ImmigrationState Department lottery error mistakenly awards visas to 22,000 people
More than 20,000 people around the world had their dreams of immigrating to America dashed when the U.S. State Department reported that it had erroneously informed them that they had won a lottery that would allow them to live legally in the United States; the U.S. State Department apologized and cited a computer programming error that led to faulty results that had to be invalidated; the lottery is an annual free competition that randomly awards 50,000 people with a visa without the usual employee sponsor or family sponsor; this year nearly fifteen million people applied
More than 20,000 people around the world had their dreams of immigrating to America dashed when the U.S. State Department reported that it had erroneously informed them that they had won a lottery that would allow them to live legally in the United States.
The U.S. State Department apologized and cited a computer programming error that led to faulty results that had to be invalidated.
The lottery, called the Diversity Visa Lottery, is an annual free competition that randomly awards 50,000 people with a visa to live in the United States without the usual employee sponsor or family sponsor.
The program was established in 1994 in an effort to increase the number of immigrants from developing countries or populations with traditionally low immigration rates.
The program initially selects 90,000 applicants, and eventually chooses the final 50,000 after a series of interviews and checks to see if applicants have the proper educational and occupational qualifications.
This year nearly fifteen million people had applied for the visa.
Max, a German man who believed he had won the lottery, expressed his disappointment.
“It’s like you won $100,000, and then they just take it away from you, and it’s gone,”
In a statement, the State Department said, “Any results previously posted and available through the website are considered invalid.”
It added, “We sincerely regret any inconvenience or disappointment this problem might have caused.”
David Donahue, the deputy assistant secretary of state who is responsible for the lottery, explained that this year’s results were “not valid because they did not represent a fair, random selection of the entrants as required by U.S. law.”
Of the nearly fifteen million entries, 90 percent of the applications chosen to move on to the next step were submitted during the first two days of the contest. In addition approximately 22,000 had been informed that they had been selected.
The erroneous results were made available online on 1 May, and before the mistake was discovered on 5 May, nearly two million people had checked the status of their application.
The State Department will hold a new lottery for the original pool of applicants and announce the winners in mid-July.
While roughly 22,000 believed they had won, nearly fifteen million thought that they had lost and now have another chance to obtain a visa.
