For two decades millions of people overseas have dreamed of winning a visa to the United States in the diversity visa program. Fifteen million people applied this years, in the hope of winning one of 50,000 working visas or green cards in the random lottery. Jalal El Mir, a 30-year-old middle school English teacher from Chefchaouen, Morocco, couldn’t believe his luck on May 1, when he learned that he was one of 22,000 winners.
Jalal’s joy turned to despair last month when he logged on to the visa website and learned that his winning ticket had been withdrawn. The State Department says that its computers selected winners from entries filed over just two days, rather than the 30-day period, and did not represent a fair, random selection of entrants. Jalal is joining hundreds of others in a lawsuit seeking to preserve the original winners’ results.
The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.