The U.S. State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs announced today that all results for last year’s diversity visa program for DV-2012 posted at the Electronic Status Check (ESC) site were incorrect.
Although the ESC site has been down for at least one week, there was a period of time beginning May 1 when DV-2012 applicants could check their results online.
Unfortunately, this means that if you checked your winning status, and you received a message that you won the lottery, there is a good chance you did not really win (and visa versa). The Bureau plans to have the status checking capability back up and running in approximately 60 days (July 15).
According to the State Department this was the result of a programming error, not a hack. This software defect incorrectly awarded 90% of the winners to those who registered in the first two days of the lottery (October 5 and October 6, 2010). Clearly this was a non-random selection that required voiding all results until a fix could be applied.
The bottom line is that your original confirmation number is still valid. If you entered last year’s DV-2012, you do not need to reapply. Just check your status beginning July 15, 2011 at the ESC website above.
Here is a video announcement by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Visa Services, David Donahue describing the issue, and a link to our previous article that explains in detail how to check your status and get further resources.
What will be the effect of this fiasco? At the very least it will confuse and sadden those who thought they won. In the worst case, it could renew calls by congressional Republicans to terminate the DV program. We hope this does not happen.
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