16th May, 2011
The U.S. has voided the results of the 2012 Electronic Diversity Visa Lottery posted on its website due to a computer programming error.
A notice posted on Diversity Visa Lottery site on Friday said the results posted during the first week of May were posted in error and not valid.
“The results were not valid because they did not represent a fair, random selection of entrants, as required by U.S. law,’’ the notice said.
It advised entrants that checked the website during the first week in May and found a notice that they had been selected for further processing or a notice of non-selection, to disregard such notice.
The notice said a new selection process would be conducted based on the original entries for the 2012 programme.
It added that results of the new selection process would be available on the website from July 15.
In a video-message, David Donahue, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Visa Services explained that because of the computer programming error, 90 per cent of the winners were selected from the first two days of applications rather than from the entire batch of applications over the 30-day registration period.
Under the Diversity Immigrant Visa Programme, the U.S. government makes available some 50,000 visas each year drawn from a random selection to people who come from countries with low rates of immigration to the U.S.
U.S. media reported that some 19.6 million people had applied for the visas for the 2012 lottery,hoping to get the opportunity to immigrate without having a family member or an employer sponsor them.