OREANDA-NEWS The number of lottery winners for green cards has not decreased, despite the tightening of the migration policy of the administration of President Donald Trump, a RIA Novosti correspondent has calculated.

Of the nearly 21 million applications submitted to participate in the green card lottery for fiscal year 2026, 129,516 people, including their family members, received the right to apply for an immigration visa.

Meanwhile, 131,060 candidates were selected from about 20 million applications in the green card lottery, which took place before the start of Trump's second presidential term.

Winning the lottery does not automatically guarantee obtaining a residence permit in the United States. Selected participants will have the opportunity to apply for an immigration visa within the annual quota of approximately 55,000 visas. However, due to legislative adjustments, the actual number of available visas will decrease to about 51,850 in 2026.

On the day of his inauguration on January 20, Trump, in his first speech as the 47th president of the United States, promised to immediately stop the entry of illegal immigrants into American territory and begin the process of extraditing millions of migrants. He also imposed a nationwide state of emergency in connection with the situation on the southern border of the United States.

Earlier in December, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristy Noem announced the suspension of the green card lottery program due to the fact that the suspect in the shooting at Brown University arrived in the country under this program.