2010 US Green Card Lottery opens today

juvenal

For those of you interested, the US Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery for 2010 opens today.

This is more commonly known as the Green Card Lottery, and enables citizens of a wide range of countries (including Ireland) to apply for a place in the program which grants up to 55,000 visas worldwide every year. Visas are available to anyone meeting the simple, but strict, visa requirements.

Entries for the DV-2010 Diversity Visa lottery must be submitted electronically between noon EDT (5pm Irish time), Thursday, 2nd October 2008, and noon EST (5pm Irish time), Monday, 1st December 2008.

Applicants may access the electronic Diversity Visa entry form (E-DV) at www.dvlottery.state.gov during the registration period. Paper entries will not be accepted. Applicants are strongly encouraged not to wait until the last week of the registration period to enter. Heavy demand may result in website delays. No entries will be accepted after noon EST (5pm Irish), on Monday 1st December, 2008.

Please be aware that there are a large number of bogus websites that offer a "service" to apply for this visa on your behalf for a fee. These websites are unreliable and unnecessary, and while they may look like genuine US Government websites, they are private companies who charge people for a simple application. Anyone who meets the criteria can apply themselves online for no charge whatsoever at http://www.dvlottery.state.gov/ - this is the only place you can submit an online application.

US State Dept website wrote:

There have been instances of fraudulent websites posing as official U.S. Government sites. Some companies posing as the U.S. Government have sought money in order to "complete" lottery entry forms. There is no charge to download and complete the Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form. The Department of State notifies successful Diversity Visa applicants by letter, and NOT by email. To learn more see the Department of State Warning and the Federal Trade Commission Warning.

More information on this lottery is available at the following sites:

US Dept of State instructions for DV Lottery 2010 (pdf)

US Dept of State Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery Instructions

US Dept of State DV Lottery


Edit: Just to bear in mind that this is a lottery, and according to last year's results Ireland was awarded 132 visas from a worldwide application pool of 9.1 million qualified entries :eek: Anyway, for anyone with half an interest in working in the US, it's worth a shot as it costs nothing and you won't hear until mid-2009 whether you've been selected. Just make sure your application is completed fully and the photograph is 100% within the guidelines, or else it will be binned and you'll never know.

Istrancis

Hi Juvenal.

Just a quick question: if you do win one, is there a set expiration date for the visa, or can you use it anytime you like in the future? I ask because I'm interested in obtaining a visa but it wouldn't suit me to travel abroad in 2010. Should I enter anyway or would it be a better idea for me to give it a miss?

Thanks,

Istrancis.

[Jackass]

Balls! I submited for a company to do this for me before! Now how am I to know if they were genuine or not and of they will submit it!! You get disqualified for entering more than once and by the sounds of it, it's 50/50 if these lads I paid will do it!

This is there website: www.usagcls.com

They have a login section that says my application is complete - meaining I've submitted everything I need to - but no indication of if it's being submitted on my behalf.

Anybody know if these guys are bogus? Or of anyway I can find out if a submission has been made for me?

Thanks.

engrish?

The results of this should be out soon.... I realise I have a very small chance of winning one but I wonder what I would do if I did! Did anyone else apply?

deejayw

Yeah i applied. I've applied for the past 3 lotteries...no luck. Yet i know one guy who applied for the first time last year and got it straight away. I have a Masters degree, he hasn't been to college...proves its a lottery i guess!

Bobon

I also applied. I will be waiting for the post everyday for the next 2 months.

Deejayw - thats interesting. I assumed that in fact it wasn't a lotto and that they do select people by their qualifications. I'm obviously wrong.

Myself and my girlfriend applied a few years back and she got it whilst I didn't. She had a degree, I did not at the time.

Edit to say: how is your mate getting on in the states?

c-90

hey does any one know if applying for a diversity visa stops you from being elagible for a k-1 visa? my girlfreind moves back to the states soon and wants me to go with her but getting married is a BIG step so i was wondering could i apply for both?

20goto10

Does anyone know how frequent the visa lottery is? Is there one every year? 2010 deadline is long over but can't find any info on 2011 or 2012.

silja

Yep once a year, in October it opens. It can easily take a year until you get the visa (assumning you are chosen) from when you apply though!

jamestedrum

Hi All, I got my visa approval for 2010 I have got to go for interview in November this year at which point I have to pay $775 dollars for visa interview and have to have for a full medical for €350 euro before this as well, Im wondering does anybody have any information about how long id have to stay in the usa during your first year / years as its not a good time for me to travel to USA especially with the economy over there right now. I have a job here but unsure if i should travel or not, I cannot even get all this info from the embassey until after I pay the fees for interview can anybody help me out here please please!!

ta
T

Ajos

jamestedrum wrote: »

Hi All, I got my visa approval for 2010 I have got to go for interview in November this year at which point I have to pay $775 dollars for visa interview and have to have for a full medical for €350 euro before this as well, Im wondering does anybody have any information about how long id have to stay in the usa during your first year / years as its not a good time for me to travel to USA especially with the economy over there right now. I have a job here but unsure if i should travel or not, I cannot even get all this info from the embassey until after I pay the fees for interview can anybody help me out here please please!!

ta
T

I got my Green Card in the 2002 lottery - it may have changed since then, so if you hear differently from someone who got it more recently, listen to them!

At the interview (Assuming you pass, which you probably will) you don't get the card. What you get is a travel permit, valid for six months. You have to travel to the US within those six months. When you arrive at immigration you will be processed and given a stamp in your passport which acts as a Green Card until the physical card is mailed to you (could be up to a year later). You will also apply for a Social Security card, which takes a few weeks to get. You won't be able to do much without this - open a bank account, get a job - so it's pretty hard to hit the ground running. Actually immigration bungled my application so I had to re-apply. Be sure and follow up on this with phone calls etc.

Once you're in, you should stay. There aren't official guidelines for how much per year you have to live there, but you have to be able to convince immigration every time you re-enter the country that the US is your primary residence. This is easy if you've been gone a few weeks for a holiday, but if you've been out for a few months they might get suspicious. If they feel your primary residence is outside the US they can take the card away from you. The days of visiting one day a year to keep it current are long gone.

If you know you will be gone for more than six months there is a form you can fill out which will exempt you from this, but you have to have a good reason - educational opportunity, temporary contract etc. You need to maintain a residence in the US at all times, and pay taxes regardless of where the money was earned.

On a personal note, I know how you feel. Basically what I wanted was the ability to come and go from the US as opportunities came up. When I got the card and realised it didn't work that way I was extremely disheartened. I was in no way ready to leave Ireland. I toyed with the idea of just letting it go, but in the end I decided to give it a whirl, thinking I would give it three months and come back if it didn't work out. I waited until the six months were almost up and bit the bullet.

It didn't work out in three months, but by then I had fallen in love with the place and didn't want to leave. I was there nine very difficult months before things started falling into place. Six years later and it was the best decision I ever made.

I say go for it! It is a risk, no question. It will shake your life from the bottom up. If you don't want that, then don't go. But if you don't want that, then why did you apply?

jamestedrum

Thanks Ajos for taking the time to write everything down I do understand it a lil bit better now. I have 6-8 months to decide :rolleyes: , but what I will do in the mean time is to go to the interview then make my decision if this was 2-3 years ago i would not be asking these questions but times have changed and not sure now... anyway thanks Again!!