Schumer was rightly taking credit for his contribution to making America a little more welcoming to immigrants from Ireland, as well as other nations who do no longer enjoy the kind of access to the U.S. they once did.
The annual diversity visa lottery, the application period for which opened at that the start of this month, has provided a number green cards to Irish applicants in recent years. But there might have been more.
Nations with bigger populations, and consequently larger numbers of applicants, have tended to claim a larger percentage of the annual diversity visa allocation.
That number runs at 55,000, but is reduced to 50,000 once a special allocation of 5,000 for El Salvador is subtracted.
The annual Irish share of the 50,000 does not exceed more than a few hundred and this year there are fears that it might fall as a result of concerns that the new web-based application process might be used by U.S. authorities as an underhanded means of gathering information on individuals with a view to excluding them, not admitting them.
In less developed countries the complaint is that people with no access to the Internet are being excluded completely from the lottery.
With regard to uncertainties in the former context, there is clearly a need for some assurances from Washington for people who are nervous about filing electronically. It would be tragic indeed if an application process that is supposedly easier and more convenient is underused.
On another level, the introduction of electronic filing looks like being a potential boom for law firms. You don’t need a lawyer to apply for a Schumer visa. But many people will now feel that they will need a helping hand in an application process that is seemingly more probing than in the past.
There is an alternative to law firms, of course, and that is the free advice dispensed by Irish immigration centers around the U.S. But even the centers seem to be a bit uncertain this year about the visa program.
Still, it’s better to be in with a chance than to be outside the lottery wondering what might have been.
That said, perhaps it’s also time for Schumer and other legislators to take a new look at the visa lottery with a view to reassuring those who fear that the program is becoming more discriminating about its supposed diversity.