There are many ads in greek newspapers for the green card lottery (http://www.usafis.org).
I went to their web site and it doesn’t look very legitimate to me. Is it an official program sponsored by the US government or just a scam?
The green card lottery itself is not a scam, but many scams have been developed in connection with the green card lottery. Officially called the DV (Diversity Visa) Lottery, it is designed to grant U.S. permanent residence to nationals of countries which have historically been underrepresented in immigration to the U.S. So not everyone is eligible to apply. (Applicants must meet other criteria as well, such as having attained a certain level of educaiton.)
The site you link may very well be a scam; I’m not about to give them my e-mail address. Their front page is designed very much like the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services home page; it appears that they’re trying to fool people into thinking they’re a U.S. Government agency. Here’s the real page, for comparison:
Here’s the State Department home page:
Here’s a short primer from the State Department on how this year’s lottery (DV-2005) worked. As you will see, applicants only need to complete a simple online form and include a photo. Application is free of charge, and there is no requirement to have an attorney, agency, or anyone else complete the form. The DV-2005 application period is now over, and applicants will notified between May and July 2004 if they have been selected.
http://travel.state.gov/dv2005.html
Of course, all sorts of people will try to convince potential applicants that they need help to complete the application (for a fee, of course). Your site looks like it falls into that category.
Is there a 2004 DIVERSITY IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM (DV-2004) for immigrants from many nations? Yes
Can I enter the DV-2004 lottery, via mail, the State Department website, or any private organization? No
All qualifying entries for DV-2004 had to arrive at the State Department’s Kentucky Consular center between noon, Oct 7, 2002 and noon, November 6, 2002. For the DV-2005 Lottery, which had an application website the application period was November 1, 2003, through December 30, 2003.
But it can’t hurt to file with these companies for, say, 2006, right?
It depends: do you trust them to follow all procedures exactly? Also “All entries by an applicant will be disqualified if more than ONE entry for the applicant is received, regardless of who submitted the entry.” and “Persons not selected will NOT receive any notification.” (you’ll never know if your application was ever submitted)
No plans, dates or forms have been announced for a DV-2006 [There have been suggestions that it may not be held due to tightened security], so the rules, forms and eligible nations for 2006 are guesses at best. In short, it would be a pointless waste of time and money to sign up with USAFIS now.
It is not entirely clear how these outside groups can provide some of the “benefits” that they promise - e.g. the State Department states that your first and only application must be complete and cannot be changed later. USAFIS states that applications made through them can unpdate their photos at any time. This is only possible if they don’t actually submit any applications until the last minute. Once submitted, no changes are possible.
It is not entirely clear how the third-party filing services can meet some of teh filing requirements, such as signature requirements, and sending the visa and other travel documents by mail (The lottery grants eligibility for a visa, it does not grant the visa itself. All paperwork must be filled out, in person, in front of an officer of teh US government). Moreover, they state that all applications via the State Department must be submitted online (a technical obstacle to many) I have found no indication that this is true (indeed, mailing addresses and requirements were posted on the State department website)
There is no fee to enter the lottery through the State Department, but these outside organizations charge a fee (which I can’t seem to find on their websites - maybe someone else can].
The FTC and State Department have been issuing alerts about green card scams for years.
Easily; the forms required for an immigrant visa (green card) application aren’t a secret; you can find them on the State Department’s website:
http://travel.state.gov/visaforms.html
The DS-230 is required for an immigrant visa application. We prep these for clients all the time. Honestly, I don’t know why an English-speaking person with a straightforward case would pay someone else to prepare an immigrant visa application; basically, clients pay my firm for our expertise, and for knowing which unusual situations will present a problem, and how to deal with any issues that come up - things like criminal convictions and eligibility for a green card, previous immigration violations, that sort of thing. Sometimes we write some really ugly and complicated legal briefs, but those are the exception rather than the rule. Basically, clients pay us to be detail-oriented.
The way it works logistically is that we prep the forms based on information clients have provided, mail them to clients for review and signature, the clients mail the signed forms back, indicating any necessary corrections, and we file them with the necessary government office. There is no requirement that the application forms be completed in front of a consular officer; they just need to be signed in front of the officer at the time of the final interview.
And regarding the requirement to submit applications electronically, from the State Dept. web site:
http://travel.state.gov/dv2005.html
“The Department of State will only accept completed Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Forms submitted electronically at http://www.dvlottery.state.gov during the 60 day registration period beginning November 1, 2003.
The Department of State will send DV lottery entrants an electronic confirmation notice upon receipt of a completed EDV Entry Form.
Paper entries will not be accepted.”
The address you mention is purely a processing center.
Eva Luna, Immigration Paralegal