February Visa Bulletin Raises Nepali DV Lottery Case Numbers by 1,000 for March, Reaching 4,500

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs visa bulletin has announced a significant increase in case numbers for Nepali Diversity Visa (DV) 2025 winners in March, raising the cutoff to 4,500. The previous cutoffs were 3,500 in both January and February.

Earlier, for the months of October, November, and December, case numbers up to 2,950 were eligible for visa processing. In January, the cutoff increased to 3,500, but no further changes were made for February.

Diversity Immigrant (DV) Category Rank Cut-Offs for March: For March, immigrant numbers in the DV category are available to qualified DV-2025 applicants from all regions/eligible countries, as shown in this chart. When a cut-off number is indicated, visas are available only to applicants whose DV regional lottery rank numbers fall below the specified allocation cut-off.

For the 2025 fiscal year, which began on October 1, a total of 3,861 Nepali applicants were selected in the DV lottery. Nepal ranks third among Asian countries for the highest number of DV winners, following Iran (5,267 winners) and Afghanistan (4,009 winners). Globally, Uzbekistan leads Europe with 5,564 winners, while Cuba tops South America with 2,348 winners. In Africa, Algeria (5,526), Egypt (5,515), Sudan (5,505), and Kenya (4,459) are among the countries with the highest numbers of winners.

Despite the issuance of 55,000 visas worldwide, a total of 131,060 applicants were selected to ensure full utilization of all available visas. A record 19.9 million applications were submitted for the DV-2025 lottery. Selected applicants must secure their visas by September 30, 2025, or face disqualification under U.S. law.

Applicants who entered the DV lottery between October 4 and November 7, 2023, can check their status online using their confirmation number, last name, and birth year. It is recommended that applicants keep their confirmation numbers until at least September 30, 2025.

The only legitimate way to check DV lottery results is via the U.S. Department of State’s official website. Applicants are cautioned to be wary of fraudulent emails or scams claiming they have won the lottery.

If selected, applicants will receive detailed instructions for the next steps. If not selected, the website will show an ineligibility notice.

The Diversity Visa (DV) program, established by the U.S. Congress, is managed annually by the Department of State. Under Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, visas are allocated to individuals from countries with historically low rates of immigration to the U.S. Eligible applicants are chosen through a random selection process. Visas are distributed across six geographic regions, with no single country receiving more than 7% of the total DV visas issued in a given year.