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The U.S. Green Card Lottery (2)
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You can apply to the U.S.
Green Card Lottery from anywhere as long as you meet the basic
criteria. You do not need to be in the country of your citizenship
when applying, and you can even be in the U.S. already when doing
so.
Applications for the Green Card Lottery are only
accepted during certain periods of the year, normally November
and December. If you are unsuccessful one year you must re-apply
again the next year if you wish to try again as unsuccessful applications
are not automatically included in subsequent lotteries. Generally
speaking there is an 18-month to 2-year advance application period
for any particular year’s intake. For example, applications
for the Green Cards issued for the year of 2006 were accepted
during November and December of 2004 and successful applicants
were notified during 2005 for entry to the U.S. for 2006. |
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The name of the Lottery for any given year is generally along the
format of “DV-2005” for the 2005 intake, “DV-2004”
for the 2004 intake, and so on. The 'DV' stands for Diversity Visa,
and the numbers following are the year for which the visas will
be issued - generally two years in advance of when the applications
for the Green Card Lottery are accepted. The next intake will be
called DV-2008 and information for the this intake will be posted
on the U.S.
Green Card Official Site around September in 2005. The reason
for the lengthy time period between acceptance of applications to
the actual issuance of the visas to successful applicants is purely
because of the sheer number of applications received. Literally
millions of applications are received every year and they need to
be checked before going into the lottery draw proper. It is a daunting
undertaking every year.
For every year’s Green Card Lottery that is drawn there are
always more Green Cards allocated to prospective winners than are
actually available. This takes in to account the number of applicants
who will subsequently be unable to take up their Green Card status
for what ever reason, and those applicants who the U.S. Immigration
department deems to be unsuitable for entry into the U.S. Bear in
mind that winning the Green Card in the Lottery is no guarantee
that you will be accepted into the U.S. by U.S. Immigration. If
you have a criminal record, are suspected to be of dubious character,
have any physical or emotional handicaps or any other reason that
the U.S. Immigration Service deems appropriate then you may be declined
entry to the U.S. Successful applicants will also be required to
demonstrate that they have sufficient means to support themselves
when they move to the U.S. The fact that more Green Cards are awarded
than are actually available each year means that you may miss out
if you do not follow up the instructions that are given to you and
attend the appropriate interviews. Once the allocation of 50,000
Green Cards have been used up and confirmed with the lucky winners
then that is all for that current year’s intake. Be prepared
and do not enter the Lottery unless you are in a position to take
advantage of your good fortune should it come your way. Bear also
in mind that you will be required to meet the cost of attending
interviews at your nearest U.S. Consulate or Embassy. |
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