Results for the 2026 Diversity Visa Program (DV-2026), popularly known as the Green Card Lottery, will be available online starting tomorrow (May 3, 2025) at 12 p.m. EST.
The U.S. government program that is run by the State Department makes 55,000 immigrant visas available each year. The visas are awarded randomly to people from countries with historically low immigration rates to the United States.
Congress established the program through the Immigration Act of 1990 to boost the rates of immigration from countries with lower rates of admission into the U.S.
(Disclosure: This writer won the Green Card Lottery when he was an international student at a Minnesota state university).
More than 55,000 applicants are usually notified that they have won. In DV-2o23 for instance, 119,262 prospective applicants were notified that they have won. The State Department says this is because “selection is blind to the number of family members who might immigrate with the selectee, and it is likely that some of the selectees will not complete their cases or will be found ineligible for a visa.”
Those born in all African countries with the exception of Nigeria are eligible for the program. The program is open to countries that have sent less than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the past five years.
The entry period for Fiscal year 2026 was October 2, 2024 to November 5, 2024. Those who win the lottery on May 3, 2025 can apply for an immigrant visa starting October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026. One must have a minimum of a high school diploma or two years of work experience within the past five years in a qualifying occupation to apply for the visa.
After winning the lottery one has to still be vetted by a U.S. consular officer after applying for their immigrant visa by September 30, 2026. Thousands lose their spots by not having their visa by the deadline or for failing to be vetted successfully.
President Trump in his first term attempted to scrap the diversity visa lottery before a judge ordered his administration to resume the program.
The last Diversity Visa lottery (DV-2025) had almost 20 million qualified entries. All African countries had at least one person winning the lottery with the top ten being Algeria (5,526), Egypt (5,515), Sudan (5,505), Kenya (4,459), Morocco (4,237), Cameroon (3,962), Ethiopia (3,674), Democratic Republic of the Congo – DRC (2,729), Ghana (2,686) and Togo (2,286). Mauritius and Western Sahara had the least number of winners at two each.
The website to check if one has won is: https://dvprogram.state.gov/ESC/
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Born and raised in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa, Tom is the Founder, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Mshale which has been reporting on the news and culture of African immigrants in the United States since 1995. He has a BA in Business from Metro State University and a Public Leadership Credential from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He was the original host of Talking Drum, the signature current affairs show on the African Broadcasting Network (ABN-America), which was available nationwide in the United States via the Dish Network satellite service. On the show, he interviewed Nobel laureates such as 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner, Professor Wangari Maathai, the first woman from Africa to win the peace prize and heads of states. Tom has served and chaired various boards including Global Minnesota (formerly Minnesota International Center), the sixth largest World Affairs Council in the United States. He has previously served as the first Black President of the Board of Directors at Books for Africa. He also serves on the boards of New Vision Foundation and the Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium. He has previously served two terms on the board of the United Nations Association. An avid runner, he retired from running full marathons after turning 50 and now only focuses on training for half marathons.
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About Tom Gitaa Gitaa, Editor-in-Chief
Born and raised in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa, Tom is the Founder, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Mshale which has been reporting on the news and culture of African immigrants in the United States since 1995. He has a BA in Business from Metro State University and a Public Leadership Credential from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He was the original host of Talking Drum, the signature current affairs show on the African Broadcasting Network (ABN-America), which was available nationwide in the United States via the Dish Network satellite service. On the show, he interviewed Nobel laureates such as 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner, Professor Wangari Maathai, the first woman from Africa to win the peace prize and heads of states. Tom has served and chaired various boards including Global Minnesota (formerly Minnesota International Center), the sixth largest World Affairs Council in the United States. He has previously served as the first Black President of the Board of Directors at Books for Africa. He also serves on the boards of New Vision Foundation and the Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium. He has previously served two terms on the board of the United Nations Association. An avid runner, he retired from running full marathons after turning 50 and now only focuses on training for half marathons.
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