Those who want to immigrate to the US may also want to note down the green card lottery (aka Diversity Immigrant Visa) in their calendars. It is open to applications from May 7 - Sep 30. The basic facts about it are:
Whereas an H1B visa allows you to stay in the US to work at one employer that uses your specialised skills (and gives you a bit of time if you need to switch), a green card lets you stay in the US indefinitely, with any employer, or none at all. It requires you to have completed high-school, but not to have any university degree or job offer.
About 0.5%-1% of applicants are issued a visa (per the table below).
Countries with lower historical rates of immigration to the US have better chances, including Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Eastern Europe.
Citizens of some countries are ineligible: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, UK, Venezuela and Vietnam (as of 2022).
The application is free. (Some companies try to scam you into paying a fee; don’t!)
If you win the lottery, you can bring your spouse (and dependents), who can also get green cards. You and your spouse can both apply each year, to ~double your chances.
You can reapply each year. The window for applying and finding your results tend to be similar (May-Sep and April), so you can set the calender event to recur annually.
Those who want to immigrate to the US may also want to note down the green card lottery (aka Diversity Immigrant Visa) in their calendars. It is open to applications from May 7 - Sep 30. The basic facts about it are:
Whereas an H1B visa allows you to stay in the US to work at one employer that uses your specialised skills (and gives you a bit of time if you need to switch), a green card lets you stay in the US indefinitely, with any employer, or none at all. It requires you to have completed high-school, but not to have any university degree or job offer.
About 0.5%-1% of applicants are issued a visa (per the table below).
Countries with lower historical rates of immigration to the US have better chances, including Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Eastern Europe.
Citizens of some countries are ineligible: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, UK, Venezuela and Vietnam (as of 2022).
The application is free. (Some companies try to scam you into paying a fee; don’t!)
If you win the lottery, you can bring your spouse (and dependents), who can also get green cards. You and your spouse can both apply each year, to ~double your chances.
You can reapply each year. The window for applying and finding your results tend to be similar (May-Sep and April), so you can set the calender event to recur annually.