Hopes dashed for Kenyans selected for green card http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Hopes+...ed+for+green+card+/-/1056/1162476/-/hjb5o9/-/ By ANTONY KARANJA in DALLAS, Texas Posted Saturday, May 14 2011 at 22:30 Kenyans notified last week that they had been selected for the green card should disregard the information, US authorities have said. The results of the 2012 Diversity Lottery (DV-2012) were posted earlier this month on the US Department of State website and have since been cancelled and deleted. According to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Visa Services David T. Donahue, the results were not valid and had been posted in error. A computer programming glitch was said to have occurred during the selection process, prompting the State Department to declare that âthe results do not represent a fair, random selection of entrants as required by US lawâ. According to Mr Donahue, the glitch occurred in about 90 per cent of the applications selected to be drawn from the applications received in the first two days of the registration period. Registration period The registration period began on October 5, 2010 and ended on November 3, 2010. Mr Donahue apologised on behalf of the State Department for the error. Those who received notices that they had not been selected were also advised to disregard them. A new selection process will be conducted based on the original entries for the 2012 programme, and new results will be posted on http://www.dvlottery.state.gov on or about July 15, 2011. The State Department will select approximately 100,000 applications for further processing, but only 50,000 will ultimately be granted the immigrant visas. Last year, approximately 4,600 Kenyans won a chance to emigrate to the US after being picked in the diversity visa 2011 lottery. Kenya had the seventh-highest number of winners picked among the more than 16.1 million entries. Ghana had the most number of winners with 6,002. The green card lottery is administered on an annual basis by the State Department. Those who qualify for the card are known under the US Immigration and Nationality Act as âdiversity immigrantsâ because beneficiaries are mainly from countries with low rates of emigration to the US. Those born in any territory that has sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the previous five years are not eligible to receive a diversity visa. The visas are distributed on a regional basis, with each region sending fewer immigrants to the US in the previous 5 years receiving more diversity visas. Africa and Europe currently receive about 80 per cent of the visas. To receive a diversity visa, applicants must meet certain eligibility requirements, which include at least a high school diploma or its equivalent, or two yearsâ work experience.