State Department

This report discusses how the State Department processes visa applications for the "visa lottery" authorized by the Immigration Act of 1990. Under this legislation, 40 percent of the 40,000 special immigrant visas that the State Department can grant each fiscal year through 1994 should be available to Irish citizens. The State Department established a one-week period in October 1991 for individuals to apply by mail for visas and rented a post office box in Merrifield, Virginia, to receive the applications. In public instructions, the State Department emphasized that mail received at the post office box before or after the one-week period would not be processed. According to the Postal Inspection Service, many people went to great lengths to ensure that their mail would arrive on time, with some individuals actually traveling to Merrifield the week before the application period to mail applications. GAO discusses (1) why the State Department tried to process the applications in the order they were received, (2) if accepting multiple applications was appropriate, (3) the possibility that companies advertised and charged fees to help aliens file applications and other paperwork, and (4) whether the State Department managed the lottery properly. GAO also explores ways to prevent firms from charging excessive fees to help aliens file applications or other paperwork for future lotteries.

GAO found that: (1) Public Law 101-649 states that visas should be made available in the chronological order in which aliens apply; (2) U.S. Postal Service (USPS) officials stated that the public may have misinterpreted the law to mean that State would process applications in the order in which they were received at the postal facility in Merrifield, Virginia; (3) State registered applications in the chronological order in which USPS delivered them during the visa lottery, but the registration process was not strictly based on chronological order; (4) in accordance with Public Law 101-649, State allowed people to submit multiple applications; (5) individuals submitting multiple applications were more likely to succeed in the lottery, and some may have spent large amounts of money; (6) State advised USPS to expect about 5 million applications, but USPS received 23.7 million applications; (7) in December 1991, Congress amended Public Law 101-649 to require State to grant visas in fiscal year 1993 and 1994 based on random selection and limit each individual to one application; (8) several organizations representing ethnic groups reported seeing advertisements and hearing of companies and law firms charging fees up to $800 to help aliens submit visa applications; and (9) USPS took steps to prevent fraud and mismanagement of lottery mail processing, but could not dismiss the possibility of fraud.