With the delay in launching the lottery or parent/grandparent system this year, it was only earlier this month that people were going into the lottery. We haven't yet seen the results of people who have won basically their “golden ticket”.
We don't know what the process is. There's no transparency; there's no indication of how people are selected, of what they do with duplicates or of how eligible applicants are selected. There is just no transparency in the process.
That's what's frustrating for my clients. This is what I'm seeing and hearing from my clients concerning the frustration of the parent and grandparent lottery: that there's just no transparency.
The other thing we're seeing is that people are going into the lottery who are not necessarily qualified as sponsors, who may not have the required income levels, or who are going in twice and duplicating their chances. Because there's no transparency about the way the winners are selected, this is really frustrating the clients. To go through this over and over again is frustrating.
As to the long wait, the suggestion of having a weighted lottery system has been repeated over and over again. It's an easy fix whereby, if somebody has been in the lottery before and has been unsuccessful, they get two kicks at the can in this lottery. This is an option that I recommend that the committee look into urgently.