The July visa bulletin contains the data on how many selectees have been notified for DV2017. It’s a LOW number – 10,000 less than DV2016. So, considering DV2016 has just gone current, it seems certain (at first glance) that DV2017 will be current for all regions also – so that takes away a worry that has plagued the DV lottery over recent years. There is no need for “high case numbers” to be worried (apart from maybe a few cases in Nepal).

To be clear, there will be enough visas in DV2017 for all. There is no country (other than Nepal) that can hit the 7% country limit at these levels.

Regional breakdown (plus 2016 numbers):

AF – 38500 (45034)

EU – 28500 (27011)

AS – 13499 (15002)

SA – 1954 (3000)

OC – 1450 (1500)

 

These numbers represent winners and family members.

This low number should reduce DS260 backlog times.

The country breakdown can be seen at

https://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/law-and-policy/bulletin/2016/visa-bulletin-for-july-2016.html

 

One last point. 84000 is a low number of selectees. There may be a plan to release a few more selectees later in the year (sometimes referred to as a 2nd draw), but it is not certain. If it happens it may be something like 5000 to 10000 more winners in the world (so a small number compared with the initial draw). Now, I do not know if that will happen! It has happened in some previous years, but we can’t be certain. So – for those not selected they can check again around October.