Apo says:

We “non-yankees” see these adds often in local newspapers and lots of different places on the Web. Same as you John, I ‘ve been wondering this for years now….

sPh says:

One of the periodic “reforms” of the US immigration laws (late 1960s IIRC) strong priority was given to family members of current citizens and legal immigrants, under the theory that society was better off with whole families.

During the next round (early 1980s, again IIRC) it was noticed that the previous round resulted in a very high percentage of new immigrants being from the same famlies (duh!) and that once a large family got one person in the rest usually followed.

Additionally, it was felt that a lot of the “must have lots of cash in hand or the most desirable skills of the moment” resulted in a lack of diversity in immigration.

So the “lottery” concept was added whereby x slosts would be reserved each year for an out-and-out random lottery. Anyone can go to the US Embassy in their country and apply, and there is a 1/x chance of being chosen.

However, I must say that I thought the lottery was eliminated in the last round of “reform”, which would mean this is probably a scam.

sPh

Mike Voice says:

I found sPh’s comment interesting – and went back to something I noticed on the first visit to the USAFIS site: Their handy chart listing differences between the Sate department program and USAFIS program.

The SD program is free, but does not give you a free plane ticket. The USAFIS program is not free, but will give you a free ticket to the US.

So, even though it may not be a scam – it is a “value-added” service to assist people in using a free USGov program.

Nice racket! Especially when you can rake-in enough money to buy plane tickets for the winners (or, at least claim you’ll buy them plane tickets). 🙂

Celeste says:

I work for one of these websites that you are talking about usagcls.com. We are not trying to fraud anyone, andalthough there are companies that charge and do not submit information to the Diversity Visa Program, we are not one of them. Our service is not to make the submission for you, anyone can basically do that, but to make sure it is done correctly. Countless lottery submissions are rejected every year because they are incomplete or incorrect. We validate and handcheck every submission to increase your chances of getting into the lottery. We do not guarantee anything – but since we process thousands of applications, we are very good at it.

badr says:

i whant to go to freedem (for working)

Avelon says:

I was surprised to find out how many scams are being run online for the Diversity Visa Lottery. When I heard about the lottery 2 yrs ago, the first thing I did was go onto the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly INS) webpage to verify it for myself. If most people would take 5 mins out of their time to do a little research these scammers would never prosper. Anyway, my husband and I applied online and we were selected. The whole process was very simple and you certainly didn’t need help from any specialized immigration persons. The DV 2006-2007 program is no longer accepting applications, but for future reference you should apply at The Official DV Lottery Site. You should only trust pages that end in .gov, because that’s the sign of an official US gov’t website.

andrea says:

Hi,
I applied for green card through the USAFIS organisation.
How do I find out if the organisation is a fraud or not?

hmissa says:

welcome
Since a long time I participate to a lottery green card
success but without payment because the participation is free
my problem is discount 30$ I will be save this problem

Coeus says:

well, i’m from malaysia and visited usafis.org website from a link on another page.. just tried out to figure what is DV program .. then wrote my mobile phone and email at usafis website..

in an hour they just called me up to enrol for their program.. they sound like implying to guarantee the chance is much higher and pushing u to make the payment … personally feel it looks much more like a scam ..

Gioconda says:

Hi everyone:
Sorry my english is not so good.
But I have just particapate (less than one month ago)in Usafis thinking that it were the oficial web site of visa lottery.
I woder if The lottery will be this year (2006)?.
Please, somebody answer me!!!.
Thanks

abdul kalisa says:

send me payment slips at ma email

Moustafa Abutaha says:

Hi everyone
I have registered in the Green Card Lottery via usafis organization and I the payment was online: $99 and I they called me and informed me of the chance to live in the USA. I got a notification from the organization saying that I was registered for 2 years. It was strange because I only registered once not two. I sent the emails confirming one registration and they told me that 55 US dollars would be refunded. I gave them the detalis of the owner of the credit card but until now they have done nothing.
I, severally tried to contact them but they seem to dead now. I wonder how can I know if I am registered or not.

Looking for any answer.

Bartolo says:

Hello! First of all, please do not use this service, I had used it for my thai girlfriend, and these people took the money and run! I had registered my thai girlfriend for the lottery and paid a small fee of $79.00 . One week later, a deep accented man had called my girlfriend in Thailand, to upgrade her membership to $300.00! She had given them my telephone number and when they had called me, they told me that this kind of deal wont last long, and there is a good chance that she will get her visa within a couple months. As a fool– I gave them my credit card, and one year later I still don’t have a VISA for my thai girlfriend.

If you really need a VISA, it is better to pay a few thousand dollars to hire an immigration lawyer to take care of it for you. I had tried calling the company and they never answer their phone, and they hid their contact information on the WHOIS. These are scammers!!

firas says:

i registered to usafis just filled the application but when i saw the payment i just said screw it thinking it was free or something 6 month later like an hour ago after 6 month a chick calls from that company telling me i have 75% chance of winning and started bein all nice and got me interested in goin to the states and luring me with opportunity here and all that and then started emphasizing on the payment way liek she wants me to send now i told her i aint got a credit card and i can only pay cash in a way she offered the western union way of payment i said like alright so next thing i know i got the western union way of payment and it was sending the money to some guy in israel and i am lebanese living in lebanon i mean what the hell we just had a war our 2 countries 3 month ago and we aint got a piece treaty which got me paranoid about it even more which got me to this site and reading all these complaints about usafis got me glad i wasnt ripped off so people should research this b4 i will get scammed and she wanted me to pay the 119 one for 4 years
which means the 2008 application is over in dec 3 and she called at the dec 27 which leads us to that company is based in israel and all the scamming is goin from there since the person whom i am suppose to send the money to is in israel its a SCAMMMMMMMMM

Rob says:

Truthfully, I would suggest that you try to sign up on another Green card web site that will provide more affordable prices for US Green card lottery submission services.