Nigeria Barred from DV-2026 Green Card Lottery Participation

According to data from the US Department of State, Nigeria is the only African country whose nationals are barred from entering the DV-2026 Diversity Visa program, also known as the Green Card Lottery. This program allocates up to 55,000 permanent resident visas annually to individuals from countries that historically send low numbers of immigrants to the United States.

For the 2026 cycle, Nigeria is among 19 countries worldwide whose nationals are ineligible to participate, which includes countries like Bangladesh, Brazil, and China. The application window for DV-2026 is set from noon on October 2, 2024, to noon on November 7, 2024, attracting a total of 20,822,624 qualified entries globally.

The program has a cap of seven percent of visas issued to any single country. Selected applicants must provide proof of education or work experience during their visa interview and complete their cases by September 30, 2026.

The effective annual limit for DV-2026 has been reduced to approximately 51,850 visas.