By Luis De Jesus
Sep 30, 2024, 11:57 PM EDT
The United States Department of State announced that several Latin American countries will not be able to participate in the 2026 visa lottery.
The excluded countries are: Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Brazil and Venezuela. This decision is due to the high number of immigrants from these countries who have entered the United States in recent years.
The visa lottery, also known as the Diversity Visa Program, annually awards 55,000 permanent resident cards to people from countries with low immigration rates to the United States.
However, countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants in the last five years are excluded from the program.
This raises concern among citizens who were hoping to participate in the visa lottery as an opportunity to legally immigrate to the United States. Many consider that this measure limits their options and increases uncertainty about their immigration future.
The State Department has at all times urged citizens of excluded countries to explore other legal avenues to immigrate to the United States, such as work, study or family reunification visas.
But these options are usually more complex and require meeting specific requirements.
The 2026 visa lottery will begin receiving applications from October 2, and the results will be announced in May 2025.
Citizens of eligible countries can apply through the official website of the Department of State.
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