# About the “Diversity Visa Program”. What does diversity mean?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-diversity-visa-program-what-does-diversity-mean/694049
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 25, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-diversity-visa-program-what-does-diversity-mean/694049 "2014-07-25T20:17:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@PlainLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainLost)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-diversity-visa-program-what-does-diversity-mean/694049/1 "2014-07-25T20:17:23Z")
Hello
First of all Sorry for my bad English.
I have a question about the “Diversity Immigrant Visa”. In case you don’t know about it:
> [@](#):
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> Each fiscal year, the Diversity Visa Program makes 50,000 immigrant visas available to people from countries that have low rates of immigration to the United States.
More: [Diversity Immigrant Visa - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversity_Immigrant_Visa)
What does “diversity” mean here? Cultural diversity? Genetic diversity?
I’ve read the official website and googled about it but there is no mention about it.
Cultural diversity doesn’t make sense to me. My understanding is that all governments are trying to unite people of their country and make them think the same way to decrease conflicts.
Under section [“2012\_results”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diversity_Immigrant_Visa#2012_results) of the Wikipedia article and in the 4th column of the first table it says:
> [@](#):
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> side note - Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia and Ghana have high level of disqualified entries on completely different reason - because they are artificially “circumcised”; other African countries are not “circumcised” artificially.
What’s it got to do with circumcision?
What does artificial circumcision even mean? Is there a kind of a natural circumcision?
Why is “circumcised” in quotes?
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-diversity-visa-program-what-does-diversity-mean/694049/2 "2014-07-25T21:59:05Z")
As the one-time holder of a diversity visa, I think I can answer this. The aim of the program is to increase immigration from countries that don’t send very many migrants to the U.S., so that some countries with high immigrant numbers are excluded. In other words, the aim is to increase diversity among the nationalities of immigrants to the US.
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-diversity-visa-program-what-does-diversity-mean/694049/3 "2014-07-25T22:46:16Z")
The bit about circumcision may be Wiki vandalism. There’s a note that citation is required for that section.
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### Author:  [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2014, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-diversity-visa-program-what-does-diversity-mean/694049/4 "2014-07-25T22:50:18Z")
n/m, misread I think…
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2014, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-diversity-visa-program-what-does-diversity-mean/694049/5 "2014-07-26T03:08:20Z")
> [@PlainLost](#):
>
> Cultural diversity doesn’t make sense to me. My understanding is that all governments are trying to unite people of their country and make them think the same way to decrease conflicts.
Maybe in most countries at most points in history this would be true, but, in the present day USA, the conventional wisdom holds (rightly or wrongly) that cultural diversity is a source of strength, enabling the nation to draw on the best aspects of many different traditions. This may be making a virtue of necessity, since the USA is, in fact, very culturally diverse, largely due to the fact that it has, from its beginnings, been a nation made up mostly of immigrants from various other parts of the world.
The bit about circumcision is a bit peculiar. Perhaps it is a garbled reference to _female_ circumcision, aka _female genital mutilation_, which in western cultures is held to e a very bad thing, in need of stamping out wherever it occurs. _Male_ circumcision is the norm in the USA, though perhaps starting to go out of fashion.
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### Author:  [@PlainLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainLost)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2014, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-diversity-visa-program-what-does-diversity-mean/694049/6 "2014-07-26T06:58:14Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#):
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> The bit about circumcision may be Wiki vandalism. There’s a note that citation is required for that section.
That table’s reference was 404’ed. I googled and found [the new URL](http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/law-and-policy/bulletin/2011/visa-bulletin-for-september-2011.html).
Searched for words “artificial” and “circumcision”, found nothing.
Why would anyone do that? 😕
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2014, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-diversity-visa-program-what-does-diversity-mean/694049/7 "2014-07-26T12:51:06Z")
> [@PlainLost](#):
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> Why would anyone do that? 😕
People suck.
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2014, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-diversity-visa-program-what-does-diversity-mean/694049/8 "2014-07-26T14:03:52Z")
The USA has taken it upon itself to encourage immigration from certain countries, using a quota system as well as an unbalanced set of criteria. The origin of the policy was to, as much as possible, discourage “diversity”, ensuring that nearly all immigrants were of European ancestry.
So, “diversity”, in the sense of the objectives of this program, is defined as “non-Europeans who are officially discriminated against”.
Aside from that, I have a lot of trouble with the hypocrisy of it all. “Diversity” is a word coined by people who say there is no such thing as race, to justify singling people out on the basis of race.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-diversity-visa-program-what-does-diversity-mean/694049/9 "2014-07-26T17:45:28Z")
> [@jtur88](#):
>
> Aside from that, I have a lot of trouble with the hypocrisy of it all. “Diversity” is a word coined by people who say there is no such thing as race, to justify singling people out on the basis of race.
The diversity visa program is aimed specifically at countries with low levels of immigration to the US. That means countries like China, Bangladesh, Pakisan, and Mexico are ineligible, while such “diverse” countries as Ukraine and Australia are. I don’t think you really understand what you’re talking about.
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### Author:  [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2014, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-diversity-visa-program-what-does-diversity-mean/694049/10 "2014-07-26T21:07:30Z")
> [@friedo](#):
>
> The diversity visa program is aimed specifically at countries with low levels of immigration to the US. That means countries like China, Bangladesh, Pakisan, and Mexico are ineligible, while such “diverse” countries as Ukraine and Australia are. I don’t think you really understand what you’re talking about.
Right. The term “diversity” doesn’t mean that you can qualify for the program by being unique. It refers specifically to country-level diversity. It’s not like you can say, “I’m a German citizen who plays the mandolin, has a fifth-degree black belt in karate, speaks fluent Mongolian, Turkish, Urdu, and Hungarian, and has written three novels set in the jungles of Brazil. That makes me pretty diverse, huh? Can I have a visa?”
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### Author:  [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-diversity-visa-program-what-does-diversity-mean/694049/11 "2014-07-26T23:41:02Z")
could the “circumcised” be a typo for “circumscribed”?
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-diversity-visa-program-what-does-diversity-mean/694049/12 "2014-07-27T00:19:06Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#):
>
> It’s not like you can say, “I’m a German citizen who plays the mandolin, has a fifth-degree black belt in karate, speaks fluent Mongolian, Turkish, Urdu, and Hungarian, and has written three novels set in the jungles of Brazil. That makes me pretty diverse, huh? Can I have a visa?”
You have to admit that would be pretty cool though wouldn’t it? Make the whole immigration process to be a hybrid between a talent show and a college application with the essay and interview portion being the most important. There wouldn’t be anything more American than that. You could even base a reality show around it. First place gets set up in a tony apartment wherever they want, second place gets to farm in South Dakota and last place stays right back at home in the killing fields or sweat shop. That will teach you to try harder on your ukulele and singing lessons.
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### Author:  [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-diversity-visa-program-what-does-diversity-mean/694049/13 "2014-07-27T00:27:39Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#):
>
> You have to admit that would be pretty cool though wouldn’t it? Make the whole immigration process to be a hybrid between a talent show and a college application with the essay and interview portion being the most important. There wouldn’t be anything more American than that. You could even base a reality show around it. First place gets set up in a tony apartment wherever they want, second place gets to farm in South Dakota and last place stays right back at home in the killing fields or sweat shop. That will teach you to try harder on your ukulele and singing lessons.
That would be neat. Go into the visa interview and demonstrate your native dance. The visa officer calls up an professor at Podunk U and asks if the dance he just saw is currently mentioned in American journals of Anthropology, Sociology, or Psychology. If not, you get a visa and a list of cultural associations in the US that would be thrilled for you to stop by and teach the dance to Americans interested in broadening their horizons. If the visa officer has to watch another round of that cliched Cornish farmer jig again, he tells you that the US already has enough Cornish farmers and to go back and become something more obscure and interesting, something that America hasn’t seen before and that would actually make it more diverse.
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2014, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-diversity-visa-program-what-does-diversity-mean/694049/14 "2014-07-27T14:51:05Z")
> [@friedo](#):
>
> The diversity visa program is aimed specifically at countries with low levels of immigration to the US. That means countries like China, Bangladesh, Pakisan, and Mexico are ineligible, while such “diverse” countries as Ukraine and Australia are. I don’t think you really understand what you’re talking about.
Didn’t I say the same thing in the paragraph that you deleted from my quote, and didn’t I make it clear that what you did quote was an aside?