A U.S. judge has set aside roughly 7,000 visas allowing people who won a lottery aimed at increasing the country’s diversity to try to go to the United States.
In this Sept. 23, 2021, photo provided by Marcos Antonio Portal Quintero, shows Cuban economics student Dorisnelly Fuentes Matos, 27, second from left, with a group of Cuban citizens outside the U.S. embassy in Georgetown, Guyana. Dorisnelly Fuentes Matos may have won the U.S. visa lottery on paper, but she still isn't close to reaching the United States. Marcos Antonio Portal Quintero via AP)
U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta in Washington issued the order after the State Department gave out only 27% of up to 55,000 diversity visas allotted for the fiscal year that ended in September. The agency has said the delays stemmed from“Some of that shortfall is no doubt due to the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the pandemic is not the primary culprit,” Mehta wrote in a ruling late Thursday.
After the pandemic hit, the Trump administration put a freeze on many green cards issued outside of the United States, including the diversity visas. The Biden administration lifted the freeze on green cards, but the State Department still wasn't issuing most of the visas. Applicants sued both last year and this year to get some visas saved.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
America Strong: How pandemic grief united generations of Asian Americans through food, communityAs feelings of abandonment gripped Chinatown, Chang and Tsai decided to make it their mission to ensure the elders in their community never went hungry. AmericaStrong
Read more »
Our Top Two Recipes Starring Summer Fruit: Help Us Pick a Winner!Here are the finalists for our latest recipe contest, 'Your Best Dish With Summer Fruit.'
Read more »
US official in Haiti apologizes for treatment of migrantsA top U.S. official has apologized for how Haitian migrants were treated along the U.S.-Mexico border, saying it’s not how border officials or the Department of Homeland Security behave.
Read more »
Federal Judge Questions Texas Abortion Law in Case Filed by Justice DepartmentA federal judge Friday questioned Texas’s defense of a new abortion law that is the most restrictive in the U.S. and which has significantly limited the procedure in the state
Read more »
Kelly Clarkson is 'saving all her love' in latest Whitney Houston coverKelly Clarkson dazzled with a 'Kellyoke' cover of the Whitney Houston classic 'Saving All My Love For You.'
Read more »