The Diversity Visa program—registration for which begins tomorrow, October 2, 2012—is effectively one third of the United States’ immigration system. For people who are looking to get a green card, they really only have three options. Green cards, also known as Permanent Resident cards, are granted to people who have obtained jobs in the United States, are re-uniting with family or win the green card lottery.
The positive connotation that comes with the word “lottery” is still appropriate in an immigration context because getting a green card through the Diversity Visa lottery system is vastly easier than the other permanent residence paths. First of all, you don’t need to find an employer to sponsor you. In fact all you’ll need is either a high school education or two years’ experience doing a job that you trained for two years to do. You also don’t need to know any relatives in the United States. Having parents from different parts of the world may help you get this variety of visa. Since there are some countries in the world that are not eligible for a diversity visa, having parents from different countries could potentially expand your chances of eligibility for the green card lottery. It is, after all, a diversity program. When applying for the lottery you can claim your country of birth, your parents’ countries of birth or your spouse’s.
Applying for the lottery is exceedingly easy with our useful online assistance and it is important to be aware that the registration period for the Diversity Visa lottery program only lasts a month and begins tomorrow! This of course means that you are right on-time to apply for the lottery and you should sign up right away.
If you live in the United States but do not possess a green card you are considered undocumented. This means that quite a few doors are closed to you in terms of administrative benefits. Without permanent residence one cannot live or work legally within the United States, so it is imperative to hold some kind of legal status in order to live the life you want to lead in America.