The US State Department has sprung an unprecedented
surprise to some selectees of the DV 2014 Lottery! Out of the 125,000
people randomly selected worldwide in May 2013, only about three -
quarter of them have had a chance to appear before a consular officer
for a visa interview. Over 44,000 people will never have a visa
appointment! The cut – off number for Africa is 81,100 for September
which is the last month of the 2014 fiscal year. This therefore means
that selectees with case numbers above 2014AF00081100 have had their
American dreams dashed to the wall – they will never have a chance to
migrate to the USA under the DV2014 program! At an era that bushfalling is en vogue and Hidden Aid from the diaspora plays a vital role, this is very devastating to some families!
Many selectees have been caught up in make – shift plans. Liza dropped
plans to travel to Asia on a scholarship last year because she had won
the American Lottery and wanted to focus on it due to limited finances
to pursue two costly programs concurrently. Today, she can neither get
back the scholarship nor travel to the USA on a DV2014 ticket. Ali who
had the advanced level last year decided to go hustling to raise money
for his eventual immigration to the USA. Today, as the news broke, he
was inconsolable – he had missed out on the registration for some
competitive entrance examinations on a second year running because he
had greater ambitions! Christy, who is now 3 months pregnant had reached
that decision to get pregnant because her new lower – class boyfriend
had been selected in the DV2014 lottery. They both abandoned their
university studies to prepare themselves for a new level in life in
America. But they now all have to deal with the adversities right here
in Cameroon!
Quizzed on what prompted the unprecedented cut –
off and on whether there is any rationale to select 125,000 people to
end up giving a visa appointment only to 81,100 of them, and also
whether DV2015 might follow the same trend, a visa officer for the US
State Department had this to say; “There has been a greater than usual
number of applicants for DV 2014. We do not have sufficient numbers of
visas for all DV selectees. We usually select more than 50,000 people
because many applicants do not complete the process; however, we are
obliged by law to only issue 50,000 visas. Accordingly, once we issue
the number allowed by law, we cannot issue additional visas even to
people that may have been selected as eligible to apply for the DV.
Please check back in September to see if you can apply for DV 2016, and
please apply as early as possible if you are eligible. DV2015 is likely
to follow the same trend but those who complete the DS260 online form
early in time have an advantage”
This devastation brings back
memories of DV2012, when for the very first time, the State Department
decided to cancel the random selection for that year and run another one
after 22,000 selectees already checked their electronic status online!
The cancellation at the time was provoked by a computer glitch that
rendered the selection process not strictly random as required by law.
The 22,000 selectees dragged the US State Department to court but they
lost the legal battle.
Akaba Ajitum
Honeymoon Voyages & Open Dreams
Ajito is based in Douala, Littoral, Cameroon,
and is a Stringer on Allvoices
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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