The Green Card Lottery is the Diversity Immigrant Visa program, it was introduced by the United States Government in 1990. Ever since its introduction, millions have gotten the opportunity to change their country of residence to the USA. Many have become dual citizens of the USA, others have naturalized outright, in this light, even those in the States who do not have Green Cards have gotten it through the lottery.
The program is a lottery, as such, like all other lotteries, it is a thing of chance and not a certainty that you would be selected after applying. What happens is that when you obey the rules and apply according to all the specifications given, for example, the picture quality, then you increase your chances because all double entries will be taken out, all bad entries will also be taken out. Then those that are “correct” will be but into the electronic draw.
The program aims to allow people who want to live and work, school or simply change their country of residence to the United States to be able to do so. Applying for the program is therefore free. Any attempted to be charged before you apply must be seen as a scam.
From 2018, 23 million people are said to be applying to the lottery annually, however, only 50,000 people are selected as winners each year.
Countries whose citizens are not eligible for the program are those that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the previous five years. These are considered ineligible to apply. They are considered as “high admission” countries.
For the year 2021, the following countries are the eligible countries.
| AFRICA | |
| Algeria | Madagascar |
| Angola | Malawi |
| Benin | Mali |
| Botswana | Mauritania |
| Burkina Faso | Mauritius |
| Burundi | Morocco |
| Cameroon | Mozambique |
| Cabo Verde | Namibia |
| Central African Republic | Niger |
| Chad | Rwanda |
| Comoros | Sao Tome and Principe |
| Congo | Senegal |
| Congo, Democratic Republic of the | Seychelles |
| Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) | Sierra Leone |
| Djibouti | Somalia |
| Egypt* | South Africa |
| Equatorial Guinea | South Sudan |
| Eritrea | Sudan |
| Ethiopia | Swaziland |
| Gabon | Tanzania |
| Gambia, The | Togo |
| Ghana | Tunisia |
| Guinea | Uganda |
| Guinea-Bissau | Zambia |
| Kenya | Zimbabwe |
| Lesotho | |
| Liberia | |
| Libya |
- Persons born in the areas administered prior to June 1967 by Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt are chargeable, respectively, to Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt. Persons born in the Gaza Strip are chargeable to Egypt; persons born in the West Bank are chargeable to Jordan; persons born in the Golan Heights are chargeable to Syria.
In Africa, natives of Nigeria are not eligible for this year’s Diversity Visa program.
| ASIA | ||||
| Afghanistan | Jordan* | |||
| Bahrain | Kuwait | |||
| Bhutan | Laos | |||
| Brunei | Lebanon | |||
| Burma | Malaysia | |||
| Cambodia | Maldives | |||
| Hong Kong Special Administrative Region** | Mongolia | |||
| Indonesia | Nepal | |||
| Iran | North Korea | |||
| Iraq | Oman | |||
| Israel* | Qatar | |||
| Japan*** | Saudi Arabia | |||
| UNCLASSIFIED | ||||
| UNCLASSIFIED | ||
| Singapore | Thailand | |
| Sri Lanka | Timor-Leste | |
| Syria* | United Arab Emirates | |
| Taiwan** | Yemen | |
*Persons born in the areas administered prior to June 1967 by Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt are chargeable, respectively, to Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt. Persons born in the Gaza Strip are chargeable to Egypt; persons born in the West Bank are chargeable to Jordan; persons born in the Golan Heights are chargeable to Syria.
**Hong Kong S.A.R. (Asia region), Macau S.A.R. (Europe region, chargeable to Portugal), and Taiwan (Asia region) do qualify and are listed here. For the purposes of the diversity program only, persons born in Macau S.A.R. derive eligibility from Portugal.
***Persons born in the Habomai Islands, Shikotan, Kunashiri, and Etorofu are chargeable to Japan. Persons born in Southern Sakhalin are chargeable to Russia.
Natives of the following Asia Region countries are not eligible for this year’s Diversity Visa program:
Bangladesh, China (mainland-born), India, Pakistan, South Korea, Philippines, and Vietnam.
| EUROPE | ||
| Albania | Luxembourg | |
| Andorra | Macau Special Administrative Region** | |
| Armenia | Macedonia | |
| Austria | Malta | |
| Azerbaijan | Moldova | |
| Belarus | Monaco | |
| Belgium | Montenegro | |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | Netherlands (including components and | |
| Bulgaria | dependent areas overseas) | |
| Croatia | Northern Ireland*** | |
| Cyprus | Norway (including components and | |
| Czech Republic | dependent areas overseas) | |
| Denmark (including components and | Poland | |
| dependent areas overseas) | Portugal (including components and | |
| Estonia | dependent areas overseas) | |
| Finland | Romania | |
| France (including components and | Russia**** | |
| dependent areas overseas) | San Marino | |
| Georgia | Serbia | |
| Germany | Slovakia | |
| Greece | Slovenia | |
| Hungary | Spain | |
| Iceland | Sweden | |
| Ireland | Switzerland | |
| Italy | Tajikistan | |
| Kazakhstan | Turkey | |
| Kosovo | Turkmenistan | |
| Kyrgyzstan | Ukraine | |
| Latvia | Uzbekistan | |
| Liechtenstein | Vatican City | |
| Lithuania | ||
- Macau S.A.R. does qualify and is listed above and for the purposes of the diversity program only; persons born in Macau S.A.R. derive eligibility from Portugal.
***For purposes of the diversity program only, Northern Ireland is treated separately. Northern Ireland does qualify and is listed among the qualifying areas.
- Persons born in the Habomai Islands, Shikotan, Kunashiri, and Etorofu are chargeable to Japan. Persons born in Southern Sakhalin are chargeable to Russia.
Natives of the following European countries are not eligible for this year’s DV program: Great Britain (United Kingdom). Great Britain (United Kingdom) includes the following dependent areas: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, British Indian Ocean Territory, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, St. Helena, and Turks and Caicos Islands.
NORTH AMERICA
The Bahamas
In North America, natives of Canada and Mexico are not eligible for this year’s DV program.
| OCEANIA | |||
|
Australia (including components and |
Palau | ||
| dependent areas overseas) | Papua New Guinea | ||
| Fiji | Samoa | ||
| Kiribati | Solomon Islands | ||
| Marshall Islands | Tonga | ||
| Micronesia, Federated States of | Tuvalu | ||
| Nauru | Vanuatu | ||
| New Zealand (including components and | |||
| dependent areas overseas) | |||
| SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN | |||
| Antigua and Barbuda | Nicaragua | ||
| Argentina | Panama | ||
| Barbados | Paraguay | ||
| Belize | Peru | ||
| Bolivia | Saint Kitts and Nevis | ||
| Chile | Saint Lucia | ||
| Costa Rica | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | ||
| Cuba | Suriname | ||
| Dominica | Trinidad and Tobago | ||
| Ecuador | Uruguay | ||
| Grenada | Venezuela | ||
| Guyana | |||
| Honduras | |||
Countries in this region whose natives are not eligible for this year’s DV program:
Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, and Mexico.
