Lagos: DV visas issued
Immigrant visa: Diversity visa (green card lottery) winner, and their spouse and children
Since January 1, 2026, the U.S. has stopped giving some or all visas to citizens of 39 countries, and to people with Palestinian Authority travel documents. You can still apply and get an interview, but you may not get a visa.
Details
Presidential Proclamation 10998 has suspended visas since January 1, 2026, with narrow exceptions. It depends on your nationality, not on the embassy.
All visas are suspended for nationals of Afghanistan, Burma, Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, and for anyone traveling on travel documents issued or endorsed by the Palestinian Authority.
All immigrant visas, and B-1/B-2, F, M and J visas, are suspended for nationals of Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
All immigrant visas are suspended for nationals of Turkmenistan.
Spouses, children and parents of U.S. citizens, and Afghan special immigrants, are no longer exempt. You can still apply and be scheduled for an interview, but the State Department says you may not be eligible for a visa. People with two nationalities who apply with the passport of a country not on these lists are exempt.
Last checked Sep 25, 2026.
The State Department did not issue diversity visas from December 2025 until August 28, 2026, when a court order ended this pause. DV-2026 visas can only be issued until September 30, 2026, and they may run out before then.
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In December 2025, the State Department paused diversity visa issuance: applicants could still apply and be interviewed, but no diversity visas were issued. As of August 28, 2026, under a court order in Medani v. Trump, the State Department says the pause is no longer in effect. Its notice, updated August 31, 2026, still shows the December announcement of the pause below that statement.
Eligibility for a DV-2026 visa ends on September 30, 2026, the end of the fiscal year, and visas may run out before then.
Sources: State Department: Diversity Visa Issuance Updated Guidance; State Department: Update on Diversity Visa (DV) Program 2026; BAL Immigration News: State Department update on diversity visa issuance pause.
Last checked Sep 25, 2026.
News reports say many U.S. embassies delayed immigrant visa interviews from August 2026, while officers trained on new rules. We do not know if this has ended, so watch your email for any change to your interview.
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In August 2026, U.S. embassies and consulates reportedly postponed immigrant visa interviews while their consular officers were trained on new public charge guidance: rules on whether an applicant is likely to depend on public benefits. They emailed applicants with interviews booked that the interviews would be rescheduled. The State Department acknowledged the pause in a statement on August 25, but it has posted no notice about it on its website.
On August 26, a State Department statement quoted by Fox News said its training initiative started in early August. On August 27, the Associated Press quoted a State Department official saying that the pause began in early August and was not expected to last beyond early to mid-September. The official said the interviews affected, most of them scheduled for August, would be rescheduled for September, October and November.
The latest report we have found, from Reuters on September 8, said that processing had started again for Hungary and Poland while the pause continued elsewhere, and that it could last months, according to a person familiar with the matter. Reuters also said that the pause came after the August 21 court ruling against the 75-country pause, and that the government told a court interviews were rescheduled through August 31. We have found no report on whether the pause is still in effect.
If your interview was postponed, or is coming up, check your email and the embassy's website: NVC and embassies may reschedule interviews, including ones already booked.
Sources: Fox News: Trump admin pauses visa appointments worldwide amid heightened screening for applicants (August 26, 2026); Associated Press, via NBC News: Trump administration pauses all immigrant visa applications amid new screening policy (August 27, 2026); Ogletree: State Department Pauses Immigrant Visa Interviews for New Public Charge Guidance Training (August 31, 2026); Reuters, via Yahoo News: US resumes immigrant visa processing for Hungary, Poland as pause remains elsewhere (September 8, 2026).
Last checked Sep 25, 2026.
Interview scheduling at Lagos
Most immigrant visa applicants at Lagos are citizens of Nigeria, and immigrant visas for citizens of Nigeria are suspended. They can still get an interview, but they may not get a visa.
Details
NVC can still schedule their interviews, but the State Department says applicants covered by the suspension may not be eligible for a visa. People with two nationalities who apply with the passport of a country not covered are an exception. See “Visas suspended for citizens of 39 countries” above.
Diversity visas are not covered by State’s scheduling tool.
Lagos issued no DV visas in the two years to February 2026. The last month it issued any was September 2022.
This counts visas issued, which shows how busy the post is, not how long you will wait. The State Department data here ends in February 2026, so it cannot show what has changed since then, such as pauses that started or ended later.
The monthly counts are stored in JSON lines files on GitHub.