20,000 More Immigrants to Receive Visas in Lottery

The State Department announced Thursday that 10,000 extra visas will be issued on a random basis in both 1990 and 1991 to immigrants from 162 countries.

Citizens of the Soviet Union, Poland and several other countries whose refugee quotas are filled will be eligible for the lottery, officials said. The application period will be from March 1 through March 31.

The visas will not be issued on a first-come, first-served basis, as they were in a similar lottery in 1986. Instead, the applications will be fed into computers and the selections made on a random basis.

Unlike refugees, who are generally given haven for political reasons, immigrants are required to have close relatives in the United States or have a scarce profession. However, the 20,000 to be admitted under the special program will not have to meet those requirements. Only screening for mental disability or criminal records will be conducted, officials said.

Countries excluded are those that used more than 5,000 immigrant slots in fiscal 1988. They are China, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guyana, Haiti, India, Jamaica, South Korea, Mexico, the Philippines and the United Kingdom.

Also excluded is Taiwan, and natives of Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Montserrat, Pitcairn, St. Helena and the Turks and the Caicos islands.

The State Department announcement contained strict rules for applicants. Among them is that all applications must be typewritten and that husbands and wives may apply separately.

Last month, in a move to admit more Soviet and East European refugees, former President Ronald Reagan decided to increase this fiscal year’s quota by 7,000 by lowering the quota of Vietnamese refugees, many of whom are former political prisoners. That decision brought to 25,000 the number of Soviets who will be permitted to enter the United States.