Diversity Immigrant Visa - 2012 Errors and Lawsuit

2012 Errors and Lawsuit

Due to a programming error, the results of the 2012 DV lottery, which had been available since May 1, 2011, were rescinded on Friday, May 13, 2011. 22,316 applicants had been notified that they had been selected for further processing. David Donahue, assistant secretary for Visa Services asserted that due to an error in the selection program, the selection had not been random, with more than 90 percent of winners selected coming from among those who had submitted their applications during the first two days of the registration period. As a result, the decision was taken to void all selection results and re-run the selection process. New results were published on July 15, 2011. Kirit Amin, former Chief Information Officer for the Bureau of Consular Affairs and Director for the Office of Consular Systems and Technology, narrowed down the figure further to 98%.

Kenneth White, an immigration attorney in Los Angeles, contacted the State Department in mid-May requesting that the 22,000 winners be allowed to go forward with their applications and that a second drawing be held for the remaining slots, arguing it would still be a random drawing. Those who had already won the lottery said it was unfair to nullify the results. The putative winners sought class action status to fight the nullification, but this was denied by Judge Amy Berman Jackson on July 14, who ruled in favor of the State Department. Kenneth White has indicated the decision is very narrow and is very hard to appeal.

May winners, represented by Ira J. Kurzban at the company, appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. During the appeal Office of Inspector General, U.S. completed an investigation to review DV-2012 on October 25, 2011. Investigation showed the reason for the failure was negligence by Kirit Amin who left Department of State by that time.

The appeal was also lost on July 3, 2012.