Cuba once again established itself as the country with the highest number of beneficiaries in the U.S. DV-2025 Visa Lottery, recording a total of 2,348 winners, according to figures released by the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the State Department.
This result once again places the island at the forefront of the 22 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that participated in the draw, significantly surpassing Ecuador (795) and Peru (657), which ranked second and third, respectively.
These three countries repeat positions on the winners' list, maintaining the same places as in the previous draw, DV-2024, where they also stood out for being the most favored in the region.
On that occasion, Cuba set a record with 3,081 winners, the highest number of Cubans selected in two decades, a figure higher than the one reached now.
The DV-2025 lottery attracted 19.9 million applicants from around the world, a figure that is more than two million lower compared to the previous year, but still below pre-pandemic levels, such as in the case of DV-2020, which recorded 23.1 million candidates.
At a global level, Uzbekistan was the country with the most winners for the second consecutive year, with 5,564 selected, followed by Algeria, Russia, Egypt, Sudan, and Iran, all with numbers exceeding 5,000 winners.
The winners of the draw must immediately begin the visa application process to be able to enter the U.S. starting October 1, 2024, when the fiscal year FY2025 begins.
This process includes the confirmation of your selection and the submission of the immigrant visa application before September 2025.
The winning Cubans will be able to carry out their procedures at the United States Embassy in Havana.
During the visa interview, principal applicants must present proof of secondary education or its equivalent, or demonstrate two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience within the last five years.
This program is one of the most anticipated each year by thousands of Cubans who aspire to flee the ongoing crisis in Cuba.
On May 4th of this year, the U.S. published the results of the Diversity Visa Program (DV-2025), corresponding to the fiscal year (DV-2024), and confirmed that it would grant 55,000 permanent residency slots to applicants from eligible countries, including Cuba.
This lottery is a straightforward path to permanent legal residency in the country and facilitates the acquisition of citizenship.
More than 14,000 Cubans have benefited from the Visa Lottery in the last decade.
In recent days, it has been announced that the registration link for the Diversity Visa Program for 2026 (DV-2026) will be open from October 5 to November 9, 2024.
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