WASHINGTON — More than 53,900 prospective applicants from African countries are registered for the DV-2026 Diversity Visa program with just 19 days remaining before their eligibility expires Sept. 30 — and no Diversity Visas currently being issued.
None of the entries from which those applicants were selected was submitted during President Donald Trump’s second term.
The DV-2026 lottery drew more than 20.8 million qualified entries during a 37-day registration period from Oct. 2 to Nov. 7, 2024, when President Joe Biden was still in office. No new Diversity Visa entry period has opened since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025, and registration for the next lottery, DV-2027, has yet to begin.
A Mshale analysis of State Department data found 53,939 prospective applicants chargeable to African countries, representing 41.6% of the 129,516 prospective applicants registered worldwide.
Egypt has the largest African total with 5,527 prospective applicants, followed by Algeria with 5,457 and Sudan with 5,226. Kenya ranks fourth with 3,949, followed by Morocco with 3,670, Cameroon with 3,533 and Ethiopia with 3,287.
Other countries with significant numbers include Togo with 2,473, the Democratic Republic of Congo with 2,210, Ghana with 1,642, Burundi with 1,616, Liberia with 1,593, Somalia with 1,554 and Uganda with 1,513.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, was not eligible to participate in DV-2026 because it was among countries excluded under the program’s rules governing immigration levels to the United States.
The figures do not mean that 53,939 Africans won green cards. The State Department’s country totals include people whose entries were selected as well as their spouses and children, which the department collectively describes as “prospective applicants.” Selection does not guarantee that an applicant will ultimately receive a Diversity Visa.
For DV-2026, approximately 52,101 visas are available worldwide after reductions required under federal law, far fewer than the 129,516 prospective applicants registered for the program.
Sept. 30 deadline collides with visa pause
The numbers carry particular urgency this month because eligibility for DV-2026 ends Sept. 30, the final day of the federal fiscal year.
Under the program, people selected for DV-2026 have only fiscal year 2026 — from Oct. 1, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2026 — to receive their visas or, for eligible selectees already in the United States, obtain permanent resident status through adjustment of status.
There is no automatic carryover into the following year. The State Department says selectees who do not receive visas or status by Sept. 30 derive no further benefit from their DV-2026 registration.
But the deadline is approaching while the State Department has paused issuance of all Diversity Visas.
In guidance updated Aug. 31, the department said applicants may continue submitting visa applications and attending interviews and that appointments will continue to be scheduled. Existing appointments generally will not be canceled or rescheduled.
But no Diversity Visas are currently being issued.
The State Department says there are no exceptions to the pause.
The department said it imposed the pause while reviewing screening and vetting procedures for the Diversity Visa program, citing national security and public safety concerns.
Court ruling ended an earlier pause — then came another
The current situation follows months of litigation over earlier Trump administration restrictions on DV-2026 processing.
On Aug. 28, a federal judge in California temporarily blocked several government policies affecting DV-2026 applicants in Medani et al. v. Trump et al. and certified classes of affected selectees and their family members.
The ruling resulted in the end of a Diversity Visa issuance pause that had been in place since December 2025. The State Department acknowledges in its current guidance that the December pause was no longer in effect as of Aug. 28 because of the court order.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services also said it would comply with the ruling and resume ordinary adjudication, to the extent practicable, of pending adjustment-of-status applications covered by the court order.
Three days later, however, the State Department announced that it had again paused all Diversity Visa issuances while conducting its screening and vetting review.
That leaves DV-2026 applicants seeking visas abroad facing the Sept. 30 expiration date while State Department issuance remains halted.
The September Visa Bulletin is explicit about the deadline: entitlement to immigrant status under DV-2026 ends Sept. 30 and Diversity Visas cannot be issued to DV-2026 applicants after that date.
Why “DV-2026” can be misleading
The name DV-2026 refers to the federal fiscal year in which successful applicants may receive their visas, not the year in which they entered the lottery.
Every entry in the DV-2026 pool was submitted between Oct. 2 and Nov. 7, 2024.
Trump won the presidential election on Nov. 5, 2024, during the final days of that registration period, but did not take office until Jan. 20, 2025.
The people now navigating DV-2026 therefore entered the lottery while Biden was president.
The distinction has become more significant because no subsequent Diversity Visa entry period has opened during Trump’s second term.
The State Department announced in November 2025 that it was making changes to the entry process for DV-2027 and would announce a registration start date “as soon as practicable.”
As of Sept. 11, registration has still not opened. The department has said the delay will not change the visa application period for those eventually selected for DV-2027, which is scheduled to run from Oct. 1, 2026, through Sept. 30, 2027.
For the thousands of African prospective applicants in DV-2026, however, the immediate concern is a much closer date: Sept. 30.
Unless the current situation changes, the end of the fiscal year is now less than three weeks away.
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About Mshale Staff
The byline “By Mshale Staff” is used for stories that involve limited or no original reporting by our newsroom. These stories are often based on press releases or information provided by official sources, including corporations, government agencies and public institutions. The byline also may be used for reports compiled from multiple contributors, wire services, previously published material or aggregated sources when listing individual authors is impractical. Outside sources are generally identified within the story.
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