Over 4,000 Kenyans have the opportunity to obtain permanent residency in the United States through the Green Card lottery, it has been revealed.
According to figures from the US Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs, 4,459 Kenyans were selected as applicants for the DV-2025 Diversity Visa programme, placing them sixth globally.
The top country in the list is Uzbekistan, with 5,564 nationals. It is closely followed by Algeria, the top African nation, with 5,526 people. The top five is completed by Russia, Egypt, and Sudan, with 5,519, 5,515, and 5,505 nationals, respectively.
Below Kenya is Morocco in seventh (4,237), Türkiye at eighth (4,194), Afghanistan in ninth (4,009), and Ukraine (4,002), rounding off the top ten.
Entrants registered for the DV-2025 program were selected at random from 19,927,656 qualified entries received during the 35-day application period that ran from Wednesday, October 4, 2023, until Tuesday, November 7, 2023.
This makes the Kenyans among those eligible to apply for the 55,000 permanent residency spots up for grabs in what is usually a highly competitive process.
In Africa, Kenya ranked fourth, behind Algeria, Egypt, and Sudan. Africa’s top ten was completed by Morocco (4,237), Cameroon (3,962), Ethiopia (3,674), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (2,729), and Ghana (2,686).
According to the Bureau, approximately 131,060 prospective applicants, which included selectees, their spouses, and children, have been registered, with the US inviting them to confirm their selection and make an application for an immigrant visa.
Consequently, Kenyan applicants who are selected for interviews will have to pay the mandatory application fee of $330 (Ksh42,619).
The latest comes after the US introduced a mandatory registration fee of $1 (about Ksh129 in the current exchange rates) for Kenyans seeking to register for the Green Card lottery.
This will be the first time in the lottery’s history that applicants will pay just to enter, as registration had previously been completely free.
According to DOS, the new policy seeks to share the administrative costs more fairly across all registrants rather than placing the financial burden solely on those selected to continue with visa applications.
The new fee structure meant that an estimated 25 million annual registrants will help cover program expenses, rather than only the 55,000 lottery winners who move forward with applications.
