WHAT IS THE NUMERICAL LIMIT FOR A DV LOTTERY?
By law, the U.S. diversity immigration program makes available a maximum of 55,000 permanent residence visas each year to eligible persons. However, the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act (NACARA) passed by Congress in November 1997 stipulates that beginning as early as DV-99, and for as long as necessary, 5,000 of the 55,000 annually-allocated diversity visas will be made available for use under the NACARA program. The actual reduction of the limit to 50,000 began with DV-2000 and remained in effect for the DV-2006 program which ended in 2004. Please check current information each year at http://www.dvlottery.state.gov/.
