The future of the US Visa lottery – as applicants stay away

The application period of the US Visa lottery has just ended, and the US State Department says only 8 million people applied. This is in comparison to last year’s figure of 15 million. The Department is saying it is because it removed Bangladesh from the list, but that is not totally true. One of my relatives applied for the diversity visa lottery last year and got an email around March telling them they got through. A few weeks later, another email came, saying it was a computer failure and they’re sorry, the person did not make it. Can you imagine? Anyone who knows how most Nigerians regard the visa lottery as a ticket to heaven will understand what a let down that is.

Anyway, I’m not surprised at the decrease in those applying for the Visa lottery. Apart from the disappointment with the system failure, there is the situation of the economy in the United States. The past few years have been terrible, and it was all over the news how unemployment rates had shot up and how people were losing their homes. Knowing how we’re everywhere, I’m sure many Nigerians in America must have been personally affected, and some would have advised their people back home not to bother applying. I even know of several people who actually returned to Nigeria at the height of the crisis. That will certainly not encourage anyone to want to come over.

Another likelihood is that as third world countries stabilize and begin to maximise their own economies, there will be less poor to rich country migration. One can’t also rule out the power of the internet. Where once people in such third world countries depended on a few filtered media channels for stale news, nowadays, news is disseminated instantly on blogs, online websites, etc. As people home and abroad, share photos and notes on Facebook and Twitter, the more the mirrored glass walls are broken down and people realize the US is not heaven.

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14 COMMENTS

  1. There is a popular Igbo proverb that says we don’t avoid war in the name of death occurs as a result of war. ‘ving said this, I’m of the opinion that USA visa lottery remains a common hope for many of us in this country. Where should I start from, our country has gone bad that it has left many with the option of leaving her shore. It’s only the rich that can smile in Nigeria. The oppression of the poor is on the increase and government is doing nothing to curb the negative trend. Another Igbo proverb says that sleep cannot with death.

  2. You don’t abarndone ur father’s house bcause he is not as rich as others, u ar 2 stay, encourage and support him until d situation get better. No need 2 run from pilar 2 post. When American economy was terribly bad where did d Americans run 2? If we should keep runin who ‘ll……? I honesly bleive dat collectively we can make it.

  3. No matter what anybody preaches here, I’ll never accept that home is the best. may be other country not Nigeria. If you are among the beneficiary fews who’re living at the expense of others, I’m not one. Let me tell you this, if the hand of the clock is taken back to those slave trade era, Nigerians will be begging the white to come and buy them.

  4. Nigerians have seen the apex of fustration there is nothing else to experience, so even though there is bombings in the US I won’t be suprised if we keep migrating but we fail to relize that the so called Americans were once in our shores. Where did the American run to?, why then do we run when solutions stares us in the face. The neck never complains of the weight of the head it embraces it. Nigerians let emmulate the bravery of the NECK and drop the cowardice of US VISA.

  5. I noticed that most of †ђξ people who come on hear τ̅☺ ‘oil †ђξ face’ of naija, are actually already based abroad. Why don’t you come back and practice what you preach from here? I mean, why did you even go I̶̲̥̅̊n̶̲̥̅̊ †ђξ first place since you’re soooo patriotic? Please let others that want τ̅☺ go be! †ђξ worst that can happen iڪ that they’ll open up a blog like this I̶̲̥̅̊n̶̲̥̅̊ †ђξ future and advise some more people not τ̅☺ go as well.

  6. And I’d do well τ̅☺ point out τ̅☺ you, that not everyone ‘janding’, iڪ actually just doing it for †ђξ money, money, money. Some are established already and just prefer τ̅☺ live I̶̲̥̅̊n̶̲̥̅̊ an environment with beautiful scenery and fresh air and also where you can get †ђξ police τ̅☺ come around τ̅☺ your door at exactly 2minutes after ringing them.