3.2 Million in ‘Visa Lottery’ for 20,000 U.S. Openings

More than 3 million people from around the globe have won a chance to take part in a computerized “visa lottery” that will give 20,000 immigrants the opportunity to live in the United States, the State Department announced today.

“The so-called ‘visa lottery’ is now over--3.2 million people applied successfully,” department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.

Boucher said winners will be chosen by a computer that will make the selections on a random basis.

Citizens from 162 countries were eligible to apply during March, and all applicants have an equal chance of winning an immigrant visa.

Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), author of the legislation that made the new program possible, “will open the first few application envelopes selected by the computer and announce the nationalities of the applicants” at a ceremony on Monday, Boucher said.

Only the nationalities and not the names will be announced at the ceremony “as a courtesy” to the privacy of the applicants, said Frances Jones, an official with the department’s consular affairs office.

Under the program, 10,000 visas will be granted each year for 1991 and 1992.

Berman said the program will help bring diversity to the immigrant population.

Under the normal rules for obtaining an immigrant visa, the applicant has to have a close relative in the United States or work in a profession for which there is a high demand.

The countries excluded from the program were those that used more than 5,000 immigrant slots in fiscal 1988.

They were China, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guyana, Haiti, India, Jamaica, South Korea, Mexico, the Philippines and the United Kingdom.