I think this aligns with most other modern economies out there. If anything, we're the outlier allowing randoms to come in without regard to skills or means.
Japan, S Korea, China, Singapore, etc., would be extremely hard for anyone to work off the books without having to resort to the underworld. Otherwise you may last a month or two, but most people will get kicked out without a visa. What's more regular police have the authority and responsibility to make sure anyone without a visa gets expelled.
FYI: the immigrants who are chosen at random by the lottery are thoroughly vetted. They go through criminal and medical screening. All they win is the opportunity to be interviewed at a US consulate/embassy after the screenings; the interviewing officer (a US diplomat) considers skills and resources and decides whether or not to grant a visa. It's not as if they win today and buy a ticket tomorrow.
However, as others pointed out, the DV is a small fraction of green cards granted, and the process for family based immigration may differ.
Source: I went through this process.
This is wrong; they use their judgement to gauge the likelihood of you ending up being a "public charge". Even if you meet the bare minimum (high school), but have no/inadequate skills and/or you are broke, I guarantee that you will not get a visa. This is what I meant by "skills and resources". It's most certainly not a "rubber-stamp", but might have seemed like it to you because you met the requirements.
Also, even if they verify you meet some minimum bar of being able to support yourself (which I was not asked about in my interview, other than turning up looking generally presentable), this is still a far cry from a more rigorous points-based immigration system. Per GP, DV immigrants are still basically chosen "at random".
They only ask you about in the interview if it looks like a problem. Otherwise they use the signficant amount of documentation you've already provided to make that determination.
You need either a family based justification (spouse or parent, mainly) or labor certification to apply for a green card. It's not a government defined point system, but an employer has to deem you worth the trouble to sponsor. Indirectly, at least, that measures the need for the applicants skills.
Means are also examined. E.g. to get a student visa you have to prove you can pay for tuition and living expenses without relying on working in the US.
Perhaps mc32 means the diversity visa program?
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrat...
It's only a big deal because most of them are coming to work for 1 industry.
1st, the citizen who is sponsoring an immigrant is means tested.
2nd, UCIS must use their judgment to determine the immigrant has the means to support themselves and won't become a public charge.
This applies for all immigrants applying for permanent residency.
Also I'm not just talking about relatives sponsored by lawful immigrants, I'm also talking about relatives sponsored by citizens.
Btw unless a permanent resident is sponsoring their minor child, sponsoring another immigrant is generally a multi decade process.
Even the spouses of green card holders aren't considered immediate family and the average wait time when sponsoring is over a decade.
The reason why it is still brought up is because Teddy Kennedy and others assured the public that the 1965 Hart-Cellar Act (the real name of the immigration act) would not change the ethnic makeup of the country.
Clearly something in the law did change something...