US GREEN CARD LOTTERY

Starting date fast approaching

Millions dream of starting life anew in America. Each year there’s an official lottery just for these people. Fifty thousand US Green Cards can be won. The American Dream is a company that does its best to see that those who chance their luck don’t slip up on the way. Even when you’ve won a Green Card there is always more to do than just say ‘thank you’, says its boss Holger Zimmermann.

More than a million Africans are expected to make a bid for an American Green Card in this year’s annual lottery with Nigerians certain to be the most enthusiastic players of all, when the start flag comes down in the next weeks. “Nine thousand Nigerians won last time,” says Holger Zimmermann of Berlin-based The American Dream. “But I doubt if more than 2,000 will finally get through”.

‘Getting through’ means actually being issued with a Green Card. The American Dream charges a small fee to see this actually happens with all its winning clients. It accompanies them throughout the long journey to the immigration gates.All 70 or so of its African clients who won a Green Card in last years lottery will actually be going to America, Mr Zimmermann confirms.

Filling out the lottery form is actually very simple, Mr Zimmermann agrees. “It probably takes 10 minutes to fill out the form, depending on how many members there are in your family and the time it takes to upload their photographs,” Mr Zimmermann says.

But if there is a slip, even with the size and resolution of the photographs, the form will be rejected by the computer. Sonie 3 million were disqualified for some mistakes two years ago, according to one report.

Filling out a form from The American Dream’s website means everything is monitored. Mistakes will be spotted and there will be a call back or an email for a correction. The company has a computer programme that automatically squares up the photographs so that they meet all the technical requirements because now everything has to be sent electronically over the Internet to the State Department’s Lottery Office in Kentucky.

For clients who still prefer to fill out the forms on paper, American Dream will send one in the post. Photographs can be attached and they will be scanned. Everything will then be logged into the company’s database ready for the announcement when the lottery doors are opened.

Only during one month in a year – and for most of the year no one knows when this month actually starts and ends – are the lottery players allowed to transmit their forms to America. The American Dream, which takes in forms throughout the year, watches out for this. “I wish I knew the dates,” said Mr Zimmermann as The African Courier was going to press. “I expect the start will be sometime towards the end of November and the beginning of December.”

Miss this ‘window’ and you have to wait for another year. “We send everything electronically and have a direct interface with the American Lottery,” says Mr Zimmermann. Every year the company files more than 30,000 applications. Most of these arc for its German clients. More than 1,000 won a Green Card this summer.
Every winner is informed through a letter sent out from the United States. lt is here that a major problem may arise for participants in some countries. The post may go astray. Nothing is registered. The American Dream chases down its winners until they confirm they have got the news. Then it sends out the forms to fill out and returns these itself directly to the officials in America. Every one of its clients is sure to get the news.

Then comes the tricky part for the lucky ones. “You really have to do more than just say ‘thank you’. The Green Card doesn’t actually arrive in the post. There arc a lot things that you have to attend to,” says Mr Zimmermann. “What’s important now is the advice we offer. With our help, these things are not that difficult.”

First, there is a six-sided form to be filled out before being offered an interview at an American Consulate. Documents, including a certificate proving 12 years of schooling, have to be collected. Then winners have to be prepared for the Consular interview. “We advise the winners what they have to expect at this interview,” says Mr Zimmermann.

The American Dream also has a winners’ Internet forum. Here winners can access thousands of questions and answers in both English and German. They range from what is asked during the Consular appointment to whether all documents need to be translated into English. “lt’s a great help for the winners. Most of them are sitting alone somewhere. Here they can get to know each other,” says Mr Zimmermann. “The answers come fast,” he added, pointing to one of the most recent batch of questions from one winner showing on his computer screen. Answers started arriving the next day.

This year, The American Dream is celebrating its first ten years by holding a lottery of its own for all those who participate in the coming Green Card Lottery. The top prize is a trip for two to the United States with or without a Green Card.

CONTACT
Mr Holger Zimmermann
Tel: 030-511 0511 (from outside Germany: 004930- 511 0511)
Fax: 0180 511 0512 (from outside Germany: 0049 30-511 0512)
Email: info@americandream.de
Website: www.americandream.de

“Then I began playing until I eventually won”- Frant Kembou

Frant Kembou heard he had won a US Green Card in June last year. The news came in an email from The American Dream. After all the form filling, collection of documents and a Consular interview, he now has his US visa in his Cameroonian passport. Just a few more months and he will finally be settled in New Jersey — a dream he never gave up on

“You have to have a lot of luck. But you mustn’t give up either.” Frant Kembou’s luck came up last year when he heard he had won a US Green Card. lt was his seventh try in the annual lottery. Each time he played, he was a client of The American Dream. “lt was always my dream to win a Green Card and go to America,” said the 31 -yearold Cameroonian who arrived in Germany as student back in 1997. “I’d heard about the lottery back in Cameroon. But it was here in Germany that a fellow countryman gave me the address of The American Dream. Then I began playing until I eventually won.”

Never giving up has also applied to his studies in Germany, he said. “lt hasn’t been easy. The language is so difficult. Then I had to work in a warehouse in the holidays to finance my studies. But I never gave up. I always fought on. I always believed O could do it.”

He started his university studies in Kiel. Then he moved to Cologne University where he could specialise in biology. He is now working in the university laboratory and writing up his Masters dissertation, which he must hand to his professor in December. Re received his actual degree last year. “Super timing,” an American official commented at his Consular interview in Frankfurt in August.

More luck has also showed up to make things especially easy for him since hearing of his win and receiving the first forms to fill out via The American Dream. Two years ago Frant’s 27-year-old sister Ushe, a nurse who qualified in Germany, settled in America. By chance her husband, also from Cameroon, is also a biologist like Frant. They arc good friends from Germany.

Frant will be able to live with them in New Jersey until he finds a job. They live 20 minutes from New York. This helped speed through the issuing of a visa. He plans to work in a research laboratory like his brother-in-law. Frant is currently using his free time to find a cheap ticket to America. He plans to fly there in January to pick up his Green Card.