The Immigration File

Adjustment Of Status (DV Lottery)

2010-06-24T10:28:00.000-07:00

If you choose to Adjust Status at the Immigration office in the United States , you will have to file the preliminary Adjustment of Status information and filing fee of USD 375.00 with the State Department as instructed by the KCC letter. Once you make the AOS fee payment you will be able to file the Form I-485 Adjustment Of Status application with the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) . However, you will not be able to file the application to adjust status until the Visa Bulletin indicates your number will be reached in the coming month – you can file one month in advance based on the advanced notification in the Visa Bulletin. For the current visa bulletin click LINK. Nonetheless, not all applicants in the United States can adjust. In order to qualify you must:

1.Have entered the U.S. legally, i.e. with a visa or visa waiver or parole,
2. Have remained in valid status since your admission or parole,
3. And not have engaged in unauthorized employment in the United States at any time.

The AOS application process can get slightly confusing and is complicated. I would suggest anyone consult with a lawyer. Even though it might involve an expense, it is worth it. You may try to reach USCIS at 1.800.375.5283 or an InfoPass appointment. However, the quality of information you get from the customer service person will vary. A lawyer, on the other hand, will understand the process from your viewpoint, understand what you need to do, and be able to guide you through the process. You may be able to do it on your own, but even the most intelligent person may run into unexpected issues. Having a lawyer will be insurance that things go smoothly. I will be happy to refer you to competent counsel who can either offer a consultation, or guide you through the entire process.

In my next post I will explain the basic steps on doing a DV Permanent Resident application using Adjustment of Status.

Once you receive the Green Card Lottery winning notification letter....

2010-06-03T17:53:00.000-07:00

I am sure some of you who applied for DV-2011 must have winning notification from Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) congratulating you on winning the Green Card Lottery. Congratulations from my end as well. For those of who have not received any notifications yet, you still have time to get some good news in the mail. Kentucky Consular Center will be notifying the winners until July 2010.

After discussing on how to apply for Green Card Lottery, I am yet to write some posts on how to take it forward once you win the lottery. In the following posts, I will take care of this unfinished business.

If you have the winning notification letter in hand, here is what you have to do. You need to figure our two things- your case number and what path would you like to take to obtain your Green Card.

Lets take a look at the case number first. Say for example, the number on my notification letter is 7538. This is the lottery rank order which also means there are 7537 winners before this winner. You can locate this number on the bottom left hand corner of your notification letter just above your name.

The two different kinds of visa processing are Consular Processing and Adjustment of Status.

Consular Processing applies to winners who live outside United States and wish to process their green card at a U.S. Embassy. Those who live in United States may also apply at U.S. Embassy but they do have the option of Adjustment of Status. Whether you choose to process your Green Card through Consular Process or through Adjustment of Status, please keep a tab on my upcoming posts where I will be discussing the process in detail. Meanwhile, if you have any questions please write to me at theimmigrationfile@gmail.com

U-Visa

2010-01-14T13:24:00.000-08:00

The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act was enacted in October 2000. It allows non-US citizen victims of crime to stay in United States, obtain employment authorization, and apply for lawful permanent resident status by applying for U-Visa. The recipient of a U-Visa may also be able to obtain immigration status for certain family members.

Who is eligible for U-Visa?

If you are a non-US citizen who has suffered substantial physical or mental abuse resulting from a wide array of criminal activity, and you are willing to help the government authorities investigate the crime, you may be eligible for U-Visa. The crime of which you are a victim or witness of should have occurred in United States (including Indian country and military installations) or must have violated the U.S law or territories or possessions of the United States.

Web browsing yeilds a lot of general information on U-Visa. However, it is difficult to find new information and details regarding this class of visa. This is primarily because the U-Visa is relatively new and has very few illustrative examples.

In my upcoming posts, I would like to explain

What falls into the category of substantial physical or mental abuse as defined by U-Visa criteria?
Which criminal activities resulting in substantial physical or mental abuse are addressed under the U-Visa application policy?
What does “helping government authorities” mean?
What is a violation of U.S law or law of territories and possessions of the United States from a U-Visa perspective?

This blog is written for those who are trying to learn more about U-Visa, those who think they might be eligible for such a visa, their friends and families, non profit organizations, lawyers, paralegals, and law students.

Ready to Apply?

2009-11-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

I have clearly described the information required for you to apply for the lottery, how to increase your chances of winning the lottery and so on. With all the information provided, I think you are ready to apply now. The form is really simple to follow. Keep the following information handy when you are ready to apply-

Copy of your passport (Make sure you have all the derivatives passport as well, so you can enter your exact names, date of birth, country of birth etc as in the passport)
Addresses (make sure you have a mailing address that will not change for a year to come, so you can receive your notification)
Email address (if you do not have a mail address, please create one using yahoo or gmail)
Photographs (get the requirements right, please)

If you are all set to go, click here and it will take you to the official Diversity Lottery application. Once you complete your application, REMEMBER to save a copy of your confirmation or write down the confirmation number. I am attaching a copy of confirmation letter in case you'd like to know what it looks like.

Photograph Guidelines for DV-2011

2009-10-28T00:17:00.001-07:00

Ok… so here are some tips on photographs. Diversity Lottery application requires you to upload a picture of yours and your derivatives (if any). It does not matter if you are using your digital camera to click your photo and uploading it to your computer, or clicking a photograph on your web cam using Mac photo booth. All you need to keep in mind are the following guidelines specified by DOS:

Your photograph should be scanned 600 x 600 pixels.

Once you have a digital copy of your photograph, you can use your favorite image editing software to correct the pixel count. If you do not have access to suitable software you can find free photo editing packages online. Imagewell is quite popular among MAC users or Irfanview for those who use windows.

The photograph must have a minimum resolution of 150 dpi (dot per inch).
The maximum file size should NOT be more than 250 KB.
You must use 24-bit true color mode while saving your photograph on your system. Grayscale pictures will be declined.
The picture should cover your full face and asks for a front view.
Use a plain white or off-white background for your picture. Background patterns or photographs clicked outdoors will be declined.
Make sure there is enough lighting and no distracting shadows on the face or on the background.
Make sure the photograph has its natural tone. Pictures with adjusted brightness and contrast are usually rejected by the system.
You should be facing the camera. DOS is not accepting side view profiles yet.
If you use eyeglasses in your everyday life, do use it when you click the photograph.
Head cover can be used if you are using it for religious purpose but make sure your face is not covered and clearly visible.

Once you have your photograph scanned according to the above specifications, click here to see if DOS is accepting your photo. This is the official DOS website where you can check the validity of your photograph before you start your application. If your photograph is accepted, then you are all set to begin your application. If your photograph is not accepted, please go back to the tips and make sure you have followed all the guidelines religiously and try again.

Questions? Write to theimmigrationfile@gmail.com

Education or Work Experience Requirement

2009-10-26T15:22:00.000-07:00

Educational requirement for entering Diversity Lottery

This is a mandatory requirement if you do not have enough work experience. Which means, if you are from an eligible country but do not have listed education or work experience, this will disqualify you from the entering the lottery.

DOS states that an individual interested in applying for the diversity lottery must have at least 12- years of U.S. high school or equivalent education. You will have to provide your proof of education after you win the lottery and on your interview day. It’s ok if you have not graduated from high school yet. The rule is that you must graduate by the lottery notification date.

Work Experience Requirement (if you do not have the required education)

DOS has made it flexible for those who do not have required education of 12 years. The question is, if you do not have the traditional requirement of 12+years in school, have you been working in an occupation that requires two or more years of training or experience in the last five years? To check whether your training or experience will make you eligible to enter the green card lottery, please log in to the O*Net website, a very convenient portal created by the DOL (Department of Labor). DOL has divided job experiences into five job zones based on the difficulty of each profession. You MUST have experience in a profession that is categorized under job zone 4 or job zone 5.

Below are few details on job zone categorization. Click here to find this information on O*Net website.

Job Zone 1 : Little or No Preparation Needed

Job Zone 2 : Some Preparation Needed

Job Zone 3 : Medium Preparation Needed

Job Zone 4 : Considerable Preparation Needed

Job Zone 5 : Extensive Preparation Needed

How to use the O*Net website

1. Enter O*Net website by clicking here

2. On the right side you will find ‘OCCUPATION SEARCH’ in big blue bold letters which asks you to enter either the keyword or O*Net SOC Code. If you do not have an O*Net SOC number, please enter your profession there. For example, I entered ‘graphic designer’.

3. Click on search

4. A list of matching occupation has appeared on the screen. I clicked on one that says ‘Graphic Designer’.

5. Click on the link that says, Job Zone (you will find it between ‘view report’ and ‘tasks’).

6. This link will give you detailed information on Job Zone. I found out that ‘graphic designer’ falls under Job Zone 4.

If you would like to see all the professions listed under job zone 4 & 5, click on ‘find occupations’ on the bottom left hand corner of the O*Net main page. This is a pull down menu. In the menu, you will find the option ‘Job Zones’ and if you click on it you will enter a page which will give you another drop down menu. Select the job zones you wish to see and you will see all the professions listed under each job zones.

It is quite an easy one to browse through. If you have questions, feel free to write.

Illegal Immigrants/ Out of Status Aliens & Diversity Lottery

2009-10-24T14:38:00.001-07:00

Can you enter the Green Card Lottery if you are in the United States Illegally?

Yes, entering the lottery does not require much information. But the problem is that once you win and as you head to USCIS for adjustment of status, you are taking the risk of being placed for removal procedure.

Like aged-out children’s cases, getting past the green card process when you are out of status is very complicated. There are situations in which you can get by if you are lucky. So, I recommend you, apply anyway especially;

If you have any extreme hardship situation,

If you have a lot of immediate relatives here.

If you win the lottery, you need careful planning. Hire a lawyer. As I said, in the immigration bible it’s clearly etched that the DV lottery is not meant for illegal immigrants.

Death Of An Applicant

2009-10-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

What Happens If The Applicant Die After Entering The Lottery?

You became eligible for Green Card Lottery through cross chargeability. Say, you applied through your husband and your husband dies soon after you entered the lottery. You are the primary applicant on this application. What happens in this case?

I have seen legitimate materials from FAM (Foreign Affairs Manual) which mentions that the entire application will be revoked in this case. But in one of the letter from DOS (Directorate of Visa Services) one notes that the spouse and their children will be able to apply for a visa interview or an adjustment of status in case of primary applicants death. Email (theimmigrationfile@gmail.com) me if you need a copy of this letter.

Often you will find that the cases are automatically revoked if the principal applicant dies. In this scenario, if moving to US is something you truly desire, get in touch with a lawyer. You lawyer might approach this case using ‘humanitarian re-instatement’. It is usually hard to get it approved, but its worth a try!

You & Spouse were born in an ineligible country- Now What?

2009-10-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

Eligibility Through Parents

Check if this applies to you.

You were born in an ineligible country. If yes, don’t give up on the Green Card Lottery dream yet. If you say YES to all the questions below, you might be eligible to apply through your parents.

1. Were your parents visiting your country of birth at the time you were born?
Refer to INA Sec 202 (b)(4) to understand the definition of a temporary visit. I will upload the Statutes and Regulations on this post soon, but in simple words this is what it refers to:

Your parents were stationed in your birth country temporarily due to business or professional reasons. They may or may not have been under the instruction or orders of an employer, principal or superior authority foreign to such state.
The duration of your parents stay in your birth country will not affect your eligibility to enter the green card lottery as long as they were temporarily living in your birth country.

2. Were both or at least one of your parents born in an eligible country?

3. After you were born, your parents never migrated to your country of birth.
Note: It is ok if they wish to migrate to your birth country after you file for the diversity lottery.

Look at this Example.

You were in born in Mexico. Your spouse was born in India. Your son was born in China. You and your family currently reside in England. ALL THESE FOUR COUNTRIES ARE EXCLUDED FROM ENTERING DIVERSITY LOTTERY. BUT, here is the loophole!! You were born in India when your parents were sent to India by Moroccan government for temporary work in India, AND one or both of your parents were born in Morocco. Remember, Morocco can apply to Diversity Lottery- 2011.

What can you do in this case?
Go ahead and make your application using your parents cross chargeability. Add your spouse and child as derivatives on your application.

Now, can your spouse apply using your parents’ cross-chargeability?
Yes. If your spouse is still married to you, he/she can make an application using your country of eligibility as Morocco.

Can your son make an application?
Yes. If he has fulfilled the educational/work experience requirement, is unmarried and is under the age of 21, he can apply using your country of eligibility (Morocco).

Green Lottery & Children

2009-10-10T13:57:00.000-07:00

Child as a Derivative

If you have children, do not forget to list them in the lottery application. The children must be unmarried and under the age of 21 at the time of the application. Although it says ‘at the time of the application’, this is quite tricky. If you or your children are in this situation, you need to read more on eligibility on over-age children. I will write more on this in my future post.

You should list all your children whether natural, adopted, or if they’re from your previous marriage or even if they’re your partner’s children.

It does not matter whether they live with you or not.

If the child has already graduated high school, he/she may apply independently. In this case the child will not be able to list his/her parents as derivatives.

What if the child wins the lottery but the parents don’t?

In this case, parents are left behind. The only option is to wait until the child gets citizenship and applies for green card for parents through immediate relatives provisions.

What if your child is a senior in high school and will graduate only in May 2010? Can he/she still apply for DV-2011?

Yes

U-Visa travel update

2009-10-10T13:02:00.000-07:00

There has been a slight update on U-Visa. I have added it to my previous post. Click here and scroll down to the end of the post to view the update!

Increase the chances of winning the Green Card Lottery

2009-10-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

Tips to increase the chances of winning the Green Card Lottery

Check this link. This shows the results of DV-2010. It shows the number of countries participated. The figure highlighted next to each country explains the number of people who won the lottery from those countries. If you are wondering about the uneven distribution, I have briefly explained it in my previous post.

Now let me go back to the example of Abeba and Alesio from our last post.

Abeba is born in Ethiopia (eligible country) and married to Alesio who is a native of Italy (eligible country).

Indeed, making two separate applications doubles their chance of winning. But there is something more they can do to increase their chances of winning. That is,

Click on the DV-2010 link.
Check out the figure next to Ethiopia. Does it say 5200? Yes, it means 5200 people from Ethiopia won the DV-2010.
How about Italy? 470

Now, if I were Alesio- I would not apply using Italy as my country of eligibility. I’d apply using my cross chargeability through Abeba. The reason is the figures. America has definitely chosen more Ethiopians over Italians.

Chargeability (Eligibility) through Spouse a.k.a Cross Chargeability

2009-10-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

Chargeability through spouse

If one is from an ineligible country the ineligible spouse can use the eligible spouse's country of nativity.

EXAMPLE 1: Jose is a native of Mexico (ineligible country) and Miryam is a native of Syria (eligible country). In this case, you can apply for the lottery using your wife’s country of birth. Also, to increase the chances of winning, it is suggested that they both make separate applications. That is,

Miryam makes an application using her own country of eligibility and add Jose as her derivative.
Whereas, Jose should fill in a separate application using the cross chargeability through his wife's country of eligibility and must add his wife as a derivative on the application.

If you and your spouse are from a qualifying country, each of you can submit your application online and add your derivatives.

EXAMPLE 2: Abeba is born in Ethiopia (eligible country) and married to Alesio who is a native of Italy (eligible country).

If you have a situation like this, each of you should do an application and add your derivatives. This will increase your chances of getting selected. BUT, that being said, make sure you do not over apply multiple times which will disqualify you from applying to the DV lottery for that specific year in itself. The technology is designed in a way that any entry will be disqualified if applied multiple times unless otherwise eligible. Lets see below...

1st entry : Abeba applies based on her country’s eligibility. She adds her husband to it.
2nd entry: Abeba also does an independent application claiming her eligibility through her husband, wherein she is the primary applicant again.

Is this permitted? NO. Will she be barred from entering the lottery for the year? YES

If she had added her husband to both the application, would he have been denied too? YES

However, she can apply listing her husband as a dependent, and the husband can also apply listing her as a dependent.

These cross-chargeability exceptions are brought to action by DOS to promote family unity. In this above case, it avoids separation from your spouse. Although you are applying through your spouse, please keep in mind the conditions below before you apply:

IF YOU ARE THE APPLICANT FROM AN ELIGIBLE COUNTRY, You must be married at the time of ADMISSION to U.S. Again, note that you should be married at the time of admission not at the time of entering the lottery in itself.

EXAMPLE 3: Ali is from Iran (eligible country). He entered the lottery and won. Few months before he won, he married Sana who is a native of India (ineligible country). In this case, although Sana is from an ineligible country, she will be qualified for the visa if he adds her on to his before the visa issuance.

You can apply if you are separated from your spouse but not if you are legally separated. If you are divorced, you are not entitled to enter the lottery using your spouse’s country of eligibility.
If you win the lottery, be prepared to enter the U.S together with your spouse or make sure that your spouse enters before you. In plain words, if you used your spouse’s country of eligibility and won the lottery, you cannot enter the U.S. first.

I am sure few of you are wondering if you can enter the lottery using your partner’s country of eligibility and get married after entering the lottery. The answer is ‘NO’.

Nativity & Chargeability

2009-10-05T11:14:00.000-07:00

Nativity

The Green Card lottery does not go by your country of citizenship. Rather, it goes by your country of nativity or ‘chargeability’. Before we talk about chargeability lets look into nativity.

The lottery program takes into consideration your country of birth and not your citizenship. You are qualified to enter the lottery if you are born in an eligible country even though you are a citizen of ineligible country.

Chargeability

Don’t be disappointed if you are not born in an eligible country. If any of the following situations sounds precisely like yours, may be you are eligible-

You are from an ineligible country, but your spouse is from an eligible country. If so, you can be chargeable to a visa eligible country.

You were born in a country, which neither parent was a native or resident of at the time of your birth and at least one parent is native to a visa qualifying country.

Eligibility Requirements- High Admission Vs Low Admission Countries

2009-10-02T12:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, lets get back to the Green Lottery topic. Today is a big day for those of you who are applying for Green Card through Diversity Visa Program. DOS has started accepting application almost 15 minutes ago. Good Luck to all the applicants!

High Admission vs Low Admission Countries

Indeed, luck is a very important factor in obtaining Green Card through the lottery system. But even for luck to come into play, you need to give attention to variables that are under your control. Giving precise attention to learn about your own case is a key factor in determining your eligibility. It’s critical that you understand DV rules and regulations, high-admission and low-admission as well as the benefits of cross-chargeability.

Below are some criteria that will determine your eligibility to enter the lottery. If you are ineligible, the only way to enter the lottery is through your spouse or in some cases through your parents.

1. Are you from a visa eligible/low-admission country to enter the lottery?

The main purpose behind Diversity Visa Program is to provide an opportunity to citizens of countries where immigration rate to the United States are not too high. So how does USCIS determine these eligible and ineligible countries?

Two most common words you will encounter while trying to understand eligibility is ‘high admission’ and ‘low admission’. Do a lot of people from your country immigrate to the United States? If you belong to a country, where immigration rate to the United States is high in the last 5 years, this might come under the radar of High Admission country. You will not be eligible to apply for Green Card Lottery if you come from a High Admission country.

Now, if you come from a country where the number of people who immigrated to the U.S. is less than 50,000 in past five years, you belong to a low-admission country.

Every year, USCIS updates the list of eligible and ineligible countries. However, some countries have remained ineligible since the beginning of DV Program. This is due to the overflow of natives trying to immigrate to United States. Examples of high admission countries are India, China and Brazil.

The countries ineligible for DV-2011 are: Brazil, Canada, China (mainland born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Peru, South Korea, United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependant territories, and Vietnam.

Persons born in Hong Kong, SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan are eligible.

According to the law, there are only four ways to immigrate to United States and they are:

1. Family Immigration

2. Employment,

3. Asylum and Cancellation of Removal

4. Diversity Visa Program

The Diversity Visa Program gives priority to countries that have been least represented through Family, Employment, and Asylum based immigration. The program also gives opportunities to those who are not qualified under the eligibility requirements of family, employment and refugee immigration laws.

On a Geographical Note:

USCIS also determines which region of the world is a low admission region or high admission region. To understand this, you need to know how the world is divided for DV purposes. There are 6 regions.

Region 1- Africa

Region 2- Asia

Region 3- Europe

Region 4- North America

Region 5- Oceania

Region 6- South America (Although Region 6 is called South America- this will include Central America and the Caribbean).

As I said, 50,000 visas are not equally divided among six regions irrespective of their eligibility. If the U.S. had more immigrants from Asia than from Africa, then more lottery applicants would be selected from Africa. Within Africa itself, the highest number of lottery winners will go to the country with the highest number of applicants. With all these rules in place, still no particular country will receive more than 7% (3,500) of the 50,000 allotted visas. In the past, approximately 42% of the visas were allocated to natives of Europe, 39% to natives of Africa, 13% to natives of Asia, 4% to natives of South America and 1.5 % to natives of Oceana and North America.

Now, do you think you are from an eligible country? Don’t jump to conclusions yet. The term Nativity is crucial in deciding your eligibility. Watch for the upcoming post…

A Quick Update on U-Visa

2009-10-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

Can you travel outside United States once your U-Visa is approved?

Before I directly start talking about what I want to inform you here in reference to U-Visa, I will give you a short brief on what a U-Visa is. U-Visa is a special visa program made available for victims/survivors of domestic violence. This is a non immigrant visa allocated for victims of substantial abuse while in United States. It is available to those who underwent severe abuse, or willing to share the information about the crime and willing to help the authorities in investigating these crimes.

Created by The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VAWA) of 2000, this law has been amended several times and was in its beta stage for several years. I am not going into the details of this program because I will be explaining the laws related to it in the near future.

What I want to share today is a not so right message I saw on a website which says U-Visa holders can travel once the visa is approved. The FAQ answers on womenslaw.org says,

"U visa holders are allowed to leave the US but must apply for a reentry visa.

U Visa holders should keep in mind that if they accrued more than 180 days of “unlawful presence” prior to obtaining U nonimmigrant status, they may be found inadmissible on their return to the US. U visa holders subject to unlawful presence ground of inadmissibility may request a waiver of inadmissibility Form I-192. You may want to discuss this with an immigration lawyer BEFORE you leave the US."

Before the U-Visa holders pack their bags and those of you who give them the green signal to travel world wide, here is my piece of inside scoop.

To all those who have an approved U-Visa petition and to all the lawyers who are working on these cases-

According to a memo published in Aug 2009 by National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women- U-Visa holders cannot travel outside United States 'yet'. According to 'The National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women' posted a memo where they state that there is no process for reentering the country with a U Visa and discouraged anyone from traveling until DOS issues a cable specifically stating they can. Yes they can leave the country but since no process has yet been generated for them to reenter there is a fear they might be stuck abroad for a long time pending this development and jeopardize their continuous presence (for purposes of LPR eligibility). While the law says they can travel, the agencies involved have not sent any guidance to their staff on how to make it happen. So a number of U's have been stranded outside the U.S.

The memo referred to is entitled “Practice Pointers and Guidance: Traveling on a U and Us Abroad” August 2009. If any of you want more information on this and want a copy of this memo, please write to me at theimmigrationfile@gmail.com

...........................................
UPDATE 10/10/2009
Below is an update from an insider.
"The progress is that DOS is supposed to get out a cable on this soon. Some people are having success travelling without the cable but it seems to depend on the office they go to. SO, as usual, it's a risk assessment for the client. The main concern I would l have is them applying the inadmiss grounds again and not knowing the waiver..."
What he means by cable here is every time there is an update on immigration issues, DOS needs to inform the consulate and other departments- so that when the client walks in, they are aware of these updates.

Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (DV) or Green Card Lottery

2009-09-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

In 1995 the U.S Immigration Service (then INS, now USCIS) announced a new way to achieve the American dream. Like any lottery system, the program follows simple yet strict rules to participate in it. A computer-generated random selection is made from the lottery. Department of State (DOS) selects about 110,000 applicants since many of the applicants will not complete the process after being selected. Even so, DOS will only issue 50,000 visas at the end of the fiscal year.

The Diversity Visa (DV) entry forms will be available online for a period of 60 days. This year, the application will be available on October 2nd until November 30th, 2009. The forms will be available online, and you should submit the completed form online. Note that DOS does not accept any paper application.

This posting is intended only as an outline. In my future posts, I will be discussing all the requirements, procedures and relevant issues in detail.

1) Eligibility,

i) Low-Admission countries

ii) Education/work experience

(a) O*Net guidelines for required experience.

2) Options, if you are ineligible

i) “Chargeability” in detail

(a) Spouse

(b) Parents

ii) What happens if the Principal Applicant Die?

3) Your Immediate Relatives

i) Children

ii) Spouse

4) Special Situations

i) Illegal Immigrants / Out of Status

By now, if you have been religiously following my postings, you will have an idea of how to apply these rules to your own case. Before we go any further with the next step of notification and additional steps, I think we should peek into a real application and prepare you to apply and try your luck.

a) Important Rules

b) Do you need a lawyer/ or a paid third-party immigration service?

c) Step-by-step explanation of Electronic Diversity Lottery (E-DV)

i) Photograph Specification

5) Result Notification

6) What if you are not notified?

7) After you win?

i) Why hire a lawyer at this point?

ii) Applying for a visa interview date

(a) Adjustment of Status if you are currently in United States

(b) Applying from your home country

(d) Interview

As we go along, I am sure there will be additional topics to cover. But for now, this will help you think and decide if Diversity Visa Program is for you and if yes, how to do it. If you have questions, please email me at theimmigrationfile@gmail.com

Good Luck!

The Immigration File

2009-09-28T16:14:00.000-07:00

After years of day dreaming a blog for my fellow immigrants and those who wish to immigrate to the US, I am finally ready to put down my thoughts. This is an immigration law blog where I will be discussing different types of visas, how to apply, rules, regulations and issues pertaining to specific legal situations. Although, my first topic will be on Diversity Visa where a lot of you can benefit from, on a bigger picture the idea of this blog is to help victims of violence, trafficking, child abuse and more. I have realized that there is no weblogs or websites, which informs them of their legal rights, and even if there is, it does not say much.

I agree, unlike other countries, America has been very grateful to the immigrants and non-immigrants who are in this situation. My law degree, empathy towards the victims and survivors, and being a part of some of the great non-profit organizations has only inspired me to think more on how to reach you. For those of you who finally found the community centers, I empathize and acknowledge that it’s a painful wait to even get an appointment to meet with a counselor or a lawyer due to over load of cases. Through this blog, I hope to reach you all and inform you of what legal rights are available for you out here in the land of immigrants.

You should know that not all immigration cases could be tackled online due to the complexity of immigration law and therefore you might need to hire a lawyer; however, I hope this will at least educate you of your own situation and options.

Feel free to ask questions. Please make sure you have read the disclaimer below before you read my posts and ask me questions. I am a legal researcher at a prominent Massachusetts based immigration firm and currently authoring a reference book on Immigration Practice, which also means that I do run a very busy schedule. If you have questions, please do not post it as a comment, I rather prefer you send me an email. I might not be able to get back to you in 24 hours but will try to respond in 72 hours. Here is the email you should write to- theimmigrationfile@gmail.com.