Your country of birth must be qualified to participate in the DV Lottery. Your citizenship is not relevant in this process. What counts is the birth country in accordance with current world political maps.
List of Excluded Countries
Almost everyone qualifies for the DV Lottery. The only exceptions are people born in a country with a very high emigration rate into the US.
Due to the high immigration rate into the United States, the following countries are currently excluded from the DV Program:
Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (including Hong Kong SAR), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, Venezuela, and Vietnam.
People who were born in any of the above-mentioned excluded countries may apply if:
- their spouses were born in one of the eligible countries, or
- their parents (both not born in this excluded country) were only temporary residents of the excluded, non-eligible countries.