An official at the US Embassy in Dublin has confirmed that the annual US visa lottery will have to be redone, following a computer error.
The results of a new draw are expected to be available around 15 July.
More than 22,000 people were mistakenly told they were eligible for a special US visa programme.
The official said the United States regretted any inconvenience or disappointment caused by the mistake, however the results were not valid because they did not represent a fair, random selection of entrants, as required by US law.
Under the 'Diversity Immigrant Visa Program', the US government makes available some 50,000 visas each year drawn from a random selection to people who come from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States.
The official said that because of a computer programming error, 90% of the winners were selected from the first two days of applications rather than from the entire batch of applications over the 30-day registration period.
Some 19.6 million people had applied for the visas, which give them the opportunity to immigrate without having a family member or an employer sponsor them - the typical route to a US ‘green card’ denoting permanent residency.
