US excludes Nigeria and 17 other countries from 2025 visa lottery scheme

The United States has announced that Nigeria, along with 17 other countries, will not be eligible to participate in the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery program for the year 2025. This decision follows the opening of the DV program application process for the fiscal year 2025 back in 2022.

The DV program aims to diversify the immigrant population in the United States by selecting applicants from countries with lower levels of immigration to the U.S. It offers a pathway for individuals from countries with historically low immigration rates to the U.S. to obtain a green card.

For the 2025 DV program, the criterion for exclusion is based on whether a country has sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States within the previous five years. As a result, nationals from the following 18 countries will not be eligible for the DV2025 lottery:

1. Bangladesh
2. Brazil
3. Canada
4. China
5. Colombia
6. Dominica
7. El Salvador
8. Haiti
9. Honduras
10. India
11. Jamaica
12. Mexico
13. Nigeria
14. Pakistan
15. Philippines
16. South Korea
17. Venezuela
18. Vietnam