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The US Diversity Visa, also known as the Green Card Lottery, excludes nationals from several countries each year based on their recent levels of immigration to the United States.
The US Department of State stated that inhabitants of 20 nations were ineligible to participate in the DV-2026 program.
The Diversity Visa program provides immigrant visas to people from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States.
Under US law, countries from which more than 50,000 natives came to the United States in the previous five years are normally barred from participating in the program. Here everything you should know about the US Green Card Lottery
Full List of 2026 DV Lottery Excluded Countries
The US Department of State declared the following countries ineligible for the DV-2026 program:
- 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
- Vietnam
The list was issued by the US Department of State in its DV-2026 report.
Why are these countries excluded?
The Diversity Visa program aims to encourage immigration from nations that have historically sent few immigrants to the United States.
According to the program’s regulations, countries with large amounts of recent immigration may become ineligible.
As a result, depending on immigration data, the list may change from year to year under the Diversity Visa program.
The exclusion does not imply that inhabitants of these nations are generally prohibited from visiting or emigrating to the United States.
Rather, those born in the countries listed above are ineligible to enter the Diversity Visa lottery for that program year.
US Green Card Lottery: Nigeria among the excluded countries
Nigeria is one of the countries that has been frequently barred from the Diversity Visa program due to its high level of immigration to the United States.
For Nigerians seeking permanent residency in the United States, the Diversity Visa Lottery is no longer an option because their country is still on the exclusion list.
List of Included countries for the DV-2026 Program
Meanwhile, thd US government has released the complete list of countries whose citizens were chosen to participate in the Diversity Visa (DV-2026) program, which recruited around 129,516 prospective applicants across six geographic regions. See full list here.