Ireland Hit by Visa Fever: 80,000 Bids Sent to U.S.

Visa fever hit Ireland today as thousands of would-be emigrants trying to flee record 19% unemployment stuffed mailboxes with 80,000 special U.S. visa applications.

Postal officials said thousands of people spent the weekend stuffing mailboxes--many sending at least 20 applications each--and many post offices ran out of air mail stamps.

“There’s just nothing here for us,” said a young couple sending in applications they hoped will arrive in Washington with Wednesday’s first mail in a special 10,000 first-come, first-served visa “lottery” for people in 36 nations.

Applications arriving before Wednesday will be thrown out under the rules.

The visa fever stemmed from a decision by Congress, originated by Rep. Brian J. Donnelly (D-Mass.) to allow an extra 10,000 immigrants during the next two years.

Charles Gordon, a former general counsel of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, called it a “mad thing” that will trigger hundreds of thousands of people rushing to post offices around the world.

Although the chances of an individual being granted a visa under the scheme are small, it set off a sensation in Ireland and the U.S. Embassy reported receiving as many as 1,500 queries a day. The Post Office said 80,000 applications were sent by today.