Since 1994, 50,000 green cards or permanent residence visas are granted by United States, all randomly. There are millions of applicants awaiting the announcement of the selection. In 2014 of 14.4 million applicants, only 125 were selected. Important to remember, this selection includes the applicants and theirs families.
Each fiscal year, exceeding the number of requests of existing visas, a lottery is assigned to help applicants to get their green card. The only requirement is that the applicant has at least secondary education or two years of professional experience.
By 2015 there was a change, of the nineteen countries that already had a strong migratory flow to the United States Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Peru, China, UK and India were excluded .
Currently the maximum number of H-1B visas for professionals with special talents (athletes, doctors, artists,
educators) which are also known as Visa cap, approved by fiscal year reached 85,000. This visa is for professionals who wish to work in the United States.
The number of H-1B visas in a year are divided into two categories: a general one that includes 65,000 visas, and another with 20,000 places for applicants who studied their master’s or doctorate in public college or university in the United States.
Each year, the number of applications exceeds the visas that are available, which is why a lottery is held to determine who has the possibility to obtain the H-1B.
How is the process with the lottery?
April 1st, six months after begin the new fiscal period, the applications are open. Anyone who wants to apply must be attentive and do the procedure quickly. If April 7 comes, and there’s overflow of applications, the possibility of application is closed.
For each application a number is assigned, and applicants are separated depending on the category to which they’ve applied. After this, a computer selects the winners of H-1B.
The number who applied to this category and were not selected, become part of another batch of numbers that still have hope of being selected. After this, a new automated draw where the winning numbers are chosen takes place.
Information of applicants who were winners in the lottery is sent to the USCIS Service Centers. There the winners will be notified of their selection and the necessary arrangements will be made.
Frauds?
The American government uses facial recognition tools to detect people who are running several times with different names.
Many websites of official-looking buy the word “green card” in Google and sell the application for $50, when in fact it is something that can be done free and easily on the official website.
Fact: the African continent is earning more “green cards”, with 41% of the total diversity