DV 2017 - Selected Entrants

The Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, Kentucky has registered and notified the winners of the DV-2017 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 83,910 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-2017 numbers will be used during fiscal year 2017 (October 1, 2016 until September 30, 2017).

Applicants registered for the DV-2017 program were selected at random from 12,437,190 qualified entries (19,344,586 with derivatives) received during the application period that ran from noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Thursday, October 1, 2015, until noon, Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, November 3, 2015.  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 2017 will end.  Selected applicants who do not receive visas by September 30, 2017 will derive no further benefit from their DV-2017 registration.  Similarly, spouses and children accompanying or following to join DV-2017 principal applicants are only entitled to derivative diversity visa status until September 30, 2017.

Dates for the DV-2018 program registration period will be widely publicized in the coming months.  Those interested in entering the DV-2018 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-2017 program: 

AFRICA
ALGERIA  1,561 ETHIOPIA  4,500  NIGER  34
ANGOLA  80 GABON  26 RWANDA  277
BENIN  617 GAMBIA, THE 46 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE  0
BOTSWANA  15 GHANA  3,170 SENEGAL  357
BURKINA FASO  217 GUINEA  1,233 SEYCHELLES  1
BURUNDI  106 GUINEA-BISSAU  3  SIERRA LEONE  2,065
CABO VERDE  7 KENYA  2,090 SOMALIA  215
CAMEROON  2,096 LESOTHO  1 SOUTH AFRICA  427
CENTRAL AFRICAN REP.  9 LIBERIA  3,105 SOUTH SUDAN  17
CHAD  52 LIBYA  274 SUDAN   2,522
COMOROS  5 MADAGASCAR  13 SWAZILAND  4
CONGO  94 MALAWI  17 TANZANIA  89
CONGO, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE  3,835 MALI  82 TOGO  963
COTE D’IVOIRE 891 MAURITANIA  27 TUNISIA  169
DJIBOUTI  53 MAURITIUS  9 UGANDA  240
EGYPT  4,501 MOROCCO  1,905 ZAMBIA  36 
EQUATORIAL GUINEA  3 MOZAMBIQUE  7 ZIMBABWE  106  
ERITREA  316 NAMIBIA  12   
ASIA
AFGHANISTAN  285 JAPAN  204 QATAR  33
BAHRAIN  12 JORDAN  259 SAUDI ARABIA  253
BHUTAN  16 NORTH KOREA  0 SINGAPORE  20
BRUNEI  0 KUWAIT  101 SRI LANKA  375
BURMA  213 LAOS  0 SYRIA  356
CAMBODIA  824 LEBANON  183 TAIWAN  260
HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMIN. REGION  37 MALAYSIA  39 THAILAND  41
INDONESIA  115 MALDIVES  0 TIMOR-LESTE  0
IRAN  4,500 MONGOLIA  144 UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 97
IRAQ  302 NEPAL  4,000 YEMEN  694
ISRAEL  127 OMAN  9  
EUROPE
ALBANIA  2,373 HUNGARY  153 NORWAY  24
ANDORRA  0 ICELAND  13 POLAND  517
ARMENIA  1,669 IRELAND  63 PORTUGAL  36
AUSTRIA  71 ITALY  443 ROMANIA  480
AZERBAIJAN  470 KAZAKHSTAN  518 RUSSIA  2,290
BELARUS  899 KOSOVO  348 SAN MARINO  0
BELGIUM  95 KYRGYZSTAN  292 SERBIA  376
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 119 LATVIA  64 SLOVAKIA  49 
BULGARIA  666 LIECHTENSTEIN  3 SLOVENIA  16
CROATIA  36 LITHUANIA  183 SPAIN  204
CYPRUS  12 LUXEMBOURG  5 SWEDEN  94
CZECH REPUBLIC  53 MACEDONIA  286 SWITZERLAND  96
DENMARK  44 MALTA  3 TAJIKISTAN  414 
ESTONIA  34 MOLDOVA  1,762 TURKEY  2,186
FINLAND  51 MONACO  4 TURKMENISTAN  91
FRANCE  467 MONTENEGRO  25 UKRAINE  4,500
  French Polynesia  1 NETHERLANDS  82 UZBEKISTAN  4,501
  New Calendonia  1   Aruba 2 VATICAN CITY  0 
GEORGIA  680    Curacao  1  
GERMANY  532   Sint Maarten  4  
GREECE  86 NORTHERN IRELAND  13  
NORTH AMERICA
BAHAMAS, THE  10    
OCEANIA
AUSTRALIA  748 NAURU  5 SOLOMON ISLANDS  0
  Cocos Islands  3 NEW ZEALAND  213 TONGA  42
FIJI  404   Cook Islands 8 TUVALU  1
KIRIBATI  3 PALAU  0 VANUATU  5
MARSHALL ISLANDS  0 PAPUA NEW GUINEA  6  
MICRONESIA, FEDERATED STATES OF  2 SAMOA  10  
SOUTH AMERICA, CENTRAL AMERICA, AND THE CARIBBEAN 
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA  11 DOMINICA  8 SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS  0
ARGENTINA  53 GRENADA  7 SAINT LUCIA  9
BARBADOS  1 GUATEMALA  29 SAINT VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES  4
BELIZE  3 GUYANA  10 SURINAME  0
BOLIVIA  30 HONDURAS  44 TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO  34
CHILE  27 NICARAGUA  9 URUGUAY  12
COSTA RICA  18 PANAMA  12 VENEZUELA  1,134
CUBA  493 PARAGUAY  3  

Natives of the following countries were not eligible to participate in DV-2017:  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.