US withdraws visas from 20,000 people who were told they won a lottery

MATTHEW LEE
Associated Press
7:30 p.m. CDT, May 13, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) — For a few joyful days, more than 20,000 people around the world thought they had beat the odds and won a lottery that gave them a chance to come and live legally in the United States. On Friday, the State Department sent its regrets.

Computer problems had negated the lottery's results, it said. The exercise will have to be repeated, and those announced as winners would have to wait it out with the previous losers.

The decision reopens competition for 50,000 wild-card visas for people who otherwise would have little hope of qualifying. About 15 million had applied, so the bad news for 20,000 was very good news for many others who had thought they had lost.

The glitch, which the State Department blamed on an in-house programming error, dashes the hopes of people like Max, a 28-year-old German man. He recently had checked a department website and found what he had hoped for: Out of a random drawing with overwhelmingly long odds, he was one of the lucky few who might get one of the visas.

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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-bc-us--us-visalottery,0,4267292.story

Say, NATO/EU countries only or somesuch. Want to start a new life in Germany? Just hook up with Max! He'll trade you his German citizenship for your American one!

PB

What if, after getting his US citizenship and giving up his German citizenship, Max is found to have lied about his qualifications and isn't eligible to have citizenship? Various treaties say you can't make someone stateless, but he doesn't have German citizenship anymore. What would happen to you, who traded for Max's German citizenship? Would you be in citizenship limbo while the problem is resolved and you're investigated for being a possible accomplice?

It's a nice idea, but it would need something in place to address the potential issues before they come up.

This is horrid to do to people that got their hopes up so high after going though so much to become legal citizens. Can't they just let those 20k keep their visas and have a new lottery for others? Just seems so harsh to rip out the rug from those 20k people who thought they legitimately won.