More than 22,000 would-be immigrants thought they had won a visa lottery to come to the U.S. Not so fast.
The State Department said Friday that it is scratching the results because of a computer glitch. Department officials expressed regret for the mistake, which is sure to disappoint thousands of people who were notified this year that they had won a chance to come and live legally in the United States.
Nearly 15 million people entered the annual worldwide visa lottery. But when the numbers were drawn, it turned about that 90 percent of the winners came from applications that were submitted on just the first two days of a 30-day registration period. The results were invalidated because they did not represent what the department called a fair or random selection of entrants.
Officials blamed it on a programming error. They said the problem has been fixed and that the lottery, which gives tens of thousands of people a chance for immigrant visas without the need for sponsors, will be redrawn.
The new lottery will be held from the existing pool of entries, with winners announced in mid-July. Applicants do not need to re-enter to be eligible to win the do-over, the State Department said.
NPR's Michele Kelemen reported from Washington, D.C., for this story, which contains material from The Associated Press.
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