Green Card Lottery Error

© Tom Raftery

A major programming error at the US State Department resulted in all 22,000 winners of this year's green card lottery being nullified. The department apologized for the massive blunder, which was discovered after the names of this year's Diversity Lottery winners had already been posted to the State Department website.

The results were voided because they "did not represent a fair, random selection of entrants, as required by US law." Between 12 to 15 million people from around the world apply for a green card each year, and of those 50,000 to 55,000 receive green card visas. The programming error caused more than 90% of the selectees to come from the first two days of the registration period. The department has fixed the glitch and will redo the lottery drawing later this year with the help of a new random selection algorithm.

Outbound Call Center Outsourcing – A Major Force in Globalizing Employment

© markhillary

One of the biggest trends in cross border employment is the fact that more businesses are looking overseas for outbound call center outsourcing.

Using these kinds of specialized services allows businesses to save money while maintaining a high level of customer engagement. Some of the most popular countries that businesses are outsourcing to include the Philippines and India. These countries have a very skilled workforce, who speak English well and are willing to accept lower wages than most developed economies.

An outbound call center that is outsourced is particularly helpful for businesses because several agents call prospective and existing clients on your behalf. Their aim is to get these customer interested in your business's products and services. Thus, the specialized services of outbound call centers are lead generation, other the phone sales and account collection. Outbound call centers are also useful for non profit or public organizations and associations because they can also be used for raising funds, and for spreading the word about political and community initiatives.

Green Card Legislation

© Center for American Progress

The state of Georgia has proposed immigration reform that would require employers of 10 or more workers to verify their employee's immigration status by checking whether they have a green card through the federal E-Verify database. However, the law features a major loophole in that employers with less than 10 workers are exempt.

In businesses like landscaping, which use a lot of illegal labor, there are many small contractors who would slip through this crack and could continue to operate using illegal labor, underbidding all of the legal American contractors due to their cheaper labor costs. Others argue that the law should be changed to make it easier for those who are working in the US illegally to gain legal status, because they are doing something beneficial for society and thus should not be treated like criminals.