Muslim Migrants to Obtain the Majority of Diversity Lottery Visas

Muslim Migrants to Obtain the Majority of Diversity Lottery Visas
Lorie Shaull | Wikimedia Commons

Recently released State Department estimates indicate that a majority of those coming to the U.S. via the Diversity Visa Lottery during the next fiscal year (2023) will be Muslims, despite the fact that adherents of that faith account for less than a quarter of the world's population..

This is up sharply from the FY 2020 level of about 18 percent, as we reported earlier this year.

Given our government’s reluctance to gather data along religious lines, this information is teased out of statistics dealing with the country of origin of the diversity visa holders. A more precise statement would be that, out of 43,129 expected diversity visas, 21,000 will come from five Muslim-majority nations (Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Morocco, and Uzbekistan), while 22,129 will come from the rest of the world, or so the most recent State Department Visa Bulletin tells us.

Since there are 43 Muslim-majority nations in the balance of the world, most sending us diversity visa holders — and not counted among the five — it is clear that a majority of the lottery visas will go to people living in Muslim nations. These 43 nations sent us 5,746 lottery visa holders in 2020 and include Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, and Syria.

Millions of aliens apply for these visas each year; the requirements are that one must be from a nation that does not send us lots of migrants (Mexican nationals, for example, need not apply), that the principal applicant needs to have a high school degree or the equivalent, has a passport from the home country, and that the applicant applies (or has someone apply for her) online. A criminal record will disqualify an alien, if it is noticed. Diversity Visa Lottery winners can bring their immediate relatives with them. Only the winners are charged any fees.

Two heavily Muslim nations, Pakistan and Bangladesh, which used to provide large numbers of Diversity Visa Lottery winners, no longer do so as they have joined the list of major migrant-sending countries and are no longer eligible for the program.

No other nation in the world allocates any visas in this bizarre manner, except for a tiny program in New Zealand, dealing with a small number of Pacific Island states.

This article was originally published by the Center for Immigration Studies.


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