Hiring a Foreign National - Understanding Visa Programs Available

Work visas authorize employment in the U.S. on a temporary basis. The process should begin about five months before the employment start date of the foreign national employee. While there is a vast array of temporary work visas available below are the ones with which you, as the prospective employer of a foreign national, will most likely require:



1. H1-B Visa - This visa is for specialty occupations, It requires applicants to have a college degree. Approximately 65,000 H1-B visas are issued annually.



2. H2-B Work Visa - This visa is issued to skilled and unskilled workers in non-agricultural jobs. Approximately 66,000 of these visas are issued annually.



3. H-3 Trainee Visa - As the name implies these visas are issued to foreign national who will be employed in on-the-job training programs. The H-3 is available for up to a two-year period in a variety of industries, provided the type of training is not available in the prospective foreign employee's home country. There is no limitation on the number of H-3 visas that are issued in the U.S.



4. J-1 Exchange Visitor Visa - These visas are available to foreign nationals who are sponsored by a school, business of other organization for employment such as an au pair/nanny, summer camp counselor/staff and medical resident/intern type work.



5. L-1 Intra-Company Transfer Work Visa - These visas are available to current foreign national employees of multi-national U.S. companies who are needed to work for the same company but in the U.S.



If a foreign employee has a U.S. permanent resident card (green card), the employee is treated as a U.S. resident for all employment-related issues and is subject to income tax on their worldwide income. If the foreign national is already in the U.S. on a work visa, for a current employer, you may be able to transfer the work visa to your company.



Tom is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Financial Planner, CLTC (Certified Long-Term Care) and President of Cerefice & Company, the largest CPA firm in Rahway, New Jersey. Tom works with clients helping them manage their money, retirement planning, college savings, life insurance needs, IRAs and qualified plan rollovers with an eye towards maximizing tax benefits and minimizing taxes. Tom is founder of the Rich Habits Institute and author of "Rich Habits".



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How We Can Apply For A Denmark Green Card

How We Can Apply For A Denmark Green Card
By Ajay S Sharma

Danish Green Card: Denmark's point based Immigration scheme

The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Denmark welcome skilled professionals against Points based immigration systems. Denmark Green card holders get a three-year residence permit for the purpose of seeking work, and subsequently living and working, in Denmark. A residence and work permit under the Green card scheme is issued on the basis of an individual evaluation using an immigration point system designed to assess the likelihood that the applicant will be able to find qualified work in Denmark. Points are given for educational level, language skills, work experience, adaptability, and age. Program offers bonus points to the immigrant applicants who have worked in EU or have earned European educational qualification. Only applicants whose occupations are in shortage in Denmark and are mentioned in the positive list can apply for Danish Green Card.

Immigration Denmark Green Card- Accompanying spouse and children

If you hold a permit under the Denmark Green card scheme, your spouse, registered partner or cohabiting partner, as well as any children under the age of 18 who are living at home with you, are also eligible for residence permits. Your family members must be able to support themselves and you must live together in Denmark at the same address. Your spouse, registered partner or cohabiting partner is allowed to work full-time for the entire period his or her permit is valid.

Immigration Denmark Green card - Duration

A residence permit under the Green card scheme can be granted for up to three years with a possibility for extension of up to four years. Your residence permit can only be granted or extended up to three months before your passport expires. This means that if your passport expires in 12 months, you can only be granted a permit for nine months, or your permit can only be extended by nine months.

Immigration- Denmark Green Card Extension

Your residence permit can be extended by four years if you have worked for the past 12 months for a minimum of ten hours per week. Your residence permit can be extended by one year if you have lost your job through no fault of your own (e.g. due to cutbacks) no more than three months before applying for an extension, and if prior to this, you worked for 12 months for a minimum of ten hours per week.

Denmark Green Card- processing delays

Denmark green card carries a processing delay of 30-60 days from the date of filing the complete application with all required documents. An application for a Denmark Green card residence permit is considered complete if the Immigration Service does not need to request CIRIUS - a body under the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation - to evaluate the applicant's educational level. CIRIUS is normally requested to evaluate an application if an applicant who attended a foreign educational institution has not included a CIRIUS evaluation as part of the application. Once CIRIUS has provided its evaluation, the application will be considered complete and processed within one month. The Immigration Service will inform applicants whose applications have been sent to CIRIUS for review.

Denmark Green Card - Required documents

* Translation: ANY document that is in language other than English and forms part of the application should be and is requited to be translated by a locally state or city authorized translator. He will translate and attest the translations to be true and also provide his registration certification copy as an authorized translator.

* A copy of passport of all family members who are part of the application is required. The copy should include COVER of the passport and ALL pages of the passport.

* Documentation of educational level (diploma, examination certificate): Please note that documents provided should include all degrees/diplomas and mark sheets. They are required ONLY for post senior secondary qualifications, which will means graduation, post graduation and doctorate. In addition, it is required that applicant provides the Full address, email and phone number of the educational institution. The applicant should also provide name, phone and email ID of two officials of the Educational institution.

* Documentation of work experience (statement from previous employer); this will be reference letters from employers that contain all relevant details like date of joining and relieving, designation(s), duties and responsibilities- on the lines it is required for Australia and Canada.

* Documentation of language skills (diploma, test results and/or statement from previous employer).

* Documentation that you can support yourself during your first year in Denmark. This can be provided in the form of a bank statement in your and if married, in spousal name.

The currency of Denmark is Danish Krone (Dkk) and 1 Dkk is around INR 9.20.The form of government is a parliamentary democracy with a royal head of state. Denmark is a developed industrialized country. Denmark is a member of the European Union. The population stands at c. 5,511 million and 85% of the population lives in towns.

This article has been contributed by Ajay Sharma, principal Immigration consultant of ABHINAV.

ABHINAV is among the oldest and most trusted Immigration consulting companies in India and in business since 1994. Over the years, ABHINAV has guided thousands of prospective immigrants and families in achieving their relocation dreams.

For more information on immigrating to Denmark as a skilled worker, please see the Denmark section of our website.

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A Comparison Between EB-5 Visa to USA and Canada Immigrant Investor Program!

A Comparison Between EB-5 Visa to USA and Canada Immigrant Investor Program!
By Ajay S Sharma

EB-5 preference category was created in 1990 for immigrants seeking to enter the United States to engage in a commercial enterprise that will benefit the U.S. economy and directly create at least ten full- time jobs. The minimum qualifying investment amount is $500,000 for commercial enterprises located within a rural area8 (or targeted employment area) and is otherwise $1,000,000.

Under the Canada Immigrant Investor program, introduced in 1986, foreign business persons establish eligibility by proving that they have identified managerial / business experience during two out of last five years preceding the filing of application, a net worth of at least CDN $800,000, and by affirmatively expressing that they are willing to deposit CDN $400,000 into designated government guaranteed securities for a period of five years.

Passive versus active Investment

Unlike the EB-5 program, the Canadian Immigrant Investor program is a PASSIVE program: a qualifying investor is not required to open a business, or hire and manage employees. Rather, the investment itself is assumed to spur significant economic activity and create jobs. In fact, post visa issuance, the applicant can carry out any activity in Canada, including but not limited to doing jobs and living off additional passive investments. Of course, he can do active business as well. If he does business, there are no restrictions on geographical area and location and nature of commercial activity and on any minimum number of employees that business must employ.

EB-5 program is NOT a passive investment program and is in fact expected to create proven employment that is generated through a viable and registered commercial enterprise. The EB-5 regulations require involvement in management or policy making. The regulations deem a limited partner in a limited partnership, which is properly structured and that conforms to the Uniform Limited Partnership Act. Having said so, this program is used by professionals, businessmen, people planning their children's education and attend US colleges and Universities and seeking a good quality of life or seeking retirement in the USA. The EB-5 visa is a highly flexible program and permits the investor to what he wants, including seeking employment in USA.

Stage and timing of investment

Canadian Immigrant Investor program require investment AFTER the applicant's documents and applications forms and narratives/ declarations as regards net worth accumulation and business experience have been reviewed by the Visa offices and he has been out through a selection interview. Making payments for immigrant investor program has its own costs, especially foreign exchange transactions and transfer costs not to talk about the need to liquidate once net worth and assets to arrange for liquid funds required for transfer. Thus, from applicants view point it makes sense to make funds transfer- to meet the requirements of qualifying investments- after his application has received provisional approval.

EB-5 case procedures requires an investor to FIRST make a qualifying investment, and then file a Form I-526 petition (and supporting documents) with USCIS. After this the U.S. Department of State's National Visa Center will process the EB-5 immigrant visa through the local U.S. consular post with jurisdiction over the place of residence. The EB-5 immigrant visa is used to enter the United States, which commences the two-year conditional lawful permanent resident status. The applicant must thus be prepared for situations where - if his application is denied - he would have incurred irrecoverable expenses on foreign exchange transfer and then return. He might also have disposed off some valuable asset to arrange liquid funds in the first place and would be required to look for new investment assets. He should factor in expenses and costs and losses that he might incur while going through sale and purchase of assets. From the time that he makes the investments and time he receives the money back, he will need to factor in the lost interest in the process. In addition, he would loose the fee the he would have paid to the lawyer for applying for the application in the first place!

Conditional Versus unconditional green Card

EB-5 Visa is a conditional green Card and to start with, he will only get a two year conditional lawful permanent residence status. During the interim period he should be able to prove that the commercial enterprise in which his funds were invested met the conditions- especially related to creation of 10 new jobs on an ongoing basis. Should he not be able to meet the conditions, he will be asked to leave the country. This uncertainty about the likely continuity of the status is one of the key reasons why less than 10% of the annual quote for EB-5 category is used every year.

Successful applicants for Canada Immigrant Investor program get UNCONDITIONAL permanent resident status from day one of landing. It is comparable to the status the applicant gets under EB-5 program, after two years and subject to removal of conditions attached to his visa. The program is thus more certain and enables the applicant to appropriate plans vis-à-vis family and business relocation or expansion and also new investments.

Minimum investment

The minimum amount of investment required under the EB-5 program is USD 500,000 and under the Canada Immigrant Investor program it is CAD 400,000. At current exchange rates, it implies that the investment required is almost 50% more under the EB-5 program.

Loan Facility by Financial Institutions

The Canada Immigrant Investor program permits mandated financial institution to provide loan facility towards meeting the investment requirements. The program permits to make a margin money payment of as low as CAD 120,000 and balance being financed by financial institutions. This creates an excellent opportunity for the applicant as it enables him to meet the program requirements at least opportunity cost.

Documentation

When compared with Canada Immigrant Investor program, the documentation requirements are more extensive and subjective under the EB-5 program and persistent request of evidence- after filing of application- leads to inordinate delays in its processing.

Costs, extent of loss or opportunity of profit

The investment under the EB-5 program is an actual investment in a running commercial enterprise. The investment is subject to normal business situations and the enterprise may or may not make money. If the business looses money, the investor will loose his share of money as well. There is no limit to the amount of money that the business and therefore he may loose. Of course, he will make money if the business makes money. In such a case, there is no limit on the amount of money that the business and therefore he may make. The bottom line is that the investor applicant must be prepared to either of the situations.

Canada Immigrant Investor program has costs that can be identified. The applicant makes an interest free investment of CAD 400000 and the interest that he looses becomes his cost. When he goes for the finance option, the interest that he pays on the financed amount becomes his cost. Either way he knows his cost for taking residence visa under this program.

Administrative fee

In case of EB-5, Majority of the regional center investments require the applicant to pay an administrative fee of (normally) around USD 50,000. This is besides the investment of USD 500,000. In case the application is refused, for any reason, major part of this fee and in some case the entire fee paid under this head is non-refundable.

Under Canada Immigrant Investor program, the applicant incurs costs towards application processing fee to Governmental offices. A typical family consisting of applicant, spouse and two dependent children may incur a cost of around CAD 6000. This fee is non-refundable. In addition he may incur a professional and consultant fee expense of around CAD 5000. Majority of reputed consultants refund this consulting fee - in full or majority - if the application is refused.

Dependent definition

USA permits dependent less than 21 years to be considered as part of the application under EB-5. Canada permits dependents less than 22 years to be part of the application. Canada permits dependents above 22 years to be part of the application so long as children are full time students in a accredited and Government recognized institute

Summary

In Brief, both are good and attractive program but over the years Canada Immigrant Investor program has become more acceptable due to its simplicity and established procedures. Decision making is easier for the case officers due to available past precedents to refer to and compare new applications with.

EB-5 program is still evolving and is preferred route for extreme high risk wealthy individuals and families.

Author's rights-This article has been written by Ajay Sharma - referred to as author- known variably as Immigration Specialist, Immigration Consultant and Immigration adviser. The author retains (i) the rights to reproduce, to distribute, to publicly perform, and to publicly display the Article in any medium for non-commercial purposes; (ii) the right to prepare derivative works from the Article; and (iii) the right to authorize others to make any non-commercial use of the Article so long as Author receives credit as author and the user in which the Article has been published or cited mentions author as the source of information that makes part of thus article. No copies can be made or any part of this article used for commercial purposes unless it is done against expressed permission of the author.

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What You Need to Know About US Tourist Visa Application

What You Need to Know About US Tourist Visa Application
By George Londob

While it is easy for Americans to come to Thailand for a holiday, Thais and other nationalities have to undergo a thorough procedure in obtaining a tourist visa that they may be able to enter the US for vacation.

Nature of a Tourist Visa
Obtaining a travel permit to visit the US proves to be very difficult to obtain particularly for ordinary Thai applicants relying on the invitation of their American friends, fiancé, spouse or relatives. The US government's rigorous immigration procedure may be accounted for their inherent assumption when dealing with non-immigrant visa applications. The officer when evaluating the application immediately assumes that the tourist visa applicant who is seeking admittance to the US is in fact eyeing for a permanent stay in the country.

As such, this assumption needs to be overcome successfully by the applicant in such a way that he/she will be issued the necessary entry permit. However, it's important to note that the application is evaluated subjectively and its approval or denial is entirely on the discretion of the officer evaluating the application. This is the reason why compared to other entry permit types a tourist visa has a lower success rate. It is also the reason why an application is still denied despite the applicant's providing all the necessary requirements to substantiate his/her visit to the US.

Preparing for the Application
As the evaluation of the tourist visa application is solely based on the applicant's capacity to prove that he can support himself financially through out his stay in the US and that he comes back to Thailand after his allowed visit, it's a must that the applicant has the following qualifications in support of his entry permit application. First would be a decent and a stable job in Thailand.

An employment letter or contract, income tax and pay slips are some ways to substantiate this. A 6-month job stint might not be enough to establish the stability of your employment but it's definitely better than nothing. A job involving prostitution or working in a bar or night club doesn't add appeal to your application so it might not be good declaring it. Second, you have to show assets and properties in Thailand. Assets can be in the form of cars, a piece of land, a house among others. Land or House Title deed, Mortgage agreement, Car registration certificate and other documents can be submitted to prove your possession of these assets. Supposing you own a business in Thailand, you would need to show your business registration certificate, income tax, balance sheet among others. A savings account with substantial amount of deposit in it could also serve as one of the evidence to prove your financial capability.

You can ask your bank for your latest 6-month bank statements or you can show your passbooks for this matter. Just a note on the savings account, having a big money in your bank account doesn't guarantee a successful application though it helps establish your financial status. However, if your sponsor abroad plans depositing an amount of money in your bank account just to show that you have money, make sure that the funds have been deposited discretely not in a lump sum as this will be obvious.

Finally, if you have your family or children in Thailand, then you can mention them as your dependants to support your visa application. Don't also miss to provide an outline of your itinerary detailing the whereabouts of your trips i.e. accommodation and places to visit. What if you don't have most of the above qualifications as you rely on the sponsorship of your American relative, boyfriend or friend? This would considerably make your chances even more slimmer. However, you can still proceed with the application. As mentioned above the approval or denial of your application is entirely on the discretion of the officer. For family members visiting their relatives or families in the US their situations are viewed differently.

The Application Process
After familiarizing yourself with the requirements and procedure of the tourist entry permit application, you may now start collecting the required documents. You have to collect as many evidence as you can to support your application. If your documents are in Thai, make sure to translate them into English. If you are going to the US via sponsorship, make sure that your sponsor provides sponsorship letter detailing your relationship and his intention to support you while you are in the US. He might need to provide bank statements or employment certificate to validate his good financial status in the US.

When everything is in order you can already contact the US embassy to schedule the submission of your documents and for the interview. The US embassy in Bangkok as well as the US consulate in Chiang Mai accepts and processes tourist visa applications. The processing time normally takes 2-3 business days and the result of the application is issued accordingly. During the interview, be prepared to answer questions like how will you support your stay in the US, what will you do in the US among others. A confident applicant would likely give a better impression on the visa officer than a nervous one. In this regard, you have to anticipate all possible questions that the officer may ask you in relation to your visa application and practice answering them.

Using a Visa Agent

If you want to increase the chances of your tourist visa application getting approved, it might be good enlisting the services of US visa professionals to assist you with this endeavor. You would greatly benefit from their expertise in going over the visa application therefore ensuring better chances for your visa application. Be mindful though about unscrupulous visa agents. Look for the established and registered ones with proven track of record in US visa assistance.

Summary

Obtaining a US tourist visa proves to be a difficult ordeal especially for ordinary applicants. Apart from proper planning and familiarizing yourself with the requirements and procedure, it would also be good to consult with US visa professionals to personally guide you with the visa application. A money you spend for them maybe worth it if you don't need to do the application again the second time.

George M. Londob works as a Business Correspondent for Siam Legal International, Thailand's largest legal service network with offices in Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya, Hua Hin, Chiang Mai and Samui. The firm has international locations in London and Los Angeles. Siam Legal is a full-service law firm and provides a wide range of legal and visa services. Visit Siam Legal on the web at http://www.siam-legal.com

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Know Why IELTS Test is Essential For Applicants Seeking Immigration Or to Study Abroad?

Know Why IELTS Test is Essential For Applicants Seeking Immigration Or to Study Abroad?
By Ajay S Sharma

Speak to a person contemplating immigration or study overseas and ask them to point out one required step in the entire screening process that they would like to skip. Most of them are bound to answer that they would prefer to escape the IELTS test, if possible. This is because IELTS test not only adds on additional expenses to their immigration procedure but also requires them to devote a good amount of time for the preparation of the test. In immigration to certain destinations and under some specific programs, like Australia General skilled migration program, the immigration programs require that both the principal applicant and their spouse appear for the IELTS test as well. While this makes the Immigration process more expensive and tougher, what applicants do not realize is the fact that IELTS test is only for their benefit. Read further and find out how?

Is it unfair?

There are applicants who excel in the occupational field of their specialisation and find it unfair that the decision on their immigration application is not dependent on their occupational excellence alone but also on their language skills. This is based on the observation that others who might have not achieved the same level of occupational excellence as theirs but have fluency in the English language are granted the immigration visa easily.

Students planning to study overseas have the same concerns. In their opinion, the deciding factor for course and university selection should be the marks scored by them at their school or university level and IELTS puts them at a disadvantage to others who have better language skills.

Importance of IELTS test

So why has the IELTS test become such an integral part of the immigration applications for almost all Immigration destinations and programs? And why are the applicants made to undergo the strenuous IELTS preparation process and spend huge amount of funds in undergoing these tests? More importantly, what we need to think about is, why is it that no options are provided for applicants who are unable to qualify through this test?

Earlier system of assessing English language skills

The reason is that English language skills have always been a key selection criterion under the points based system, from the very start. In the past the Immigration officers used to take one-to-one interview to judge the English language skills of the applicant and decide how many points they would like to credit to the applicant.

But this kind of system created animosities and unfair situations, for both Visa processing office and immigration applicants. There are several reasons why this system of evaluation of language skills of the applicants is replaced by the IELTS test.

Firstly, the immigration processing delays soared high as the visa officers must take all interviews on an individual basis to take the decision about each of the applicant. When seen in context of queues of thousands of applicants, this meant years of additional processing delays. Secondly, this made the language skills assessment highly subjective as it was based on understanding of the visa officer conducting the interview.

Also, in conducting such one to one interviews, the Immigrant applicant could not be tested for all key areas of language proficiency, that includes Understanding, Reading, speaking and listening.

Introduction of IELTS

Need was therefore felt for an objective test that was internationally acceptable, standardised benchmark and assessment tool. Standardisation was very important so as to provide equal opportunity to all applicants. Thus, IELTS became an integral part of the immigration process and applications, especially for skilled professionals, independent immigration, General skilled Migrant and in some cases Green card visa applications as well. IELTS test is thereby based on evaluating applicant's skills in all four components of the language, including speaking, listening, understanding and reading.

IELTS is thereby also made an important requirement for students who opt to study overseas to majority of popular destinations, like Canada, Australia, UK, USA and New Zealand. Language is clearly one key area that can and does create difficult situations, especially when applicants do not have English as their primary language and have never had exposure to international language accents.

For students who are not very fluent in the language, it can literally turn out to be a nightmare as they land in a course and university where they cannot understand the instructions and are unable to communicate with teachers and rest of the peer group. Add to that, the expenses of staying away from home along with expensive overseas education.

The IELTS test thereby gives an opportunity to all such immigrants to avert any such difficult situation and check on their language skill levels, before they select the course and university for studying abroad. Most of the international educational institutions offer Language development courses for international students, who are not very fluent with the language. The students can first take such foundation and language developments courses for specified period and then they are permitted to take admission into the course of their choice.

So, IELTS test is an objective English language assessment tool that is internationally acceptable by Government and immigration educational institutions agencies alike. It has therefore become an essential part of the Immigration visa process and for study overseas applicants. Hence, an applicant is advised to prepare well, if they wish to earn some points by scoring well in various test modules. Seeking advice from an immigration expert is a wise decision to give a direction to your IELTS preparation as well as your immigration process, in general.

Ajay Sharma is an immigration expert who provides his valuable advice to people seeking immigration in countries like Canada, Denmark, USA, Australia and many others. With years of experience under his belt, he is the principal immigration consultant of http://www.abhinav.com, which is in business since 1994. Over the years, Abhinav has continually stood the test of time and has helped its clients in accomplishing their relocation dreams to foreign lands, successfully and smoothly.

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What Motivates People to Immigrate?

What Motivates People to Immigrate?
By Ajay S Sharma

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees defines migration in the following way: "Migration occurs when a person changes the location of their usual place of residence. International migration occurs when this movement crosses national boundaries."

Immigration is defined as "to enter and usually become established; especially to come into a country of which one is not a native for permanent residence."

The main reason behind immigration is the search for better living and working environment, when compared to the native countries of the individuals. In addition to this is massive poverty leading to high fertility, unemployment and low wages. Also, high population puts pressure on the educational and the health facilities. To overcome these factors, immigrants migrate in the hope for better lifestyle and income opportunities. Also, some of the necessities such as electricity, water, educational and medical facilities are available in abundance. With these are the established system and an efficient organizational set up that ensures multiple opportunities on the professional front for a migrant. Other factors include weather and environmental conditions such as clean, hygienic and a pollution free state.

Immigration also happens due to political insecurity, prosecution and bad governance. Human rights such as the freedom of speech and the right to vote and elect the Government and political leaders as well as the freedom from Corruption are some of the key factors as well.

Finally, people migrate from countries that encourage ethnic, religious and gender prosecution and discrimination.

The decision on Immigration destination by a prospective immigrant is based on many factors:

• Better quality of life as regards social security benefits vis-à-vis medical, educational with strong infrastructural - including abundant power and water - backup.



• Freedom of speech and freedom from corruption.



• Freedom from human rights abuse.



• Political freedom



• Freedom from discrimination on gender, ethnic and religious grounds



• Family reunification

While the above points are the major motivating factors for immigration; destined countries have their own specified set of rules and regulations to select the prospective migrants. The most popular criterion is the Points Based System (PBS). The countries accepting immigrants against the Point Based System include Canada, Australia, UK, New Zealand and Denmark.

Ajay Sharma is an immigration expert who provides his valuable advice to people seeking immigration in countries like Canada, Denmark, USA, Australia and many others. With years of experience under his belt, he is the principal immigration consultant of http://www.abhinav.com, which is in business since 1994. Over the years, Abhinav has continually stood the test of time and has helped its clients in accomplishing their relocation dreams to foreign lands, successfully and smoothly.

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The Green Card Immigration Lottery

The Green Card Immigration Lottery
By Sally Odell

It's sad, but very true that the U.S. Immigration system has so many loopholes, glitches, corruption, ridiculous policies, and incomprehensible rules and regulations that it takes a highly experienced immigration lawyer to sort things out. Imagine how an immigrant would feel trying to figure out this complex and constantly changing system just to live in the U.S.

No wonder immigrants hope to win the lottery - and we don't mean the regular lottery where you win money - we mean the Diversity Visa Lottery that offers 55,000 permanent residency Visas to foreigners, so long as they follow all the rules and regulations. That might be tough since those seem to change on a daily basis. Nonetheless, this Visa would give the lucky one an opportunity to become a U.S. citizen after 3 to 5 years.

The major reason why so many immigrants like to enter their names in this lottery is because it is free, as opposed to hiring an immigration lawyer, which may be necessary later during their residency in the U.S. The operative word here is free, and if anyone charges a person for entering the lottery, it is a scam. Period.

All that is required to enter the Diversity Visa Lottery is filling out a form, usually in English, and that is it. Don't worry if you happen to have a spouse and/or children, as they would receive a Visa as well, so long as their background check comes out OK.

This is how things usually work, mind you, it may be subject to change without notice, and it would not hurt if you contacted a qualified immigration lawyer to ask questions. Better to be safe than sorry. You are usually able to fill out Visa applications from early October to early December, and you may actually do this online.

So if you need help with translation, get a friend to assist you with filling out this form. It's pretty straightforward and you only need the basics, such as name, address, phone number, SS number, etc.

You won't know if you have won the lottery until May of the following year and you are only contacted by snail mail, or regular post. If you were successful, your Visa would then kick in the year following that.

In other words, if you apply in 2010 and if you are chosen in that year's drawing, you would be advised in 2011, and your Visa would take effect in 2012. Then you would get a DV 2012 card when it was issued. Nothing like taking forever and a day to find out if you get a chance to live in the U.S. In all cases when faced with questions or concerns about the U.S. immigration process, contact a highly trained immigration lawyer, and make sure you are on the right side of the law. The first consultation is usually free.

Sally Odell - Rifkin & Fox-Isicoff, PA is an immigration lawyer in Miami with immigration law offices in Orlando and Miami Florida. To learn more, visit http://www.rifkinandfoxisicoff.com/.

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