Indians are ineligible for US Green Card Lottery until 2029: This is why...
New York: India has been excluded from the United States Diversity Visa (DV) lottery, commonly known as the Green Card Lottery, until at least 2029.
According to reports the country’s high volume of immigrants to the US exceeds the programme’s eligibility threshold, which limits participation to nations that have sent fewer than 50,000 immigrants over the past five years.
In 2022 alone, India sent 1,27,010 immigrants to the US, surpassing total figures from South America, Africa, and Europe, automatically disqualifying the country from the DV lottery. Other countries, including China, South Korea, Canada, and Pakistan, are also ineligible for the upcoming DV-2026 lottery.
With the lottery route closed, Indians must rely on alternative pathways to obtain US permanent residency, such as H-1B work visas, employment-based (EB) visas, family sponsorship, investment-based immigration, or asylum. However, each of these channels faces significant delays.
Employment-based visas, the most common route, are currently backlogged. EB-2 and EB-3 visas for Indian applicants are retrogressed to December 1, 2013, and August 15, 2014, respectively. The asylum route also provides limited relief, with over 14 lakh pending cases and an average waiting time exceeding 1,200 days.
“The government itself seems unsure about future H-1B rules,” said Rajeshwar Rao, an immigration consultant in Hyderabad. “Officials claim the final policy will be released in February 2026, but the lack of clarity has left applicants and employers anxious.”
With the DV lottery unavailable and all other channels slowing down, millions of Indian students and professionals in the US face growing uncertainty regarding their path to permanent residency.
Indian immigrants obtaining lawful permanent resident status (source: US Department of Homeland Security):
- 2014: 77,910
- 2015: 64,120
- 2016: 64,690
- 2017: 60,390
- 2018: 59,820
- 2019: 54,500
- 2020: 46,360
- 2021: 93,450
- 2022: 1,27,010
- 2023: 78,070
This paints a clear picture of the growing demand and limited options for Indians seeking US residency.