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DV Statistics The visa lottery started with the drawing of 40,000 immigrant visas for 1992. It continued for two years. After two years, the number of visas were increased to 55,000 per year and remain so until the present. Starting with DV-99, 5,000 of the total were set aside for the Nicaraguan Relief Act. The intent of the law is to give foreigners from countries with low immigration rates, the opportunity to enter the U.S.. The National Visa Center draws appoximately twice as many applicants as there are visas to be issued. This is to allow for attrition caused by those that changed their minds or fail to qualify for some reason. To assure a fair opportunity for all geographic regions, there are maximum quotas set per continent and country. Based on past history, an applicant has approximately a 1 in 60 to 70 chance of being selected. \ Such a probability for winning, far exceeds that of any other lottery or sweepstakes. Historically, the DV program numbers are as follows:
Applications selected by country:
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