Applications for US green card lottery nearly double over decade

The number of applications submitted for the US green card lottery has nearly doubled over the past decade, according to publicly available data cited by Russian media.

The figures show that approximately 9.4 million people registered to participate in the lottery for the 2015 fiscal year. By contrast, participation had surged to nearly 21 million applicants by the 2025 fiscal year.

Despite this sharp increase in demand, the number of winners over the same period has remained largely unchanged. In 2015, a total of 131,060 applicants were selected, while ten years later the figure stood at 125,514.

Media reports emphasise that winning the lottery does not automatically grant a US permanent residence permit. Selected applicants only receive the right to apply for an immigrant visa within the annual quota, which is set at around 55,000 visas.

Moreover, due to changes in legislation, the actual number of visas available in 2026 will be lower, at approximately 51,850.

On December 19, US authorities temporarily suspended the green card lottery program after it emerged that a suspect in the shooting at Brown University had entered the country through the lottery system.

Separately, reports published in December 2025 indicated that Russia and Ukraine continued to rank among the leading countries in terms of the number of green card lottery winners for the 2026 fiscal year, reinforcing their status as major sources of permanent US residents.

According to the data, 5,510 Russian and 5,283 Ukrainian applicants were eligible to participate in the program, while Egypt topped the list with 5,527 selected participants.

By Tamilla Hasanova