A computer glitch at the U.S. State Department resulted in more than 20,000 people being wrongly told that they had been selected as finalists in the 2012 Diversity Visa Lottery.

In a statement posted on its diversity visa website, the State Department said that "due to a computer programming problem," the results of the 2012 Diversity Lottery that were previously posted had been voided.

The computer problem has since been fixed, but the error caused 90 percent of those selected as finalists to have been drawn from only applications received on the first two days of the monthlong entry process. This led to results that "were not valid because they did not represent a fair, random selection of entrants, as required by U.S. law."

"The computer error that caused this unfair, non-random result has since been corrected," David Donahue, deputy assistant secretary of state for visa services, said in a statement posted on the site. "We sincerely regret any inconvenience or disappointment this problem might have caused.

The visa program is virtually the only way that Irish, from both sides of the border, can apply for a green card and stand a chance of obtaining one without having to meet potentially disqualifying conditions such as already having close relatives in the U.S. However, because the program is open to a worldwide pool of applicants, the numbers obtained by Irish applicants each year tend to be usually around a couple of hundred or so of 50,000 available visas.

Irish applicants with questions were being advised to contact their nearest Irish immigration center. The official diversity visa website is at www.dvlottery.state.gov.