Green Card lottery is back. But it won't impact Indians. Here's why
India Today
The lottery system for a segment of Green Cards, known as the Diversity Immigrant Visa programme, has been restarted. However, the stricter rules being enforced by the US won't impact Indian Green Card aspirants. Here's why.
The US has restarted the lottery system for a segment of Green Cards, officially known as the Diversity Immigrant Visa programme, after a pause. The rules for a Green Card, which is considered the last step towards American citizenship, have been made stricter. But the change won't impact Indians, who are already in a years-long queue for a Green Card.
The stricter US rules require applicants to submit details and upload a scanned copy of their passport as part of the initial application stage. The change was announced by the US State Department as part of a broader effort to strengthen identity verification and reduce systematic fraud. The programme had recently been paused after the December 2025 Brown University mass shooting where the perpetrator was revealed to have won the lottery in 2017.
Under this new regulation, applicants entering the Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) lottery must provide information about a valid and unexpired passport, and upload a digital scan of the passport's biography and signature page as part of the application. According to the US-based immigration services firm, Envoy Global, individuals who fail to upload their passport details will have their applications automatically disqualified.
This requirement will come into effect on April 10, 2026, and is expected to apply to the upcoming DV-2027 lottery, expected to open in late 2026.
According to the immigration services firm, Boundless Immigration, the change to the DV programme is aimed at reducing fraud and improving the vetting process of applicants. It cited a State Department ruling which found more than two and a half million duplicate entries in the DV programme of fiscal year 2025. The requirement for submitting passport details earlier in the application process will make it harder for third parties to submit fraudulent or unauthorised entries.
The passport requirement itself is not entirely new. A similar rule had previously been introduced in 2019 to reduce fraud, but it was later struck down by a US federal court in 2022. The court had then held that the government did not follow public notice and comment procedures required by federal law before enacting the rule, and rejected the government’s claim that immigration regulations are exempt because they implicate "foreign affairs."
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The lottery system for a segment of Green Cards, known as the Diversity Immigrant Visa programme, has been restarted. However, the stricter rules being enforced by the US won't impact Indian Green Card aspirants. Here's why.
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