Let's start off with, What is this - Green Card??
Green Card (in Russian it can be called “green card” or “green card”) is a document, which allows its owner to live permanently in America. Having a green card, a person can work legally, visit relatives and friends, rest, study, do business, travel, purchase real estate in the USA, etc.. All in all, the person becomes almost “American”, decides for himself, where to live and what to do. To use the official term, Green Card is a kind for US residence.
A green card holder does not need a US visa - he can come and go then, when it's convenient for him. The only requirement: It is advisable to be in the USA for at least 6 months of the year. Green Card is issued on an indefinite basis, so if you don’t commit crimes and don’t leave the USA for a long time, this status will remain forever. After five years of possessing a green card, you can apply for American citizenship - this provides some additional benefits and removes the requirement for a mandatory 6-month stay in the United States. Having received American citizenship, a person becomes a real American
There are several main ways to get a green card:
- For example, "green card" is given to those, who marries a US citizen.
- Also, a green card can be obtained by those, who has close relatives living in the USA.
- At the request of American companies, green cards are issued to highly qualified specialists, in which these companies are personally interested.
- Green cards are also received by those, who is granted asylum in the USA.
- I, finally, You can win a green card in the lottery. And it's not a joke! The United States of America does officially hold a drawing every year 50 thousands of green cards.
Green gard lottery under Trump
US President D. Trump has long wanted to tighten the conditions for obtaining a green card for foreigners.
Eg, it is almost impossible for those migrants to get it, who received social assistance from the state for 12 months or more. This rule applies to those, who already lives in the country.
Regarding the lottery, then the president has repeatedly made proposals to cancel this draw. But for now this is only one of the possible innovations. More details in the next video:
Before, how to win a green card in the USA, seriously think about moving. The draw has been running for many years., therefore, the visa application system does not imply any pitfalls. The winner only needs to fill out the form on time, prepare documents and undergo a medical examination.
How and when is the Green Card lottery held??
The first lottery draw took place in 1994 year and has been held every year since then. Organizes US State Department Lottery. For participation in lottery must apply according to the rules, which are published shortly before the start of accepting applications. The official call for applications takes place in the fall. (usually in October and November).
And the draw takes place in the spring. After applications are accepted, the computer randomly selects the lucky winners, who are given the opportunity to obtain a green card. In recent years the draw is made 1 May. It is after this date that all participants using their application numbers (Confirmation Number) can find out the result on the official website. If the result is positive, then within a certain period you need to go through the procedure for obtaining an immigrant visa. With an immigrant visa, the winners come to the United States and receive a green card there..
Together with the winner, his/her spouse can go to the USA for green cards (even if the marriage took place after winning) and their children under the age of 21 of the year. It is impossible to transfer the green card to other family members as part of the lottery. To visit the winner, other relatives and friends may try to obtain a visitor visa.
For lottery purposes, all countries are divided into regions. There are six regions in total: Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania, North America, South and Central America. Applications from each region compete with each other. According to rough estimates, among natives of European countries, one of them wins every year 25 family, given that, that applications from both spouses are included. Chances of a single application, respectively, twice smaller. Who didn't win, can participate again - every year.
To become a lottery participant, must meet minimum requirements. Read more about this in the lottery rules.
Are your chances of winning high?
To plan your own life, it's worth looking into, what is the probability of winning a green card. Formally, the draw is a lottery, not a competition, but in practice regional quotas play a significant role (which are higher for densely populated parts of the world) and local coefficients, which sometimes apply to individual countries. Sometimes anti-fraud mechanisms also play a role..
To assess your own chances, useful to find out, who wins a green card most often. If we talk about global regions, then most often the natives win:
- from Africa: 49 000 (42 % from all winners) V 2019 Mr. and 38 000 (43 %) V 2019 Mr.;
- from Europe: 42 000 (37 %) V 2019 Mr. and 30 000 (34 %) V 2019 Mr.
By itself, and the majority of applications come from these same regions: almost 11 million per year from Africa and 7 million - from Europe. North Americans almost never receive visas (15 man in 2019 Mr. and 19 - V 2019).
The well-known statistics of green card winners by country looks interesting.. Most often in 2019 citizens of such countries won:
- Iran and Russia - each 4 500 winners, 4,5 % from all the winners and 0,02 % from all applications;
- Congo – 4 497 Human;
- Ethiopia – 4 496;
- Egypt - 4 495;
- Uzbekistan – 4 494 person;
- Albania – 4 484;
- Ukraine – 4 478;
- Nepal - 4 097 or 4,1 % from all winners;
- Liberia - 3 989;
- Sudan - 3 781;
- Ghani - 3 549;
- Kenya – 2 997 or 3 % all winners;
- Armenia - 2 844 person.
Because of, that a strictly limited number of quotas are allocated to a certain region and country, number of green card applications in every country, region and throughout the world also greatly influences the likelihood of victory. At the same time, due to rumors about US President Donald Trump’s intentions to cancel the drawing or reduce the number of quotas, quantity applications are growing every year. So the sooner you apply, the more chances she will have of winning.
To assess the chances you need to know approximately, how many people participate in the green card drawing, and this information becomes available only after applications are closed. However, you can roughly focus on the figures for previous years. So, Only for 2019 year it was filed 22 425 053 applications - what gives assessing the chances of winning V 0,4 %.
Due to the limited number of quotas for each country, the chances of Russian citizens to win will largely depend not even on the total number of participants, and from that, how many Russians participate in the Green Card lottery. For example, for participation in DV-2018 received from citizens of the Russian Federation 221 372 applications, of which the winners were 4 500.
For that, to increase your chances of winning, Each family member must apply, meeting program requirements.
Lottery stages
Filling out the form
Contestants provide the following information:
- Name, last name;
- gender;
- Place of Birth;
- side, from which a person takes part;
- passport data;
- mailing address;
- phone number (international format);
- E-mail address;
- information about education, marital status, etc.. d.
You must fill out the form very carefully. Any mistake threatens the participant with disqualification.
Detailed instructions, how to fill out and submit the form to participate in the drawing in the next video:
Photos of adults and children
Photos of the participant must be attached to the application., as well as members of his family (children). They must meet the following requirements:
- photo format – .jpg;
- size – 600*600 pixels;
- Photographs should be taken against a light, plain background;
- You cannot use Photoshop or otherwise retouch the image;
- You cannot take pictures wearing a hat or glasses;
- clothes should be simple (no military uniform, religious clothing, etc.. d.);
- facial expression – neutral.
Submission errors
About, to win a green card in the USA, many people dream. And they often make mistakes, which can easily be avoided. The most popular include:
- inaccuracy of the information provided;
- low quality photos.
How to find out the results?
After submitting your application, participants can only wait. Green card lottery results 2019 year can be found out no earlier than May 2020 of the year.
- indicate individual number (Confirmation Number), as well as last name and year of birth;
- click Submit.
In case of victory, the participant will find a letter on his page with a special number and congratulations. After receiving it, you can begin to prepare documents for obtaining a green card..
