Adjustment Of Status (DV Lottery)

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....

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

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

1. What falls into the category of substantial physical or mental abuse as defined by U-Visa criteria?
2. Which criminal activities resulting in substantial physical or mental abuse are addressed under the U-Visa application policy?
3. What does “helping government authorities” mean?
4. 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?

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

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:

1. 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.

2. The photograph must have a minimum resolution of 150 dpi (dot per inch).
3. The maximum file size should NOT be more than 250 KB.
4. You must use 24-bit true color mode while saving your photograph on your system. Grayscale pictures will be declined.
5. The picture should cover your full face and asks for a front view.
6. Use a plain white or off-white background for your picture. Background patterns or photographs clicked outdoors will be declined.
7. Make sure there is enough lighting and no distracting shadows on the face or on the background.
8. Make sure the photograph has its natural tone. Pictures with adjusted brightness and contrast are usually rejected by the system.
9. You should be facing the camera. DOS is not accepting side view profiles yet.
10. If you use eyeglasses in your everyday life, do use it when you click the photograph.
11. 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

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

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.