The United States has begun the registrations process for the Diversity Visa Program for the fiscal year 2025 with applications accepted till November 7, 2023, however, for Nigerians, they can only lament because they remain on the list of countries ineligible to apply.
This also applies to 17 other countries which have been excluded for the past couple of years.
Africa Today News, New York learnt that the aim of the DV program is to offer a special chance for individuals from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States.
For the FY2025 program, individuals from countries who have sent more than 50,000 of their nationals to the United States in the past five years are ineligible to apply.
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According to a statement from the US Embassy and Consulate in Nigeria, Nigerians were no longer eligible for the Diversity Visa Lottery but for those born outside of Nigeria or have parents born outside of Nigeria. In other words, those who were born in Nigeria to Nigerian parents are not eligible.
The US Diversity Visa Program (DV Program) is a yearly lottery system that offers individuals from countries with limited immigration rates to the United States the chance to secure a green card.
Africa Today News, New York reports that annually, the US State Department allocates 55,000 diversity visas (DVs) divided among six geographic regions.
Ineligible countries
The excluded countries are:
- Bangladesh
- Brazil
- Canada,
- China (including mainland and Hong Kong)
- Colombia
- Dominican Republic
- El Salvador
- Haiti
- Honduras
- India
- Jamaica
- Mexico
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Philippines
- Republic of Korea (South Korea)
- Venezuela, and
- Vietnam
Consequently, candidates from other countries can seek to participate in the US Diversity Visa Program as long as they meet the eligibility conditions before applying to be part of the program.