Subject: Greencard lottory

From: [email-masked] (J Su)
Date: Wed, 9 Mar 94 08:54:02 CST

Somebody asked about the greencard lottory program, here is the answer:

The AA-1 Immigrant Visa Lottery Program

1. Who qualifies for to request or apply  for registration ?
                        ----------------
Natives of the following countries :
Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Guadaloupe, New Caledonia, Germany,
Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Bermunda, Gibraltar, Hungary, Iceland,
Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, San Marino, Sweden,
Switzerland, Tunisia.

2. How and when ?
The application period for registration for the visa to be issued during
fiscal year 1992 will begin at 12:01 a.m. Washington D.C. time on
Wednesday, July 29,1992 and will end at 12:00 p.m. midnight on Friday,
August 28,1992. Application must be mailed to the following address :

AA-1 Program
P.O. Box 1992
Dulles, VA 21301-1993
U.S.A.

Typed or clearly printed at the upper left hand corner of the front of the
envelope must be the applicant's native country or area (from the list above).
Below the country must be the name and mailing address of the applicant as
they are shown on the application.

example 

       --------------------------------------------------------------
       | Northern Ireland                                 postage   |
       | George Q. Public                                           |
       | 1234 Any Street, Apt 5                                     |
       | Genter City, NJ 10001                                      |
       |                                                            |
       |                                                            |
       |                   AA-1 Program                             |
       |                   P.O. Box 1993                            |
       |                   DULLES, VA 21301-1993                    |
       |                   U.S.A.                                   |
       |____________________________________________________________|

3. Only one application may be submitted by or for each applicant during 
this registration period. Applictions for registration will be selected in
a random order from among all of those received during the specidied period.

4. Applications must be sent to the address above by regular mail or air
mail, and may be mail from within the United States or from abroad. Any
mail requiring signed receipts such as registered mail, hand-delivered
applications, telegrams or applications sent by courier or any other means
will NOT be eligible for the visa lottery. Applications received at the
post office box before or after the application period or delivered to
any other address will NOT be considered for registration. Only one 
application may be included in each envelope.

5. Size of envelope in which each application is mailed must be between
6 inches and 9.5 inces in length and between 3.5 inches and 4.5 inches in
width.

6. What information must be included on the application for registration?
There is no special application form. Simply use a sheet of paper and 
type or clearly print in the roman alphabet the following format :

a. Applicant's full name
   Last name, First name and Middle Name
   Underline last Name                      example : Public, George Quincy
   -------------------                                ------

b. Applicant's Date and place of birth
   Date of Birth: Day, Month Year.          example : 15 November 1961
   Place of Birth: City/Town, District/County,Province, Country  
          example : Toronto, Ontario, Canada
c. Name and date and place of birth of applicant's spouse and children
   if any
   Spouse and child does not need to be born in the same country
   child must be under 21 years of age and unmarried
   DO NOT list parents as they are not entitled to derivative status
d. Applicant's mailing address
   a telephone number is optional
e. United States Consular Office to which visa registration should be sent

7. Person who claim alternate foreign state chargeability should also include
                    =====================================
   a statement to that effect on the application.   Alternate foreign state
   chargeability will be explained later.

8. It is not necessary to include an offer of employment with the request
   for registration right now, but chosen applicants who will register for
   the AA-1 status will need to present an offer of employment in the
   U.S. at the time of formal visa interview. There is no fee for submission
   of request for registration, but a winning applicants who will register
   will need to pay a $25 registration fee when they turn in their registration 

9. How is term NATIVE defined ?
   Native means both someone born within one of the countries listed and 
   someone entitled to be charged to such country under the provisions of
   seciont 202(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. An applicant for
   AA-1 registration may be charged to the country of birth of a spouse;
   a child can be charged to the country of birth of a parent; and an 
   applicant born in a country of which neither parent was a native or a
   resident at the time of his/her birth may be charged to the country of
   birth of either parent. An applicant who claims the benefit of alternate
   chargeability must include a statement to that effect on the application
   for registration, and must show the country of chargeability on the
   upper left hand corner of the envelope in which the registration request
   is mailed.

10. Changes of boundaries of qualifying country :
   for a person to be considered to have been born in a qualifying country,
   the place of birth must be within the boundaries currently recognized
   by the U.S.

11. Applicant may be in the U.S. or in another country, application may be
   mailed in the U.S. or abroad.

12. Each applicant is limited to only 1 application

13. husband and wife may each submit one application/request for registration,
    if either is registered (chosen), the other would be entitled to 
    derivative status.

14. Applicants may prepare and submit their own request for registration,or
    have someone act on their behalf. Regardless of who submit the application,
    1 registration is limited per person.  There is no requirement that an
    applicatn sign the registration request. Only one notification letter
    will be sent for each case registered to the address on the application

15. an offer of employment should not be submitted as part of the request
    for registration. Applicants who are successfully registered for AA-1
    status will need to present an employment offer at the time of visa
    issuance. Applicants must submit evidence of a commitment for FULL-time
    employment in the U.S. at the visa interview. Two or more part-time jobs
    will meet this requirement if taken together, tehy constitute full-time
    employement, as long as the applicant submits letters from each employer
    supporting the job offer. The offer may come from a business or any
    other institution or organization in the United Staes, or from a private
    individual. Evidence of existing self-employment in the United Staes can
    meet the offer of the employment requirment; a plan to create one's own
    business in the futre, even in the immediate future, would not qualify,
    however.

16. How will cases be registered ?
all mail received will be individually numbered. After the end of the 
application period, a computer will randomly select cases from among all the
mail received. The first letter randomly selected will be the first case
registered, the second letter second, etc. It makes no difference whether
an  application is received early or late in the application period. When a
case has been registered, the applicant will immediately be sent a
notification letter, which will provide appropriate visa application 
instructions. The registration will at the same time be forwarded to the
consular office which will process the case; all subsequent visa processing
information will be obtained by the applicant directly from that consular
office

17. Applicatns who are NOT registered (did not win the lottery) will receive
no response to their registration request. Anyone who does NOT receive a
letter within 3 months after the application period will know that his/her
application has not been registered.

18. How many will be registered ?
A total of about 50,000 persons, both principal applicants and their spouses
and children will be registered. It is likely that some of the first 40,000
persons who are registered will not pursue their cases to visa issuance, this
larger number should ensure use of all AA-1 number, but it also risks some
registrants being left out. The law specifies that at least 40% (16,000) of
each year aa-1 visa are to made availabe to natives of Ireland.

19. there is no minimum age requirment, but the employment commitment 
requirement will effectively disqualify anyone who is under the legal 
working age.

20. a 25$ fee per case registered will be collected by the consular office 
to which the case is sent for processing, when the applicant responds to
the registration notification letter.

21. The law states that , for AA-1 visa applicants, the INS shall waive
the ground of visa ineligibility based on misrepresentation on an 
application for a visa or for entry into the US, unless there is a finding
that such waiver is not in the national interest. In addition, the law
automatically waives the two year foreign residence requiremnt on certain
former exchange visitor (j) visa holders under INA 212(e). Also the
requirement for a labor certification does not apply. In all other respects,
persons registered under the AA-1 program must meet the standard eligibility
requirements before a visa can be issued.

22. applicants who are already registered for an immigrant visa in another
category may apply for this registration . 

23. persons registered are entitled to apply for visa issuance ONLY during
fiscal year 1993. There is no carry-over benefit into another year for persons
who are registered but who do not obtain visas during FY-1993.

disclaimer :Neither I or the company is  responsible for any typo errors. 
for further information consult your immigration lawyer or call the INS office.
This is posted solely for your information, and neither I or the company 
bears any legal interest or responsibility for it.