I didn't write for almost a year! I hardly remember my user and password ;-D

after trying three years in a row... I finally won the america Visa Lottery (DV-2005) and since 5 months I'm in USA!

If you are interested in applying for the DV-2007 Visa Lottery, there is still time until December 4th, so hurry up!

The link is http://dvlottery.state.gov
This is the only oficial and free DV-2007 site, without intermediaries.

Maybe this is not the right place to write about this topic, but I want to share this information with you, because I learned a lot of interesting things in this site and I want to contribute with something too

My original plan was to emigrate to Germany via the german GC program (I even studied Deutsch for 2 years) But most of the resumes I sent didn't have a positive reply and the german GC program ended last year

Thank you Mr. Detlef and all the members for sharing your opinions and information and taking your time helping the immigrant community

Gus

@gus
where are you from?

Welcome to the hum... DV-Club :-)

I wish you all the best there, for an immigrant, a GC there is something of a kind and will help you achieve a lot. Just keep coming back giving news from time to time, like some other do.

D.

Hi Gus,

congratulations from my side, too! :-)

I agree with Nobody, please keep us up to date with your life over there, we are really interested.

Good luck
Detlef

Hey ,thanks for sharing your emotion and letting us know your current status however sharing your experience(s) is required as well ;-) If you like you could do a comparative analysis of here and there(you could do that of there, I supposed you've never worked here if I'm not mistaken or both if you like) just as others have done...


Cheers !

Thanks for the good wishes!

I'm from Paraguay (is in South America) and as I already mention my original plan was to emigrate to Germany, because my sister lives there and I also have more relatives than in USA. But is good always to have a B-plan just in case, so I was trying to get the GCs from both countries

I was in Deutschland less that a month, during vacations I took in spring 2002... and I was in the States 6 to 8 times before, most of the time for trainning and short job related travels...

The DV-Lottery is and interesting method to get the american GC, but someone have to be patient and apply year after year... a friend of mine was so lucky athe he won after applying for the second year

The online application is free in the oficial site. And you only pay for the visa processing fees at the embassy/consular office during the last interview process (I remember it was around US$ 400)

The process is not so fast... on dec 4th 2005 is the last day to apply, those selected will be notified by regular air mail between May and July 2006 and will be provided further instructions (parents names, school and highschool names and years, work experience, etc). Once you mailthis info you have to wait 9 to 12 months! until the beginning/mid of 2007 to get the last notification where they ask you for some medical examinations, original school certificates and they arrange you the interview at the US embassy.

If you are interested I promise to write more details about the process in future postings

danke,
Gus

where does your ancestors come from?

looks like you came in US with GC but without any job?
how much time did you need to find job?
where did you search?
what city are you in?

is difficult to tell where my ancestors came from because they left few traces... may be they were from the east of Germany / west Poland... unfortunatelly thereare no documentation so I can not get an european passport

Regarding my recent experiencein USA: I came here in mid June without any job proposal. First I lived in the house from some relatives in NJ and I spent the first month learning the local area and traveling between NY,NJ and DC area... and also waiting for the actual GC card and the SSN card (Social Security Number) paperwork

in July I began jobsearching using monster.com , dice.com and craigslist.org
A week later, 3 companies called me (like a phone-interview), one of them give me the oportunity of live interview. It was 2 hour long. But after that they offer me the job. It was really fast!

I moved to Vienna, VA (near Washington, DC) and I'm honestly happy working here as Systems Administrator. Is the job I was looking for

I think there is a high demand of IT workers here, I also read that theyre going to increase th number of H1B visas next year:

http://www.workpermit.com/news/2005_11_07/us/us_votes_to_increase_h1b.htm

"east Germany / west Poland..."

that is where my people came from too.
1400 years ago.

proof is not important. tell me what does your parents consider them self: germans or polaks?
what language did they speak german or polisch?
is your family name german or polisch?

is it a pitty that someone of EU origin gets US visa easier than EU?

you are right, ironically is easier to get a US visa even if you have european ancestors

in my case spanish is my mothertonge, my ancestors came from germany around a century ago, but my last name sounds polish or even russian (Zastrow)

regarding the american Lottery, today I used the calculator. There are 50.000 visas and around 7million apply every year... so the posibilities are 1:140 with a little luck, that's not so difficult... and if you are married and both apply the chances are better 1:70

By the way today I found another interesting history of a german family that came to USA

http://www.workpermit.com/news/2005_11_28/us/us_green_card_lottery.htm

PD: sounds a little like an advertisement ;-)