Immigration Dreams: Green Card Lottery Affected 22,000!

Despondent Immigrants: Immigrants from nearly each part of the world ranging from Cameroon to Ireland and belonging to various fields that included students as well as management consultants. All these people were mistakenly told that they have won in Green Card Lottery but were left in utter dejection when the reality was brought forth. The lottery is seen as the fastest way to get hold of a Green Card while the conventional modes are quite cumbersome.

The Affected Sulk: Mr. Kuate, a 31-year old researcher said, “There was no word to explain my happiness when I was told I had my name in the lottery” on May 1. However, as he recalls, just over 10 days later he was sent a message that the lottery has been cancelled. His plight was aggravated as his brother had sold a land in Banjoun for $4,400 to finance the process to establish him in the US.

Conventional Methods: Application for a Green Card can take a long time to be processed. Further, if an employment-based Green Card is to be avail one needs to inhibit and prove their extraordinary skills and competencies that will benefit the country. If an applicant hails from countries like India, China, Mexico, Philippines, etc. then their applications will take more time, as there is a yearly limit to the number of immigrants from these countries.

Lucrative Lottery: Unlike the usual modes, lottery presents one of the fastest pathways to a Green Card, usually less than two years. Roughly, a million people immigrate lawfully to the United States on a yearly basis. These mainly come through work-based or family based agendas. Moreover, bringing your siblings and other family may also become more difficult. The lottery mode attracts a greater number of applicants hailing from entirely diverse backgrounds and professions.

Success Stats: Earlier, a vast majority of US immigrants was constituted by Latin America and Asia. Since 1995, the Lottery policy has been successful to balance the proportion of immigrant population. Congressional Research Service submitted a report stating that in 2009, 49% lottery-winning immigrants hailed from Africa that made merely 11% of the cumulative immigration count of 1.1 million people. Similar to a green card holder, a lottery winning United States’ immigrant is legally qualified to be a US citizen.