Washington, Sep 20 (DPA) Indians are among the nationals of 18 countries who are barred from applying for US immigration through the lottery system that opens next month for 2008 as their citizens have already received 50,000 green cards in the last five years.

The US State Department said Tuesday said the application period for the Diversity Visa Lottery will be between Oct 4 and Dec 3. Applicants may only apply electronically at www.dvlottery.state.gov.

The lottery programme provides permanent residence visas for living in the US. About 55,000 green cards are handed out each year through the computer-generated lottery.

The countries barred are: Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Peru, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Britain and Vietnam.