For millions of Indians chasing the American dream, the door to the US Diversity Visa or better known as the Green Card Lottery, will stay firmly shut for at least another four years.
According to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), India will remain ineligible for the Diversity Visa programme until 2029. The reason they stated is that far too many Indians are already migrating to the United States. The programme allows only countries that have sent fewer than 50,000 immigrants in the past five years to apply. India has crossed that figure by a wide margin, sending over 60,000 immigrants every year.
India off the list again
In 2022 alone, India sent more than 1.27 lakh immigrants to the US which is higher than the combined numbers from several continents. The DHS data confirms that India, along with China, South Korea, Canada and Pakistan, will remain off the list for the DV-2026 draw and beyond.
With the lottery route gone, Indians hoping for a green card are left with only a few options and that is converting H-1B work visas, applying through family sponsorship, or investing in US-based ventures. But each of these paths is now jammed.
'No clarity, only confusion'
“The government itself seems unsure about what to do with the H-1B system,” said Hyderabad-based immigration consultant Rajeshwar Rao, speaking to The Hindu. “They keep saying the final policy will come by February 2026, but there’s still no clarity. It’s left both applicants and companies guessing.”
The employment-based (EB) visa categories, too, are heavily backlogged. For Indian applicants, EB-2 and EB-3 visas are currently being processed for those who applied more than a decade ago, and the date back as December 2013 and August 2014.
The asylum system, meanwhile, provides minimal assistance. More than 14.4 lakh asylum cases are still pending, with an average wait time exceeding 1,200 days, according to USCIS data from December 2024.
Thousands of Indian professionals pursuing the American dream now face years of discontent as every available channel gets jammed and the lottery route is closed until at least 2029.
