February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Said a spokesperson at the New York’s Emerald Isle Immigration Center: “On the final two days of the new online Diversity Visa Lottery process we had a substantial number of last-minute arrivals hoping to make their applications. So we decided to stay in the office until midnight to contend with the demand. But that was when we encountered a real problem. The sheer numbers of applicants throughout the world trying to access the State Department’s website meant that it became completely jammed.”
From that point, things got worse: “We were able to draft the individual applications, but then we found we couldn’t open a link or post them to the Website. We couldn’t complete the process, so many last-minute applicants didn’t get through. Because of the delay we also kept getting timed out of the website itself — so ultimately the situation really became unworkable in the final hours.”
At Chicago’s Irish Emigrant Support Center similar reservations were expressed about the new online program, but the majority saw their applications go through without incident. In Chicago this year, 270 Irish hopefuls applied online at the center and, according to a source there, the majority of them had completed their applications well before the deadline: “We made a concerted effort to ensure that people realized they would have to apply early to make sure their application was processed. This year it was a double lottery, really. First, it was a lottery to win a visa, and then it’s a lottery to return to Ireland pick up your visa if you’re successful.
“People here applied in the knowledge that they might not be successful — and they also realized that they might not be able to take it up if they are fortunate enough to win one. People know what the atmosphere is like here in the U.S. for immigrants at the moment – and they know that no change is imminent either.”
According to a commissioned study released this week by the Washington Post, the numbers of applications for this years visas was roughly in line with those of last year. The new computerized system is thought to have stemmed abuses of the system common in previous years, such as the so-called “double dip” procedure whereby one person could make multiple applications for one visa.
Over six million individual applicants applied to the program this year, compared to the 7.3 million in 2002.
To the great surprise of many commentators, this year the largest number of DV applications were made in India, Nigeria and Ethiopia, where it was earlier thought that a lack of access to computers and the Internet would mitigate against potential applicants. However, the number of applications from those countries actually increased this year and it is understood that local computer centers in those nations did a brisk trade.
Each year the State Department holds a visa lottery for countries from which fewer than 50,000 people came here in last five years. The visa is for permanent resident status, which it is the equivalent of receiving a green card. But this year’s lottery system was new. Applications could only be completed and submitted online. A computer will ultimately choose valid applications for the 55,000 available slots, and many Irish hopefuls are among them.
But being chosen for the visa doesn’t necessarily mean that a visa will be issued and it’s also not a free ticket to get into the country. Those whose applications are chosen will be notified by mail between May and June 2004. Visas will be issued between Oct. 1, 2004 and Sept. 30, 2005.