Overview
- The State Department's November bulletin lists India as ineligible for the DV‑2026 lottery, alongside countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, South Korea, Mexico and Nigeria.
- Program rules exclude countries that sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the previous five years, and recent Indian inflows pushed the total above that threshold.
- Because eligibility is recalculated on a rolling five‑year basis, coverage indicates India is unlikely to qualify again before 2028.
- The State Department has proposed integrity measures requiring a valid passport number and uploaded scans of passport photo and signature pages with DV entries to reduce fraud.
- The Diversity Visa program makes up to 55,000 visas available annually, allocates numbers by region, and limits any single country to no more than 7% of the yearly total.