Green-card Lottery Draws Record Number of Applicants

More than 15 million people applied for the United States' green-card card lottery this year, the highest number ever on record, the Wall Street Journal reports. Under the twenty-year-old Diversity Visa Program, 50,000 winners are fast-tracked for U.S. citizenship, regardless of whether they have any connections to the United States. Thanks to word-of-mouth advertising and free online entry, applications have skyrocketed in recent years: Only 5.5 million people applied five years ago, and the number is growing as more people learn of the program. (This year, the majority of applications came from Bangladesh and Nigeria). But the program has also raised eyebrows among conservative lawmakers, who say that it courts terror threats and adds an unneccessary element of randomness to the immigration process. "More and more people are learning about this program and are dumbfounded that we have it in the first place," said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., who has proposed legislation to kill the program. The next step will in the lottery will happen this May, when 100,000 randomly selected applicants will be notified and called for interviews, medical exams and background checks. After that, half will go on to receive green cards. Read original story in The Wall Street Journal

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