Everything you need to know about US Green Card Lottery

The US Green Card Lottery, officially called the Diversity Visa Program, has been through one of its most chaotic years in decades, and if you're a Ghanaian who has ever thought about entering it or already has an entry sitting with the State Department, this is the moment to pay close attention.

Between a program freeze, two federal lawsuits, and a fast-approaching deadline, the rules of the game have shifted more in the past nine months than in the previous two decades combined.

What the Green Card Lottery actually is

Congress created the Diversity Visa Program back in 1990 to open a path to US permanent residency for people from countries that historically send few immigrants to America.

Every year, the State Department runs a free, computer-based random draw and offers up to 55,000 immigrant visas to winners worldwide.

There's no employer sponsorship needed and no family connection required, which is exactly what makes it so popular across Ghana and the rest of the continent. Entry has always been free at the official portal, dvprogram.state.gov, and the government only ever notifies winners through that same site, never by phone call, email, or letter.

The chaos hitting DV-2026 winners

The most urgent story right now concerns people who already won the DV-2026 draw, the cycle that opened for entries back in October 2024 and released results in May 2025.

In December 2025, following a shooting at Brown University and MIT, the Trump administration froze the entire Diversity Visa program.

USCIS placed an indefinite hold on every pending green card application tied to the lottery, the State Department paused visa issuance worldwide, and a separate notice blocked immigrant visas for nationals of 75 countries pending new screening rules. For thousands of winners who had already done everything right, the process simply stopped.

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That freeze triggered two major lawsuits. In Ivanov v. Trump, filed in Washington DC by more than 1,600 selectees from 72 countries, a federal judge ruled in August 2026 that the freeze was arbitrary and unlawful, finding the government never explained why an entire program needed to be shut down over concerns tied to a handful of cases.

A second case, Medani v. Trump, brought similar arguments on behalf of hundreds more families and led a California court to order the State Department to resume processing. By August 2026, visa issuance had restarted.

That resumption doesn't erase the clock, though. DV-2026 runs on a strict fiscal-year deadline written into the law itself: every visa tied to that cycle must be issued by September 30, 2026, or the slot is lost for good—no extensions, no carrying it over into the next year.

With that date now just weeks away, DV-2026 winners still waiting on interviews or final approval are in a genuine race against time, and immigration lawyers are urging them to stay in constant contact with their consular section rather than assume the resumed processing guarantees they'll make it before the cutoff.

Why DV-2027 still hasn't opened

If you were hoping to enter the next cycle, DV-2027, patience is still the only option. Registration normally opens in early October each year, but the State Department delayed the 2027 window back in November 2025, citing changes to the entry process, and as of this week it still hasn't reopened.

New rules taking effect this year will require every entrant to upload a scan of their passport bio page and pay a one-dollar entry fee, changes officials say are meant to cut down on fraud and duplicate entries.

The department has repeatedly said only that dates will be "widely publicized in the coming months," and it has separately warned that any site or message claiming DV-2027 entry is already open is a scam.

One thing hasn't moved: whenever the draw eventually happens, winners will still get the same October 2026 to September 2027 window to apply for their visa.

Is Ghana still eligible, and what are the odds

Ghana remains solidly on the eligible countries list, and Ghanaians have consistently been among Africa's stronger performers in the draw, alongside Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Nepal. The math is still tough, though.

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In the most recent completed cycle, over 20 million qualified entries were submitted worldwide for roughly 129,000 selection slots, putting the overall odds of even being drawn at well under one percent, and being selected is only the first step, not a guarantee of a visa.

Applicants need at least a high school education or its equivalent, or two years of qualifying work experience in an eligible occupation, and each person may submit only one entry per cycle; a second entry disqualifies both.

How to apply once registration opens

When the DV-2027 window does open, the process runs entirely through dvprogram.state.gov.

You'll need a passport-style digital photo that meets the strict background and sizing requirements, accurate personal details that match your passport exactly, and now the new passport bio page upload and one-dollar fee.

Save your confirmation number the moment you submit, since it's the only way to check your status later and it cannot be recovered if lost.

Watch out for scams.

Every DV season brings a wave of fraudulent websites and agents claiming they can guarantee a win or fast-track a visa for a fee. None of that is real.

The lottery is genuinely free to enter, results are only checked at the official government portal, and no embassy, agent, or website will ever contact you first to say you've won.

If someone asks for money to "process" your entry before registration has even officially opened, it's a scam, and Ghanaians have lost real money to exactly this kind of fraud in past cycles.