Kathmandu, December 19
The United States has suspended its Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery programme, also known as the Green Card Lottery, amid a broader tightening of immigration policies under President Donald Trump.
The suspension follows a deadly shooting at Brown University in which two people were killed. The suspect, 48-year-old Portuguese national Claudio Neves Valente, was later found dead on Thursday. US authorities said Valente had entered the United States in 2017 through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Programme and obtained a green card. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the programme was halted on President Trump’s directive to ensure public safety.
The DV Lottery annually provides up to 50,000 immigrant visas through a random selection process for applicants from countries with low rates of immigration to the US, including Nepal.
Meanwhile, the US deported 75 Nepali nationals in a single day on Thursday, sending them back to Kathmandu on a chartered flight. Among those deported were 72 men and three women, most of whom had entered the US through irregular routes, according to Nepal Police’s Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau. Two had overstayed their visit visas, while one individual was deported after failing to renew a permanent resident card despite living in the US for 30 years.
Since Trump’s election, 439 Nepalis have been deported, reflecting a stricter enforcement of US immigration laws.
