American GreenCard Lottery 2005 – New digital visa Lotto

For the first time this year, applications for the annual US visa lottery will be made online. Our special correspondent writes on what the new innovation might mean for African applicants, in Europe or in Africa

The US government has just announced the results of last year‘s visa lottery, officially known as Diversity Immigrant Visa Program. As is the case every year, the US again gave away 55,000 permanent residence cards (GreenCards) to people all over the world. The program is designed to facilitate the immigration of people from otherwise underprivileged nations, and thus, a particularly high number of Africans also win the lottery every time.

The program is especially popular in the English-speaking parts of Africa. Therefore, may not be surprising that the highest numbers of players (and winners) come from Nigeria (6,725 winners), Ethiopia (6,060 winners) and Ghana (3,974). Also, 3,618 Kenyans and 2,857 Togolese recently received the notice that will change their life.

One of the people who arc still anxiously waiting for the results is Vivian Ode, now a resident of Berlin. “I would be more than happy to live in a country which will actually accept me and give me the right to work, say’s the attractive young lady who currently has to report to the Ausländerbehörde every three months, and is not allowed to work or study in Germany.”

Nevertheless, she prays even harder for her family members who arc still in Africa. “If I get the American GreenCard it would make my life much easier, but for them, it would really be a dream come true“, she adds. “With the current restrictions, it is becoming so difficult to get a visa for Europe. I think it is wonderful that America is still offering a free program which makes visas available for anyone, regardless of race and origin.”

The GreenCard Program is indeed, open to almost anyone. Only countries with very high immigration numbers to the US are excluded from the program, such as Great Britain, Canada, Mexico and China. At the moment, all African nations arc allowed to apply for an immigration visa through the lottery program.

However, some major changes have recently made it a little bit more difficult to take part in this program. Since 1994, the US authorities receive an average of approximately 10 million applications per year by mail. It was a tremendous effort to open and register all applications manually before the winners could be chosen randomly. Therefore, the government introduced a more modern way to take part in the lottery in 2004: All applications have to be sent online through the internet. This includes digit al pictures which need to be uploaded on a specially designated website run by the US State department.

Especially in poorer countries, where inter net cafes arc not yet as widespread as in Europe, this may cause a problem. However, quite a few immigration agencies have already specialised in helping people enter the lottery, even if they have no internet access. The biggest such agency in Europe is THE AMERICAN DREAM, based in Berlin, Germany , which has helped over 5,000 people to get their GreenCard since 1996.

Company Manager Holger Zimmermann explains, “Even in Germany, with internet available everywhere, more than two-thirds of all applicants rely on our services. For most people, winning this lottery is just too important. A small mistake in filling out the on line forms would make an application invalid, and people are afraid to run this risk”.

With the new procedures, the digital photo has to be in a very exact format, regarding resolution, size and compression. His agency, however, still accepts regular photos which will be digitalized for all customers at no extra cost. Furthermore, a 24-hour hot line helps customers and winners with any questions they may have.

However, the digital application also has at least one major advantage as Zimmermann admits, “It is not necessary anymore to sign the application personally. Thus, any per son who wants to play the lottery for their family members in Africa only needs their photos and their date and place of birth. They don‘t need to go through the lengthy procedure of sending the forms back and forth to Africa anymore

The next lottery will take place in November this year. The winners will then be notified by June or July 2005. They will be scheduled for an appointment at an American embassy near their places of residence to receive the immigration visa. At this time, the successful participant needs to present a birth certificate, a valid passport and documentation that he has completed at least 12 years of school, or that he has recently worked in a job that requires at least two years of work experience or training. If everything is okay, the consul will issue the immigration visa to the applicant as well as to his or her immediate family members – husband or wife, and all children under the age of 21. The visa allows for immediate travel to the USA – including a work permit. After five years in America, any GreenCard holder may also apply for American citizenship.