New Green Card Lottery Enrollment Period Starts October 18

USA, October 18: A new enrollment period for the U.S. Diversity Immigrant Visa Program – also known as the New Green Card Lottery Enrollment. All applicants must apply between 18 October- 22 November 2017, to have their entries considered.

The original new registration period began October 3, but had to be scratched after all entries submitted between October 3rd and 10th were lost due to a technical glitch.

"Entries submitted during October 3-10 are not valid and have been excluded from the system; they will not count as a duplicate entry," a message on the U.S. State Department's website said.

Duplicate entries to the program disqualify aspiring immigrants.

"The technical issue has been resolved and a new full entry period will begin at noon, U.S. Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday October 18, 2017 and will run until noon Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday November 22, 2017," it added, telling applicants to "throw away" any confirmation number or documentation of applications submitted between the 3rd and 10th.

The State Department will be sending automated email notifications to each entrant who applied in early October, instructing them to check the website dvlottery.state.gov "for an important announcement", spokesperson Pooja Jhunjhunwala told VOA via email.

"We will also work through our embassies and consulates to inform potential entrants of the situation and new registration period using social media and local media outlets," she wrote.

The State Department is unable, however, to provide an estimate of how many people were affected and expected to reapply, Jhunjhunwala said.

A page on the US Embassy to Ecuador said that the technical issue failed "to properly account for country of eligibility if the entrant was selecting a country of eligibility other than his/her place of birth, which is permitted in certain limited circumstances," stating that the issue was not the result of any hacking attempt.

Though the application period has been extended, experts fear that many entrants may not know to reapply.

"At least, they extended the entry period to make it a full month again. But I have doubt that thousands of applicants from the third world, who don't check the internet every day, will know that their prior entry is no longer valid," Kenneth Rinzler, a Washington, D.C.-based immigration attorney, tells VOA.