US President Donald Trump has directed the suspension of the program that had permitted the suspect involved in the Brown University and MIT shootings to enter the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated on Thursday, December 19, that, under President Donald Trump’s orders, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has been tasked with halting the DV program, which allocates up to 50,000 immigrant visas annually through a lottery system.
The diversity visa program, overseen by the US Department of State, aims to encourage immigration from countries that have historically had low immigration rates to the United States. Its regulations bar participation from countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the US in the past five fiscal years.
Consequently, India, China, Mexico, and the Philippines have remained consistently excluded from the green card lottery. Data from the US Department of Homeland Security indicates that 93,450 Indians migrated to the US in 2021, increasing to 127,010 in 2022, and 78,070 in 2023, keeping India outside the eligibility threshold for the program until at least 2028.
According to official US statistics, nearly 20 million individuals applied for the 2025 diversity visa lottery, with over 131,000 applicants selected, including their spouses. Those selected must still undergo screening before being permitted entry into the US.
Impact on India
Given that the diversity visa path is already closed to Indians, the suspension is not anticipated to directly affect Indian nationals, as they remain largely ineligible due to the high volume of immigration. Indians continue to utilize alternate pathways such as H-1B-to-green card transitions, family sponsorship, and investment-based visas, although these routes face increased scrutiny under the Trump administration.
The US State Department had previously indicated that up to 55,000 diversity visas would be available for the fiscal year under the DV-2026 program. However, the recent order has introduced uncertainty regarding the future of the program.
“For DV-2026, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply because more than 50,000 natives of these countries immigrated to the United States in the last five years,” the State Department mentioned in an official document released on its website in October.
The ineligible countries include India, China, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Pakistan, Nigeria, Philippines, South Korea, and Vietnam, among others, while natives of Macau SAR and Taiwan remain eligible, as noted in the document.
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