- US President Donald Trump was not joking when he said he was going to carry out mass deportations of illegal immigrants
- During his campaign, he accused illegal immigrants of being responsible for some crimes and he promised to remove them
- The mass deportations have already started, but there are legal ways to enter the US and one of them is through a visa lottery
President Donald Trump of the United States of America (USA) is tough on deportation of illegal immigrants.
He has vowed to remove all aliens who entered the US illegally and this has commenced already.
One of the legal ways to enter the US is through visa lottery to avoid being deported by Donald Trump. Photo credit: Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla, Belterz and Aaftab Sheikh.Source: Getty Images
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has started deporting people who are undocumented.
No fewer than 1.4 million people have been pencilled down for removal from the US.
Out of this number, there are 3690 Nigerians who would be forced to make the compulsory journey back home.
The only way to avoid being deported from the US is to enter the country through legal means.
One of the ways to enter the US is through the Diversity Visa, also known as the visa lottery.
TheTalk.NG presents three things you should know in case you want to apply for the US visa lottery in 2025.
1. What is US visa lottery?
The actual name for the US visa lottery is the Diversity Visa. It is a type of visa that allows you to travel to the US to live if you are qualified.
This type of visa is reserved for people who have historically low immigration to the US.
According to the US Government website:
“The Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) program provides a limited number of visas each year for immigrants from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the United States. The diversity visas are distributed among six geographic regions, and no single country may receive more than 7 percent of the available visas in any one year.”
2. How many people get a US visa through lottery each year?
Each year, at least 55,000 people are allowed to enter the US through a visa lottery.
It is not everyone who applies for the US visa lottery gets it because it follows strict application guidelines
According to the US Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs, the visa lottery is conducted once yearly.
It says:
“The Department of State administers the Diversity Visa (DV) immigrant visa program, which is an annual program for immigration to the United States. Up to 55,000 immigrants can enter the United States each year from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.”
3. Application for the US visa lottery is free
Applicants for the US visa lottery do not need to pay any money for it.
Also, applicants are always advised to submit the application themselves to avoid mistakes by visa agents.
The US Department of State says:
“There is no cost to register for the DV Program. You are strongly encouraged to complete the entry form yourself without a “Visa Consultant,” “Visa Agent,” or other facilitator who offers to help. If somebody else helps you, you should be present when your entry is prepared so that you can provide the correct answers to the questions and retain the confirmation page and your unique confirmation number.”
4. When and how to apply for the US visa lottery
Applications for the US visa lottery happen once every year. The applications follow very strict deadlines.
Usually, it happens between September and December of each year and the website only becomes active when applications are opened.
The US Government website states:
“The DV Lottery registration dates change each year. Registration for the 2026 DV Lottery was from October 2, 2024 to November 7, 2024.
“All entries must be submitted electronically on the Electronic Diversity Visa (E-DV) website during the specified registration period. No late entries or paper entries are accepted. The law allows only one entry by or for each person during each registration period.”
Lady laments the withdrawal of funding for HIV treatment
In a related story, TheTalk.NG reported that a lady who says she is living with HIV has reacted after US President Donald Trump’s government halted the distribution of free medication.
The lady, who said she is 21 years old, noted that gains in fighting the disease could be lost if poor countries did not have access to cheap ARVs.
In a series of videos on her TikTok handle, the lady showed people her routine as an HIV-positive patient who maintains a happy disposition to live.
Source: TheTalk.NG
