US Green Card Lottery – Immigration Procedures

If you would like to get an eternal residential status in the United States, you will have to get the Green card, which is regarded as the identity card. It is otherwise known as United States Permanent Resident Card. The name Green Card comes from the color of the card and it has the individual’s photo identity and details belonging to the United States. Having a US green card means that the individual has a permanent resident status in the United States. Green cards are issued by Immigration and Naturalization Service and obtaining a green card is an Immigration procedure. It is obvious that a Non-US citizen would apply for the Green card and not people from the USA. There are different types of Immigration procedures that one can choose from to obtain a Greed Card.

One way to obtain this status is through family members. Immigrants can obtain this status through employment opportunities and also through investment. Another most interesting form of immigration type is through diversity lottery. There are two other ways of immigration procedures through refugee and asylum status and through the registry.

The diversity lottery procedure is generally used by the immigrants, who have entered the United States with a student Visa and would like to gain the status of a permanent resident in the USA. Diversity lottery services are otherwise known as Green Card Lottery.

The diversity lottery program provides over 50,000 immigrant visas. Many people who have been born in other countries in which the immigration rate is low also apply for Green Card Lottery with the desire to get an enduring residential status in the United States. The citizenship of the individual matters very little in this procedure. What matters most is the country of birth of the individual. People born outside the United States can apply for the Green Card Lottery program if their country has a lower immigration rate to the United States. The applicant can also apply for their spouse and dependent children who are unmarried and under the age of 21. If announced as a winner, they are issued the permanent resident status and would receive an immigrant visa for their passports, which needs to be activated within 6 months from the date of issuance at any port of entry into the United States. The immigrant will receive a stamp on their visa indicating that they are lawfully permitted to live and work in the United States permanently. Finally, the permanent green card arrives in mail within a few months.

Understand About Diversity Visa Lottery Program

Immigrant visa is necessary for being in the United States. For a permanent stay in the United States and for the work permit and filing of taxes, a green card is required. There are several ways to obtain a permanent resident status. The Diversity Visa Lottery program is one of those methods. There are many people now applying for this program through many sources. Statistics show that there are about 6.4 million applications for the 2008 Diversity Visa Lottery program or Green Card Lottery program. When account dependents are considered there were about 10 million applications for Green Card Lottery program. The highest numbers of applications were from the country of Bangladesh.

Applications from Africa were 41% and from Asia were 38% in 2008 Green card lottery. There are however many scam programs related to the issuance of the Green Card through lottery services. Reports show that the fraudulent green card lottery programs take money from the applicants in terms of the application fees between 50$ to 250$ and do not process the applications. There are now many websites relating to the green card lottery entry and issuance of immigrant visa to the USA. Attracting the customers with exciting claims is not very difficult with advancement in marketing strategies.

Some Diversity Visa programs claim that they would provide free airline ticket to the winner and some might even claim that they can increase the chance of becoming a winner which can be false. The winner would be issued an immigrant visa prior to the issuance of green card and it is issued by the Immigration Naturalization Services.

Applicants are advised to use the United States Government approved Green Card Lottery programs to get the most, out of their efforts in getting the immigrant visa with permanent residence status. These are available on the US government official websites. The State of Department has issued warnings to websites providing fraudulent information to the applicants. The best way to apply is to do a small research on the available sources for the issuance of green card and then decide upon which website to trust and go about with the application. There are also several testimonials available online expressing the satisfaction of some of the green card lottery program's participants and the individuals can use them to come to a decision. The Encyclopedia has loads of information regarding this which can be used to verify whether a website is genuine or fraudulent.

Get More Information about the Green Card Lottery Program

There are no fees for entering into the green card lottery program, but once selected you should be able to pay the immigrant visa fees and a separate visa lottery surcharge. Some websites take an additional fee for rendering service in form filling and submission. The official sites of the United States department for issuing of green cards do not provide the necessary help needed for filling in the form.

Every year about 10 million applications are processed and about 50,000 visas are issued all over the world. The winners are notified through mail and others who are not selected are not notified. Even if you are selected, it does not guarantee issuance of immigrant visa as you have to pass all the requirements of immigration to the United States.

Some websites save the applicant information in a database so that it would be easy for you to fill in the form when you decide to re-enter in the green card lottery program if you are not selected the first time. You can however re-appear only once in a year. These websites which render additional service will charge you a fee for their service. The service charge differs depending upon the website and the services they are providing.

The directions provided on the website are very essential since if the directions are not followed your application will be rejected. The rules and ways to apply for the green card will be provided before the drawing of the green card lottery and they are made available in the Federal Registry for reference. Instructions are usually posted between the months of July and August. The registration period of the green card lottery program is usually during the months of October and November every year. You can call the US lottery state information center on 1-900-884-8840 for more information.

The US Embassy and consulates would also have the required information. When the total application number is less, there are higher chances of your winning the lottery. The green cards are actually pink in color. It was green earlier. Usually a green card is valid for 10 years after which it needs renewal. The green card lottery program conducted this year would be called Diversity Visa Program DV-2012. Last year's program is known as Diversity Visa Program DV-2011. The opening date of the registration is generally announced in the month of July. A digital photograph is required for filling out the form.

Explore The Green Card Lottery Program

The Green Card Lottery programs started in the year 1996 through the Immigration Act developed to provide immigration opportunities to the natives of countries other than United States and those which have a lower rate of immigration to the United States. The programs provide green cards to the winner of the lottery. The lottery is conducted once every year where they use a computer application, and a number is chosen randomly just like a lucky draw. Over 50,000 immigration visas are issued every year through this program throughout the world. There are several official and non-official green card lottery websites available in the internet using which one can apply for the green card. Some of the websites provide expert online support for applying to this program. Some provide service in terms of updating of contact information at any point of time as the green card would be sent by mail to the address in the application. The immigrant visa is issued to the winner with a stamp on it to show permanent status. The applicants are allowed to bring their spouse and dependent children who are unmarried and below the age of 21 years. The applicants are not permitted to submit the applications by postal mail. All applications have to be submitted electronically. These applicants are considered eligible based on the following points.

• The applicants should be born in a country other than the United States.
• The immigration rate of the country from which the applicant is applying to the United States should be low as compared to other countries in the past five years.
• The individual should have a minimum of a high school education or 2 years of work experience in the required field.

One might need assistance in filling up of the green card lottery form and few websites provide expert advice on how to fill in the form without any errors. Some websites provide service all around the clock. Using the internet, people can gather information about all these and it becomes easy to apply for the immigrant visa to the United States and in turn increase their chances of getting a permanent resident status. American citizens are not required to carry a green card when they travel in the United States, but an alien with an immigrant visa or green card should carry it along with them and show the same to the USCIS officer when asked for proof of permanent residence or work or travel parole.

A Look at Green Card lottery

If you are not familiar with Green Card Lottery, it is a program where the US government gives away green cards to particular immigrant. This usually happens every year and about fifty five thousand people receive this opportunity. Also known as Diversity Visa program, this green-card awarding is facilitated by a computer device. This is to ensure fairness and security for quite a number of people wishing to live and work in the US. People who are planning to register must follow the rules. They need to speak English well to be able to join the program.

This is the easiest way to get a green card and people don’t have to wait for years for them to get approved. If you are an immigrant, you need to fill up an application form. This is the thing that they use to do some paperwork so that you can become a good candidate for this program. From some, this is a chance of lifetime and they take this thing very seriously. The application for this thing can be found online. There are a lot of websites where you can get the application so you can start the process. After filing this up, you need to send it and wait for it to be reviewed.

After being approved by the government, the name will put on the lottery. Today only online application is accepted for this Visa USA program. People need to take time to do the necessary paper work for them to be eligible for the said program. You need to have high school diploma and previous work experience. Only one entry is allowed per person in the US Green Card lottery. The person would be disqualified if the person submits more than one. You need to follow instructions very well.

For married people, they can submit one application each. They would be allowed to do so. If you are selected, you can take along your immediate family. This is considered to be a great opportunity so it is best to sign up now or else you would miss the chance of participating in this life changing activity. There are websites like the www.usafis.org that can help you in filling up the application form. This would give you a higher chance of succeeding to take part of the program. It is a good idea if you can read the rules so that you will not miss on anything if you want to have a chance in obtaining a green card.