Eligible Countries Can Participate in the U.S. Green Card Lottery, Subject to Education or Work Requirements.
Enugu Media Village (EMV), the Most Updated Online News Platform | September 8, 2026.
The U.S. Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery, popularly known as the Green Card Lottery, is designed to provide immigration opportunities to people from countries with historically low levels of immigration to the United States. The programme makes available up to 55,000 diversity visas annually, subject to statutory reductions.
For DV-2026, the U.S. Department of State excluded 19 countries because of their relatively high levels of immigration to the United States. Applicants born in all other eligible countries could participate, provided they met the other requirements.
Countries Included in DV-2026
Among the eligible countries were:
Africa:
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Asia:
Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Cyprus, Georgia, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Yemen.
Europe:
Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
North America:
The Bahamas was the principal eligible country in the North America region for DV-2026. The U.S. Department of State’s programme data separately identifies the Bahamas in the North America category.
Oceania:
Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
South America, Central America and the Caribbean:
Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, Ecuador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and Uruguay.
Important for Nigerians
Nigeria was not included in DV-2026. Therefore, people born in Nigeria could not enter that year’s Diversity Visa Lottery based on Nigerian chargeability. However, eligibility is generally determined by country of birth rather than citizenship, so certain applicants born in an eligible country may potentially qualify even if they are Nigerian citizens.
Important Notice on DV-2027
The country list can change from one Diversity Visa programme year to another. Therefore, applicants should not assume that the DV-2026 list automatically applies to DV-2027. The U.S. Department of State remains the authoritative source for the next programme’s eligibility rules.
Enugu Media Village (EMV), the Most Updated Online News Platform, will continue to bring readers important updates on U.S. immigration, international affairs and opportunities affecting Nigerians and other applicants worldwide.