U.S. Announces New Changes For 2027 Green Card Lottery, Application Fee Set
The United States has announced changes to the way thousands of foreigners apply for the diversity lottery immigrant visa programme following its suspension in December last year.
The U.S. Department of State announced a final rule on March 10, requiring green card lottery applicants to provide a valid and unexpired passport during the application process.
America’s visa requirement rule for green card lottery was first introduced in 2019, but was later struck down in 2022 by a federal court.
According to President Donald Trump’s administration, the new rule takes effect 30 days after the publication of the notice, with applicants expected to pay Ksh129 as application fees.
While the U.S. government did not explicitly reveal when it will reopen the application date, it noted that the move was aimed at cutting rampant fraud in the programme.
In response to whether the current pause in applications could be lifted, the U.S. Department of State noted that the opening of the 2027 entry period may be delayed, but not for long.
It noted that the delays in reopening the application were intentional to give applicants more time to obtain passports before registration opens.
A scrutiny of the past green card lottery applications indicated that up to 17 per cent of entries were rejected for allegedly using false identity documents during the applications.
Besides the passport requirement, the updated diversity lottery entry form replaces the word “gender” with “sex” and “age” with “date of birth“.
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Meanwhile, the green card lottery was suspended in December last year following a shooting incident at Brown University.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, on December 18, announced that Trump had ordered the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to pause the programme.
The sudden suspension followed a shooting at Brown University in which a gunman opened fire inside a classroom, killing two undergraduate students.
“At President Trump’s direction, I am immediately directing USCIS to pause the DV1 programme to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous programme,” said Noem.
U.S. Announces New Changes For 2027 Green Card Lottery, Application Fee Set
