OPPORTUNITY
Nov 03, 2009
US GREEN CARD: A CHANCE FOR FRESH GRADUATES <br>TO BUILD A CAREER<br><br>You are welcome to America, enjoy your stay here!†the big, American told me at JF Kennedy Airport, New York, with a faint smile as he stamped my passport. “This is itâ€, I t
US GREEN CARD: A CHANCE FOR FRESH GRADUATES
TO BUILD A CAREER
By Ham Ssonko
You are welcome to America, enjoy your stay here!†the big, American told me at JF Kennedy Airport, New York, with a faint smile as he stamped my passport. “This is itâ€, I told myself as I melted into the sea of visibly excited immigrants who had just been cleared into the US to chase their dream.
“Yes, you are now in the land of opportunities,†I said to myself.
I remembered how some folks back home had done everything they could to make it to the US; how the kanyamas had a booming business in the visa lines and how many hearts broke over visa refusals. How lucky I was to have got the green card…or was I?
Who is eligible?
- I have since met and talked to many people about the green card and it never ceases to sadden me how little is known about green cards and how much fraud and fleecing occurs due to erroneous information about it.
I have seen many adverts in the newspapers and on the Internet about acquisition of green cards. I hope my personal experience will help since the annual green card application period is on right now, running from October 2 to November 30, 2009.
The official name of this programme is “Electronic Diversity Visa Lotteryâ€, which is a US government programme (official website www.dvlottery.state.gov) designed to give opportunity to diverse nationalities to legally migrate, live and work in the US. This is in the historical spirit of the birth and creation of the US. Every year, 50,000 immigrants are given this opportunity. This is not a resettlement and hand-out programme but is a programme aimed at immigrants, educated to at least high school level (equivalent of S.6.) with working skills and training, who would like to live and work professionally in the US.
Different countries are given quotas of available visas each year. While some countries have to-date filled their quotas and are no longer eligible for the programme, many others are still eligible and their citizens can apply to fill the quotas available. And many qualify to go to the US and create new economic and career opportunities for themselves and their children.
Uganda’s quotas not full
- Unfortunately, Ugandans apparently never fill their green card quotas given the recent statistics of 396 visas (2009), 152 visas (2008), and 122 visas (2007) compared to Kenya with 4,619 visas (2009), 2,187 visas (2008) and 1,353 visas (2007).
Given the social, economic and population comparisons with our neighbours, I would like to suggest that ignorance about the programme and erroneous applications are the main causes of the discrepancy with Kenyan green card holders.
Given the fact that so many educated Ugandans are jobless or ‘working poor’ and try to get visitors’, students’ and all kinds of visas, hoping to sneak into kyeyo seems to suggest that many people desire the opportunity but do not know how to go about it. By more Ugandans knowing about the green card lottery and applying correctly and accurately through the right channels, the Ugandan quota of visas may be filled and many young professionals and graduates may be able to fulfill their professional, career, life and business pursuits in the US.
You can develop your career
- I personally believe it is a golden career opportunity, especially for young, single graduates who upgrade in the American education easily and become more competitive in the immense and varied job market. For the very accomplished professionals, it may be a tough call giving up your Ugandan accomplished dream to start off at square one again where more often, your non-American education and experience is not given its due weight by employers unless you upgrade in the American education system. But again as the saying goes in the US, “life begins at 40!†So there is a real opportunity of starting afresh (even changing careers) and succeeding. Nevertheless, for parents, it may be a real nightmare trying to juggle between jobs and watching over children (be forever grateful to your maids — they are a blessing usually abused and taken for granted).
Direct application is the best
- Whereas there are agencies in newspapers and on the Internet claiming to help applicants get green cards, my personal experience and the advice on the official US government site for the programme seems to suggest that direct application on that site is the best, cheapest and safest way to do it.
Log into the website, read the instructions carefully. The US is structured differently from Uganda, everything is a straight line, no buts, ifs or negotiations.
Simply do it the way it is laid out in the instructions or be disqualified from the word go (maybe that is where the agencies that deal with green cards may come in to help — to help you fill in and then submit your details on the official website). But if you are a Senior Six graduate with a certified birth certificate, education certificates, marriage certificate and children’s certificates, then you should be able to do it for yourself and all should be well if everything is genuine. The instructions on photographs are also crucial and become the first eliminating factor (using professionals recommended by the US embassy in Kampala should help). Submissions are on first come—first serve basis and once the lottery entry quota is full, that is it. So it is crucial to apply as soon as possible.
Otherwise once submitted and accepted (as confirmed online straightaway — keep your printout for the whole process), your entry is in for a free lottery for the Uganda slot. After about six months, if you have been successful in round one, paper forms are sent to you for re-submission. Again respond as soon as possible.
Be consistent, patient
- Any discrepancies and inconsistencies in your submissions then and in later verification interviews in Nairobi or at the US port of entry will also cause disqualification. The process involves payments to the tune of about $1,000 (about sh2m) per person for the visa at the US embassy in Nairobi as well as medical check-up fees at specified Kenya clinics. The whole selection and qualification process may take between 12 to 18 months from application to actual entry into the US.
Other than those basic requirements and money for an air ticket, you would need to present a host living in the US who will be willing (and qualified) to accommodate and support you for six months as you settle down into employment (short of which you must have financial evidence that you can support yourself for that period). Once you have that and are cleared by the US embassy in Nairobi, you should be on your way to your American dream.
Of course every rose has its thorns — Uganda with its economic issues, the US with its socio-cultural issues. But again, who knows where the good Lord has laid your green pastures? Wherever that path may be, seek it out and go for it!
TO BUILD A CAREER
By Ham Ssonko
You are welcome to America, enjoy your stay here!†the big, American told me at JF Kennedy Airport, New York, with a faint smile as he stamped my passport. “This is itâ€, I told myself as I melted into the sea of visibly excited immigrants who had just been cleared into the US to chase their dream.
“Yes, you are now in the land of opportunities,†I said to myself.
I remembered how some folks back home had done everything they could to make it to the US; how the kanyamas had a booming business in the visa lines and how many hearts broke over visa refusals. How lucky I was to have got the green card…or was I?
Who is eligible?
- I have since met and talked to many people about the green card and it never ceases to sadden me how little is known about green cards and how much fraud and fleecing occurs due to erroneous information about it.
I have seen many adverts in the newspapers and on the Internet about acquisition of green cards. I hope my personal experience will help since the annual green card application period is on right now, running from October 2 to November 30, 2009.
The official name of this programme is “Electronic Diversity Visa Lotteryâ€, which is a US government programme (official website www.dvlottery.state.gov) designed to give opportunity to diverse nationalities to legally migrate, live and work in the US. This is in the historical spirit of the birth and creation of the US. Every year, 50,000 immigrants are given this opportunity. This is not a resettlement and hand-out programme but is a programme aimed at immigrants, educated to at least high school level (equivalent of S.6.) with working skills and training, who would like to live and work professionally in the US.
Different countries are given quotas of available visas each year. While some countries have to-date filled their quotas and are no longer eligible for the programme, many others are still eligible and their citizens can apply to fill the quotas available. And many qualify to go to the US and create new economic and career opportunities for themselves and their children.
Uganda’s quotas not full
- Unfortunately, Ugandans apparently never fill their green card quotas given the recent statistics of 396 visas (2009), 152 visas (2008), and 122 visas (2007) compared to Kenya with 4,619 visas (2009), 2,187 visas (2008) and 1,353 visas (2007).
Given the social, economic and population comparisons with our neighbours, I would like to suggest that ignorance about the programme and erroneous applications are the main causes of the discrepancy with Kenyan green card holders.
Given the fact that so many educated Ugandans are jobless or ‘working poor’ and try to get visitors’, students’ and all kinds of visas, hoping to sneak into kyeyo seems to suggest that many people desire the opportunity but do not know how to go about it. By more Ugandans knowing about the green card lottery and applying correctly and accurately through the right channels, the Ugandan quota of visas may be filled and many young professionals and graduates may be able to fulfill their professional, career, life and business pursuits in the US.
You can develop your career
- I personally believe it is a golden career opportunity, especially for young, single graduates who upgrade in the American education easily and become more competitive in the immense and varied job market. For the very accomplished professionals, it may be a tough call giving up your Ugandan accomplished dream to start off at square one again where more often, your non-American education and experience is not given its due weight by employers unless you upgrade in the American education system. But again as the saying goes in the US, “life begins at 40!†So there is a real opportunity of starting afresh (even changing careers) and succeeding. Nevertheless, for parents, it may be a real nightmare trying to juggle between jobs and watching over children (be forever grateful to your maids — they are a blessing usually abused and taken for granted).
Direct application is the best
- Whereas there are agencies in newspapers and on the Internet claiming to help applicants get green cards, my personal experience and the advice on the official US government site for the programme seems to suggest that direct application on that site is the best, cheapest and safest way to do it.
Log into the website, read the instructions carefully. The US is structured differently from Uganda, everything is a straight line, no buts, ifs or negotiations.
Simply do it the way it is laid out in the instructions or be disqualified from the word go (maybe that is where the agencies that deal with green cards may come in to help — to help you fill in and then submit your details on the official website). But if you are a Senior Six graduate with a certified birth certificate, education certificates, marriage certificate and children’s certificates, then you should be able to do it for yourself and all should be well if everything is genuine. The instructions on photographs are also crucial and become the first eliminating factor (using professionals recommended by the US embassy in Kampala should help). Submissions are on first come—first serve basis and once the lottery entry quota is full, that is it. So it is crucial to apply as soon as possible.
Otherwise once submitted and accepted (as confirmed online straightaway — keep your printout for the whole process), your entry is in for a free lottery for the Uganda slot. After about six months, if you have been successful in round one, paper forms are sent to you for re-submission. Again respond as soon as possible.
Be consistent, patient
- Any discrepancies and inconsistencies in your submissions then and in later verification interviews in Nairobi or at the US port of entry will also cause disqualification. The process involves payments to the tune of about $1,000 (about sh2m) per person for the visa at the US embassy in Nairobi as well as medical check-up fees at specified Kenya clinics. The whole selection and qualification process may take between 12 to 18 months from application to actual entry into the US.
Other than those basic requirements and money for an air ticket, you would need to present a host living in the US who will be willing (and qualified) to accommodate and support you for six months as you settle down into employment (short of which you must have financial evidence that you can support yourself for that period). Once you have that and are cleared by the US embassy in Nairobi, you should be on your way to your American dream.
Of course every rose has its thorns — Uganda with its economic issues, the US with its socio-cultural issues. But again, who knows where the good Lord has laid your green pastures? Wherever that path may be, seek it out and go for it!