In the USA, the number of participants in the green card lottery has doubled in 10 years.

The number of people who want to participate in the American lottery for a green card has almost doubled over the past decade. This was reported by RIA Novosti on January 3.

According to the data, while about 9.4 million applications were submitted for the 2015 fiscal year lottery, the number of participants approached 21 million by the 2025 fiscal year lottery. At the same time, the number of winners remained virtually unchanged during this period. So, 10 years ago, 131,060 people passed the selection, and according to the results of the last draw — 125,514.

Winning the lottery does not automatically mean obtaining permanent residence in the United States. The selected participants only get the right to apply for an immigration visa within the established annual quota, which is about 55 thousand visas. However, due to changes in American legislation, the actual number of visas available in 2026 will decrease to about 51.85 thousand.

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The checks will affect almost a quarter of a million people who moved to the United States under Joe Biden.

In December 2025, it was reported that Russia and Ukraine continue to be among the leaders in the number of winners in the US lottery of green cards confirming the status of permanent resident of the country for the 2026 fiscal year. Thus, 5,510 Russians and 5,283 Ukrainians were eligible to participate in the program. Egypt became the leader in the number of selected participants (5,527 people).

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