The United States Diversity Visa Program excluded people born in 19 countries from its DV-2026 lottery.
The program offers permanent residence visas to people from countries with historically low immigration rates to the United States.
US law normally excludes a country when more than 50,000 people born there moved to the United States through qualifying immigration categories during the previous five years.
Official instructions reviewed by ibynews.com list the following countries as ineligible for DV-2026:
- Bangladesh
- Brazil
- Canada
- China, including Hong Kong
- Colombia
- Cuba
- Dominican Republic
- El Salvador
- Haiti
- Honduras
- India
- Jamaica
- Mexico
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- South Korea
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
Macau and Taiwan remained eligible for the program.
Cuba was the only country added to the exclusion list for DV-2026. The other countries were also ineligible during the previous program year.
Eligibility normally depends on your country of birth. It does not depend only on your citizenship, passport or current place of residence.
A person born in an excluded country may still qualify through a spouse born in an eligible country.
Some applicants may also use a parent’s country of birth if neither parent was born or legally resident in the applicant’s birth country when the applicant was born.
Applicants must meet all conditions before using these exceptions.
The exclusion does not prevent people from these countries from applying for other US visas. It only applies to the Diversity Visa lottery for that program year.
DV-2026 is not a new lottery opening in 2026.
Registration ran from October 2 to November 7, 2024. Applicants selected for DV-2026 must complete the visa process before September 30, 2026.
Selection does not guarantee a visa. Successful entrants must complete the application, submit the required documents and pass an interview.
The US government does not notify winners through random emails or social media messages. Applicants must check their results through the official Entrant Status Check website.
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