, and disputed territories are allocated as recognized by the United States. For example,Bermuda is treated as part of theUnited Kingdom under Europe, theGaza Strip is considered part ofEgypt under Africa, and theWest Bank is considered part ofJordan under Asia. However, there are some exceptions:Northern Ireland andTaiwan are treated as separate countries, andMacau is considered part ofPortugal under Europe (even after itssovereignty returned to China in 1999).^[50]

Each region that was the origin of more than one sixth of the total number of immigrants to the United States via family and employment categories in the previous five years is considered a "high-admission region" (currently South America and Asia), and each region that was the origin of less than one sixth is a "low-admission region" (currently North America, Europe, Africa and Oceania). The proportion of diversity visas given to the group of low-admission regions is set as the proportion of recent immigrants from the group of high-admission regions (currently about 80%),^[54] and vice versa. Among regions of the same group, the diversity visas are allocated proportionally to their population, excluding ineligible countries (those that were the origin of more than 50,000 immigrants in the previous five years).^[58]

Within each region, the visas are not allocated among individual countries. All applicants from the same region are selected randomly as a whole, for the number of visas allocated for that region, but with the limitation that no single country may receive more than 7% of the total diversity visas (3,850).^[50]

Although only up to 55,000 diversity visas are available each year, the lottery selects more than 100,000 applicants. The reason for the larger selection is to ensure that all available diversity visas are eventually given each year, as some applicants are expected to fail general immigration requirements or may decide to withdraw and not to continue the process. As a result, some lottery winners who have received notifications might not obtain visas.^[14]

It is also possible that some visas remain available after all initially selected applicants are reviewed. In this case, additional applicants are selected later. For this reason, applicants who were not initially selected in the lottery should keep checking their status online periodically, until the end of the respective fiscal year.^[59]