I never thought this day would come, but after ten consecutive years of applying for the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program (commonly referred to as the DV Lottery or Green Card Lottery), I have finally been selected for further processing!
For those of you that have never heard of the DV Lottery before, each year the U.S. Department of State makes up to 50,000 immigrant visas available, drawn from a random selection among all entries to individuals who are from countries with low rates of immigration to the Unites States.
Applications open online in October and remain open for one month. Results are drawn the following year in the month of May. This year, 14 million hopefuls from around the world applied, and I was one of 84,000 who was selected – INSANE, I know!
Of those 85,000, only 50,000 will be successful in obtaining a Green Card, so while I am not 100% guaranteed one, luck is in my favor. Every DV Lottery winner is provided with a number – my number is so low for the Oceania region (island-nations of the Pacific Ocean, including Australia) that is will be included in the first round of applications called for processing in September!!!
As I already reside in the USA, instead of traveling back to Australia to complete this entire process, I will simply be doing an Adjustment of Status. This means I will be able to remain in the U.S. throughout the entire process and have my status changed from E3 visa holder, to U.S. permanent resident. The process is drawn out over the period of roughly five months and means I won’t be able to exit the U.S. during this time for overseas travel, but if all goes according to plan, I should be an official Green Card holder and U.S. permanent resident by January of 2016! HOW EXCITING! I was definitely overcome with emotion when I found out, but this is just the next step to the life I want and love. If you would like to do the opposite and move from the U.S. to Australia, you can apply for a skilled worker visa australia here.
I will be documenting the entire process from beginning to end here on my blog, and I hope it will be able to serve as a helpful resource for anyone else going through this same process, the same way my E3 visa posts have helped so many Aussies moving here to the USA with the help of Sunrise moving company!
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If you are an Australian citizen looking to obtain an E3 visa to work in the USA, please check out these four posts for more information:
1. Seeking E3 Visa Employment
2. 20 Seconds of Courage
3. The E3 Visa Process
4. E3 Visa Renewal Process
Green Card Lottery Winner
Green Card Lottery Winner
Green Card Lottery Winner
Hi Lynda,
I recently got my E-3 visa and I’m off to the US soon. Congrats on getting selected for Greencard. I have also been applying for over 10 years now but with no luck :(. I know the photo plays an important role in the Greencard application process. Did you take it yourself or have a photographer take it for you?
Thanks,
Alvin
I don’t think it plays a HUGE part, you just have to ensure it meets the photo requirements. And yes, I took it myself on a DSLR camera so the quality was pretty good.
Congratulations! I’m so happy for you! Can’t wait to hear your next updates!
Thank you – pretty stoked!
Will be sure to document the process and the final outcome. Fingers crossed.
Lynda recently posted…Brisbane Event Calendar
I have my fingers and toes crossed for you. My husband and I were selected in 2013 and waited a whole year for an interview that never happened )-: We’ve been working on moving to NY the last 4 years so now we are just going to pack our bags in Feb, rent our place out in Melbourne, go on a tourist and work like mad to try and get sponsored. PS I loved reading your blog about how you got an E3!
Best of luck, Belinda! And thank you for your kind words 🙂
Hi Lynda,
Congrats on the green card selection… exciting.
Where can I apply for next years green card? I’ve been trying to find it without any luck.
Thanks in advance
Hi Lynda,
My husband and I just went through the renewal process and had our E3 visa approved due to a change in employer. He started out as a contractor with a major I.T firm and they wanted to do a direct hire. We received our LCA, got our appointments, headed off for a vacation in Canada and received our visas back from Loomis pick-up centre in same 48hr period.
Here’s where it gets tricky, now the new employer has cold feet and won’t start him at the agreed date this Monday. They claim he can’t be hired on an E3 as a permanent on a fixed time offer of 3yrs, but has to be hired as an ongoing permanent with all benefits same as citizens of this country. They didn’t budget for anything but a fixed term employment contract and we were happy with this arrangement. We can’t find anything on E3 that states this is so but we do know this. If he hasn’t started work within 10 days (business we assume) of previous cancellation of E3 from before the change we will be in breach of our visa for staying in this country.
Do you know of anyone else who has faced the employer getting cold feet after the Letter of Offer and LCA and everything is complete and they’re ready to start work?
We’re madly praying they see sense and just start him and figure the details out later so we don’t breach the visa requirements and invoke the U.S Immigration department’s wrath.
If you have any advice in this area we’d gladly love to hear from you or anyone else who could help us out.
Hi Glenda
You’ll be ok if you stay longer than 10 days – just note the dates in your passport when you entered the country – so long as you leave before that exit date you should be fine
Thanks
please could you tell my exactly at which day you applied in October last year .
I applied at 20 and my brother 21 and my friend at 19 oct.
please tell my at which data applied.
Thank you
hi lynda,
can u please help me if you know what to do, couse i filled the wronge email address on Dv application form and sumitted it. will there be a chance if i won that the wrong email adress will put a problem on the process next to being selected. anything u know would help lynda. i came up with your blog when i was googling my case.
my name is teddy, i live in Eritrea (east africa)