Tens of thousands of winners of green card lotteries still cannot move to the United States. For many, this happened due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the suspension of visa issuance.
In the summer of 2021, thousands of lottery winners around the world filed a class-action lawsuit against the administration of US President Joe Biden. Lottery winners fear losing their opportunity to move to the United States due to the failure of the United States to process their applications for a limited-time visa.
It became known that the District Court for the District of Columbia considered the lawsuit and ordered the US Department of State to reserve about 10 thousand visas for the 2020 lottery winners. However, according to lawyer Charles Cook, who represents the interests of the plaintiffs, much remains unclear.
It is unclear why the court ordered to issue only 10 thousand visas since there are only 24 thousand plaintiffs from different countries. Moreover, those who decided not to sue will not be able to get the coveted green card.
It should be noted that this is the first time in the history of the lottery. In addition, experts believe it may negatively affect the future of the program.
“The visa lottery has always caused a lot of controversies, and in recent years Congress has increasingly raised the issue of ending this program, – said the director of the Center for Immigration Research Jessica Vaughan. – When a situation occurs in which lottery winners compete for the imaginary right to move to live in the United States on a permanent basis, even more questions arise. Shouldn’t other, more important categories of immigrants be a priority? I think this situation will be the beginning of a more serious conversation about who should be allowed to immigrate to the United States.”
