DV 2016 - Selected Entrants

The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2016 diversity lottery. The diversity lottery was conducted under the terms of section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and makes available *50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. Approximately 91,563 applicants have been registered and notified and may now make an application for an immigrant visa. Since it is likely that some of the first *50,000 persons registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this larger figure should insure that all DV-2016 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2016 (October 1, 2015 until September 30, 2016).

Applicants registered for the DV-2016 program were selected at random from 11,391,134 qualified entries (17,573,350 with derivatives) received during the application period that ran from noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 until noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Monday, November 3, 2014. The visas have been apportioned among six geographic regions with a maximum of seven percent available to persons born in any single country. During the visa interview, principal applicants must provide proof of a high school education or its equivalent, or show two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience within the past five years. Those selected will need to act on their immigrant visa applications quickly. Applicants should follow the instructions in their notification letter and must fully complete the information requested. 

Registrants living legally in the United States who wish to apply for adjustment of their status must contact the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services for information on the requirements and procedures. Once the total *50,000 visa numbers have been used, the program for fiscal year 2016 will end. Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2016 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2016 registration. Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2016 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2016.

Dates for the DV-2017 program registration period will be widely publicized in the coming months. Those interested in entering the DV-2017 program should check the Department of State's Visa web page in the coming months. 

*The Nicaraguan and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) passed by Congress in November 1997 stipulated that up to 5,000 of the 55,000 annually-allocated diversity visas be made available for use under the NACARA program. The reduction of the limit of available visas to 50,000 began with DV-2000.

The following is the statistical breakdown by foreign-state chargeability of those registered for the DV-2016 program: 

AFRICA
ALGERIA  1,952 ETHIOPIA  4,000 NIGER  102
ANGOLA  108 GABON  32 RWANDA  412
BENIN  914 GAMBIA, THE  67 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE  2
BOTSWANA  4 GHANA  3,179 SENEGAL  427
BURKINA FASO  199 GUINEA  1,818 SEYCHELLES  0
BURUNDI  208 GUINEA-BISSAU  4 SIERRA LEONE  2,141
CABO VERDE  6 KENYA  2,729 SOMALIA  272
CAMEROON  3,047 LESOTHO  5 SOUTH AFRICA  535
CENTRAL AFRICAN REP.  23 LIBERIA  4,430 SOUTH SUDAN  17
CHAD  40 LIBYA  240 SUDAN  3,216
COMOROS  3 MADAGASCAR  75 SWAZILAND  7
CONGO  124 MALAWI  17 TANZANIA  93
CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE  4,475 MALI  114 TOGO  1,241
COTE D’IVOIRE  1,129 MAURITANIA  15 TUNISIA  227
DJIBOUTI  92 MAURITIUS  41 UGANDA  453
EGYPT  4,024 MOROCCO  1,993 ZAMBIA  57
EQUATORIAL GUINEA  0 MOZAMBIQUE  11 ZIMBABWE  152
ERITREA  544 NAMIBIA  18  
ASIA
AFGHANISTAN  406 JAPAN  302 QATAR  42
BAHRAIN  13 JORDAN  349 SAUDI ARABIA  267
BHUTAN  22 NORTH KOREA  0 SINGAPORE  39
BRUNEI  1  KUWAIT  143 SRI LANKA  704
BURMA  236 LAOS  1 SYRIA  460
CAMBODIA  1,229 LEBANON  225 TAIWAN  297
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMIN. REGION  151 MALAYSIA  95 THAILAND  73
INDONESIA  126 MALDIVES  3 TIMOR-LESTE  0
IRAN  4,501 MONGOLIA  185 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES  103
IRAQ  330 NEPAL  3,801 YEMEN  724
ISRAEL  162 OMAN  12  
EUROPE
ALBANIA  1,931 GREECE  93 NORWAY  35
ANDORRA  0 HUNGARY  186 POLAND  629
ARMENIA  1,277 ICELAND  3 PORTUGAL  58
AUSTRIA  50 IRELAND  89   Macau  23
AZERBAIJAN  380 ITALY  410 ROMANIA  626 
BELARUS  811 KAZAKHSTAN  376 RUSSIA  2,200
BELGIUM  47 KOSOVO  244 SAN MARINO  0
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA  92 KYRGYZSTAN  209 SERBIA  283
BULGARIA  865 LATVIA  73 SLOVAKIA  70
CROATIA  67 LIECHTENSTEIN  0 SLOVENIA  33
CYPRUS  28 LITHUANIA  153 SPAIN  193
CZECH REPUBLIC  74 LUXEMBOURG  0 SWEDEN  108
DENMARK  35 MACEDONIA  258 SWITZERLAND  122
ESTONIA  40 MALTA  0 TAJIKISTAN  337
FINLAND  57 MOLDOVA  1,854 TURKEY  1,795
FRANCE  510 MONACO  0 TURKMENISTAN  124
  French Polynesia  1 MONTENEGRO  8 UKRAINE  4,507
  Saint Martin  1 NETHERLANDS  81 UZBEKISTAN  4,300
  Wallis and Futuna  1   Aruba  4 VATICAN CITY  0
GEORGIA  571   Curacao  2  
GERMANY  678 NORTHERN IRELAND  9  
NORTH AMERICA
BAHAMAS, THE  16    
OCEANIA
AUSTRALIA  832 NAURU  12 SAMOA  5
  Cocos Islands  1 NEW ZEALAND  208 SOLOMON ISLANDS  0
FIJI  393   Cook Islands  4 TONGA  26
KIRIBATI  4 PALAU  4 TUVALU  0
MARSHALL ISLANDS  0 PAPUA NEW GUINEA  3 VANUATU  5
MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF  3    
SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA  0 DOMINICA  6 SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS  2
ARGENTINA  68 GRENADA  7 SAINT LUCIA  5
BARBADOS  0 GUATEMALA  31 SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES  7
BELIZE  0 GUYANA  14 SURINAME  3
BOLIVIA  49 HONDURAS  73 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO  51
CHILE  17 NICARAGUA  58 URUGUAY  21
COSTA RICA  50 PANAMA  5 VENEZUELA  1,038
CUBA  1,488 PARAGUAY  7  

Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2016: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born, excluding Hong Kong S.A.R., Macau S.A.R., and Taiwan), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam.