The United States has resumed its lottery system for a specific segment of Green Cards, formally known as the Diversity Immigrant Visa programme, following a hiatus. This update comes with stricter guidelines aimed at enhancing identity verification and curbing fraudulent activities. The modifications are unlikely to affect Indian applicants, who are currently facing extensive waiting periods for Green Card approval. The new mandate, issued by the US State Department, necessitates that applicants submit personal details alongside a scanned copy of their passport during the initial application phase.

Details Required for New Applications

Under the revised rules, individuals applying for the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) lottery must provide information related to a valid, unexpired passport and upload a scanned copy of the passport’s biography and signature pages. Immigration services firm Envoy Global has indicated that applicants who do not include their passport information will see their applications automatically disqualified. This new stipulation will come into effect on April 10, 2026, coinciding with the approaching DV-2027 lottery, which is anticipated to open in late 2026.

Objectives Behind the Changes

The adjustments to the DV programme aim to minimize fraud and streamline the vetting of applicants. According to Boundless Immigration, the State Department identified over two and a half million duplicate entries in the DV programme for the fiscal year 2025. Implementing a passport requirement earlier in the process will complicate the submission of fraudulent or unauthorized applications. Notably, similar regulations had been attempted in 2019 but were invalidated by a federal court in 2022 due to procedural violations in the initial enactment.

Limited Eligibility for Indian Applicants

The DV programme, which facilitates the acquisition of immigrant visas and subsequent permanent residency, was established by the Immigration Act of 1990. Administered by the US Department of State, it allocates up to 55,000 immigrant visas annually to promote diversity among applicants from nations with low immigration rates to the US. However, over 22 million individuals apply each year, leading to fewer than one in 400 applicants receiving a visa. Applicants are primarily drawn from regions such as Asia and Africa. Historical data shows that between 1995 and 2016, Ethiopia had the largest share of DV recipients, totaling 65,224, followed closely by Nigeria with 58,500. In the DV-2025 lottery, Uzbekistan recorded the highest recipients count at 5,564 from a pool of 2 million applications.

Reasons for India’s Exclusion

Countries with significant historical immigration to the US, including Mexico, China, and India, are excluded from the DV programme. Immigration services firm Visa Verge notes that eligibility is limited to nations that have sent fewer than 50,000 immigrants to the US in the past five years. With India contributing more than 127,000 immigrants in 2022 and over 78,000 in 2023, the likelihood of Indian applicants being deemed ineligible for the DV programme continues through fiscal year 2026, and possibly beyond into 2028–2029 if current trends remain.

Recent Controversies Surrounding the DV Programme

The DV programme has faced scrutiny following revelations that some lottery winners were linked to terrorist activities. For instance, Sayfullo Saipov, responsible for a 2017 terror attack in New York, was granted entry after winning the lottery in 2010. Similarly, the suspect in the December 2025 Brown University shootings, Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, had also been selected via the DV programme in 2017. These incidents have fueled discussions regarding the potential discontinuation of the programme altogether, particularly following the suspension of all diversity immigrant visas by the Trump administration after the Brown University incident.

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