Greencard Lottery

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These really annoying "Greencard" lottery pop-ups flash before my eyes mocking me with "Do you want a better life?" If that means entering a lottery for a Greencard then how is my life already meaningless or "worse"?

What is a Greencard anyway and why on earth would I or anyone else want one?

 

The USA think that their country is the most fantastic place in the world and that everybody wants to go and live there. So they restrict the numbers of people who can go. But instead of a sensible system, they have this thing called a 'Green card' that they give away in what they call lotteries. If you get one, then you're on your way to a better life! Because if you live anywhere else, you're just not living!

 

A Green Card is basically a document that gives a foreigner (non U.S. citizen) the ability to get a job and receive the benefits as citizens.

Before 9-11, the United States gave out Green Cards like potato chips. That changed, we were taught a very important lesson that day.

So, as a result, Green Cards are far more restricted than before. I'm not sure about the lottery though.

As far as the comment of going to a "better life" is concerned, you're not that far from the truth. Americans, in general, view the Union is a haven surrounded by chaos and tyranny.

 

I've lived (i.e. more than 6 months at once) in Auckland: New Zealand, Mountain View: California: USA, and London: England.

I'd take Auckland: New Zealand ANY day.

 

I've never visited Mountain View before. However, if I remember correctly, it is located in the L.A. Basin. In that case, I can understand why you would not like to live there.

The L.A. Basin is not the best looking real estate in California. Personally, I grew up in Sacramento, and, as a result, love trees.

On other note, why on Earth are Palm Trees considered "trees". It might be Sac bias, but palm trees are, perhaps, the most ugly plant in nature.

 

Hmm, I have never heard of the LA Basin. Mountain View was near Palo Alto and San Jose in Silicon Valley.

 

Oh that Mountain View! We really need to get some unique names in California. There is a Cameron Park located north of Sac (its just a small town) and there is a Cameron Park in Southern California. Argh!

San Jose is a nice area and parts of San Francisco are truely beautiful. However, still I prefer the green forests of Sac, Placerville and Tahoe.

 

Also green cards aren't the only way to (legally) work in this country. There are also visas, which will allow you entry into the country, and thus you could get a job. However, I do not think that visas confer the same level of benefits as green cards. However, the way I understood it, most people got visas (probably because they are easier to get, with the downside that they expire after a year). The only time I hear about people getting Green Cards are people from Mexico and Latin America immigrating to the U.S. I never heard of a European moving to the U.S. and getting a Green Card (possibly because hardly any Europeans would particularly want to move to the U.S.).

 

Actually, I think that statement holds true to some extent, because chances are, if you don't live in the U.S., we're sending troops over to kill you, if we haven't already.

Where are you seeing Greencard Lottery pop-ups?

I think there's a big difference between a Visa and a Greencard, but neither allows you to instantly start working. I'm a bit foggy on the details (I can easily dig them up later if anyone is really *that* interested, my girlfriend just became a citizen not too long ago...), but I believe it goes something like this, you get a greencard, then apply for temporary citizenship, which allows you to work, if you don't have that you need a "sponsor," otherwise if you get caught recieving an unsanctioned income, you get deported.

I believe a Visa is just a pass for an unusually long stay in a country, having little to do with work or citizenship.

 

Having just gone through the US green card process for my wife, here's how it breaks down. A green card (which incidentally is no longer green or a card) allows foreign nationals the ability to work and live in the US--pretty much the same rights as a citizen, except for certain ones such as voting. They last for ten years (with options for renewals); after three years the green card holder is eligible for citizenship.

Green cards are available for immigrants in one of three routes: sponsorship by a family member (who must be a citizen or possess a green card), sponsorship by an employer, or via the lottery. The US receives far more applications for green cards than we could allow, so the folks who don't have sponsors get placed into the lottery. I can't cite anything official, but I've been told anecdotally the chances of being selected in the annual lottery are somewhere between 0-3%.

The green card allows the holder to immediately begin working, for any company as long as the green card is valid. There are some 'working' visas, such as the H-1B, but they are very restricted in terms of what the holder can and can not do, as well as how long they last.

 

50,000 green cards are given via lottery every year. Registration for the lottery is usually done between November and the end of December.

 

A green card is a residency permit. Nothing more, nothing less. Every country has one, but they call it something more sensible, like "residency permit."

 

Art. I'm not sure which program taps into the ads but it might be from Flashget, a download manager.

I have just found the whole thing annoying. I wonder if these kinds of ads exist for any other country?

What is so bad about the "Union" if that = EU?