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PRESS RELEASE – October 3, 2011 – EIIC Assistance with green card lottery applications

EMERALD ISLE IMMIGRATION CENTER

 

PRESS RELEASE – October 3, 2011

Download full Press Release (.pdf)

EIIC staff offer assistance with green card lottery applications October 4th through November 5th, 2011

The annual diversity visa lottery registration and application period will open again on October 4th for those who are eligible and interested in applying for a green card and permanent residence in the United States. For the ninth year, applications will only be accepted online via the U.S. Department of State official website at www.dvlottery.state.gov.

In recent years there has been an increase in online scams and false promises of green cards for a fee and expediting service. EIIC‟s Immigration Attorney and Director of Immigration Legal Services, John Stahl, Esq., urged those interested in applying, “There is no fee to apply and there is only one official website to register.” He continued to advise individuals to ignore any email offers to help complete or expedite the application process. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

The immigration legal services staff at the Center is once again appealing to potential applicants to apply early this year. Immigration legal services staff has helped many apply who are currently in the United States on the visa waiver program or on a temporary work visa and are still in status. “The green card lottery is an yearly opportunity for qualified applicants who are legally in the United States or overseas to attain permanent resident status here with no strings attached”, according to EIIC‟s Immigration Legal Services Director, John Stahl.

The staff at the center caution, however, that the official DV Lottery website can get frozen the closer the deadline of noon on Saturday, November 5th approaches. Regretfully, we will be unable to accommodate last minute walk-ins during the final week of the DV Lottery registration period. Please call either of our offices if you need assistance with your application.

Alternatively, please note the dates of our upcoming public meetings from 6pm to 8pm:

October 12, 2011, Bayridge St. Patrick’s Church, Archway Room, 9511 4th Avenue, Bayridge, NY

October 19, 2011, Queens EIIC Office, 59-26 Woodside Ave, 2nd Floor, Woodside, NY 11377

October 20, 2011, Bronx EIIC Office, 4275 Katonah Ave, Woodlawn, NY 10470

Check our website for additional dates at www.eiic.org

If you are a member of a local group or organization and would like our staff to speak to your group on the DV Lottery in October or on any immigration topic at a future meeting, please contact John Stahl, Director of Legal Services and Immigration Attorney at 718-478-5502, extension 201.

Each year, 50,000 green cards are made available through a lottery system to individuals who come from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The State Department’s Kentucky Consular Center holds the annual lottery and chooses winners randomly from about 15 million qualified entries. About 100,000 entries are selected and given the opportunity to apply for permanent residence. If permanent residence is granted, then the individual, their spouse and any unmarried children under the age of 21 will be authorized to live and work permanently in the United States. The DV Lottery is one of the few ways that exist to apply for a green card despite the low allocation of green cards to Ireland. „It is worth the effort, if you really do want a long term option to stay legally in America,‟ stated Siobhan Dennehy, EIIC’s Executive Director. “I equate the odds to playing the New York State Lottery as there are over 14 million applications from all over the world annually. Although you apply for the green card in 2011, you will not be notified about your application until 2012 and you won‟t actually receive the green card itself until 2013, that‟s why the call it the 2013 DV Lottery which can be confusing.”

Only natives of certain countries are eligible to apply for the green card lottery. Those born in the following countries are not eligible to apply for the DV-2013 lottery because a total of more than 50,000 immigrants came from these countries to the U.S. in the previous five years: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom and its dependent territories (except Northern Ireland) and Vietnam. Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible. An applicant may, however, claim the country of birth of their spouse, if eligible, or of either parent if they were born in a country of which neither of their parents was a native or a resident at the time of their birth.

All applicants also must have a high school diploma or the equivalent, defined in the United States as the successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education or they must have two years of work experience within the last five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience to perform. Entries for the DV-2013 diversity visa lottery must be submitted electronically from noon on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 through noon on Saturday, November 5, 2011. Applicants may access the electronic diversity visa entry form at www.dvlottery.state.gov only during the 30-day registration period beginning October 4th. Paper entries will not be accepted. All entries by an applicant will be disqualified if more than one entry for the applicant is received, regardless of who submitted the entry. Applicants may prepare and submit their own entries, or have someone submit the entry for them. The Department of State will issue DV lottery entrants an electronic confirmation number and notice upon receipt of a correctly completed Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form.

Applicants must also attach separate digital photographs of themselves, their spouses and unmarried children less than 21 years of age (except children who are already permanent residents or U.S. citizens). The photographs must be in the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format and meet specific resolutions (minimum 600 pixels high by 600 pixels wide), color depths (24-bit color) and kilobytes (maximum 240 KB) requirements. If a photograph print is scanned, the print must be two inches square and be scanned at a resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi) and with specific color depths. If the digital image does not conform to the specifications, the application will be automatically disqualified.

Applicants will be selected at random by computer from among all qualified entries. All applicants will be required to go back to the website to find out whether their entry has been selected in the DV-2013 lottery or to find out they have not been selected. Selectees will only be notified of their selection through the “entry status check” available starting May 1, 2012 at the website www.dvlottery.state.gov. The online entry status check will be the only means by which selectees will be notified of their selection for DV-2013. The Kentucky Consular Center will not be mailing out notification letters. Those selected in the random drawing are not notified of their selection by e-mail. Those individuals not selected will be notified of their non-selection through the web-based “entry status check.”

No fee is charged to enter the annual DV program. The U.S. Government employs no outside consultants or private services to operate the DV program. Any intermediaries or others who offer assistance to prepare submissions for applicants do so without the authority or consent of the U.S. Government. Use of any outside intermediary or assistance to prepare a DV entry is entirely at the applicant’s discretion. A qualified entry submitted electronically directly by an applicant has an equal chance of being selected by the computer at the Kentucky Consular Center as does an entry submitted electronically through a paid intermediary who completes the entry for the applicant.

The current immigration laws carry heavy penalties for visa overstays. Those who have overstayed their visa by 6 months, face a 3 year bar upon their departure from the United States, if they have overstayed for one year or more, they are subject to a 10 year bar. Successful lottery applicants who are undocumented in the US must be processed for a visa at a US Consulate abroad under existing immigration laws. Departing the US will trigger the 3 or 10 year bars making them ineligible for a visa. Undocumented lottery winners with a relative petition or an employer labor certification pending before April 30, 2001, may be eligible to be interviewed in the United States under Section 245(i), provided they have not triggered the 3/10 year bars by leaving the US.

Inquiries may be made to the EIIC at their Woodside, Queens office at (718) 478-5502 or at their Woodlawn, Bronx office at (718) 324-3039 or on the EIIC website www.eiic.org. Both centers along with the Aisling Irish Community Center on McLean Avenue (914) 237-5121 in Yonkers are currently scheduling DV applications.

EIIC PUBLIC IMMIGRATION INFORMATIONAL SEMINARS & 2013 DV LOTTERY ASSISTANCE

BROOKLYN – Wednesday, October 12th 6:00pm – 8:00pm
St. Patrick’s Church, Archway Room
9511 4th Avenue, Bayridge, NY

QUEENS – Wednesday, October 19th 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Emerald Isle Immigration Center, Woodside office
59-26 Woodside Avenue, Woodside, NY

BRONX – Thursday, October 20th 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Emerald Isle Immigration Center, Woodlawn office
4275 Katonah Avenue, Bronx, NY

*Major Funding received from NYC Department for Aging, New York City Council, Immigrant Opportunity Initiatives, Dept. of Foreign Affairs and American Ireland Fund
EMERALD ISLE IMMIGRATION CENTER
 
WOODSIDE, QUEENS
59-26 Woodside Avenue
Woodside, NY 11377
(718) 478-5502
Fax: (718) 446-3727
 
WOODLAWN, BRONX
4275 Katonah Avenue
Woodlawn, NY 10470
(718) 324-3039
Fax: (718) 324-7741

EIIC staff offer assistance with green card lottery applications October 4th through November 5th, 2011

The annual diversity visa lottery registration and application period will open again on October 4th for those who are eligible and interested in applying for a green card and permanent residence in the United States. For the ninth year, applications will only be accepted online via the U.S. Department of State official website at www.dvlottery.state.gov.

In recent years there has been an increase in online scams and false promises of green cards for a fee and expediting service.  EIIC’s Immigration Attorney and Director of Immigration Legal Services, John Stahl, Esq., urged those interested in applying, “There is no fee to apply and there is only one official website to register.”  He continued to advise individuals to ignore any email offers to help complete or expedite the application process. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

The immigration legal services staff at the Center is once again appealing to potential applicants to apply early this year. Immigration legal services staff has helped many apply who are currently in the United States on the visa waiver program or on a temporary work visa and are still in status. “The green card lottery is an yearly opportunity for qualified applicants who are legally in the United States or overseas to attain permanent resident status here with no strings attached”, according to EIIC’s Immigration Legal Services Director, John Stahl.

The staff at the center caution, however, that the official DV Lottery website can get frozen the closer the deadline of noon on Saturday, November 5th approaches. Regretfully, we will be unable to accommodate last minute walk-ins during the final week of the DV Lottery registration period. Please call either of our offices if you need assistance with your application. Alternatively, please note the dates of our upcoming public meetings from 6pm to 8pm:

  • October 12, 2011, Bayridge St. Patrick’s Church, Archway Room, 9511 4th Avenue, Bayridge, NY
  • October 19, 2011, Queens EIIC Office, 59-26 Woodside Ave, 2nd Floor, Woodside, NY 11377
  • October 20, 2011, Bronx EIIC Office, 4275 Katonah Ave, Woodlawn, NY 10470

Check our website for additional dates at www.eiic.org

If you are a member of a local group or organization and would like our staff to speak to your group on the DV Lottery in October or on any immigration topic at a future meeting, please contact John Stahl, Director of Legal Services and Immigration Attorney at 718-478-5502, extension 201.

Each year, 50,000 green cards are made available through a lottery system to individuals who come from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. The State Department’s Kentucky Consular Center holds the annual lottery and chooses winners randomly from about 15 million qualified entries. About 100,000 entries are selected and given the opportunity to apply for permanent residence. If permanent residence is granted, then the individual, their spouse and any unmarried children under the age of 21 will be authorized to live and work permanently in the United States. The DV Lottery is one of the few ways that exist to apply for a green card despite the low allocation of green cards to Ireland. ‘It is worth the effort, if you really do want a long term option to stay legally in America,’ stated Siobhan Dennehy, EIIC’s Executive Director. ‘I equate the odds to playing the New York State Lottery as there are over 14 million applications from all over the world annually. Although you apply for the green card in 2011, you will not be notified about your application until 2012 and you won’t actually receive the green card itself until 2013, that’s why the call it the 2013 DV Lottery which can be confusing.’

Only natives of certain countries are eligible to apply for the green card lottery. Those born in the following countries are not eligible to apply for the DV-2013 lottery because a total of more than 50,000 immigrants came from these countries to the U.S. in the previous five years: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland-born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea, United Kingdom and its dependent territories (except Northern Ireland) and Vietnam. Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible. An applicant may, however, claim the country of birth of their spouse, if eligible, or of either parent if they were born in a country of which neither of their parents was a native or a resident at the time of their birth.

All applicants also must have a high school diploma or the equivalent, defined in the United States as the successful completion of a 12-year course of elementary and secondary education or they must have two years of work experience within the last five years in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience to perform. Entries for the DV-2013 diversity visa lottery must be submitted electronically from noon on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 through noon on Saturday, November 5, 2011. Applicants may access the electronic diversity visa entry form at www.dvlottery.state.gov only during the 30-day registration period beginning October 4th. Paper entries will not be accepted. All entries by an applicant will be disqualified if more than one entry for the applicant is received, regardless of who submitted the entry. Applicants may prepare and submit their own entries, or have someone submit the entry for them. The Department of State will issue DV lottery entrants an electronic confirmation number and notice upon receipt of a correctly completed Electronic Diversity Visa Entry Form.

Applicants must also attach separate digital photographs of themselves, their spouses and unmarried children less than 21 years of age (except children who are already permanent residents or U.S. citizens). The photographs must be in the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format and meet specific resolutions (minimum 600 pixels high by 600 pixels wide), color depths (24-bit color) and kilobytes (maximum 240 KB) requirements. If a photograph print is scanned, the print must be two inches square and be scanned at a resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi) and with specific color depths. If the digital image does not conform to the specifications, the application will be automatically disqualified.

Applicants will be selected at random by computer from among all qualified entries. All applicants will be required to go back to the website to find out whether their entry has been selected in the DV-2013 lottery or to find out they have not been selected. Selectees will only be notified of their selection through the “entry status check” available starting May 1, 2012 at the website www.dvlottery.state.gov. The online entry status check will be the only means by which selectees will be notified of their selection for DV-2013. The Kentucky Consular Center will not be mailing out notification letters. Those selected in the random drawing are not notified of their selection by e-mail. Those individuals not selected will be notified of their non-selection through the web-based “entry status check.”

No fee is charged to enter the annual DV program. The U.S. Government employs no outside consultants or private services to operate the DV program. Any intermediaries or others who offer assistance to prepare submissions for applicants do so without the authority or consent of the U.S. Government. Use of any outside intermediary or assistance to prepare a DV entry is entirely at the applicant’s discretion. A qualified entry submitted electronically directly by an applicant has an equal chance of being selected by the computer at the Kentucky Consular Center as does an entry submitted electronically through a paid intermediary who completes the entry for the applicant.

The current immigration laws carry heavy penalties for visa overstays.  Those who have overstayed their visa by 6 months, face a 3 year bar upon their departure from the United States, if they have overstayed for one year or more, they are subject to a 10 year bar. Successful lottery applicants who are undocumented in the US must be processed for a visa at a US Consulate abroad under existing immigration laws. Departing the US will trigger the 3 or 10 year bars making them ineligible for a visa. Undocumented lottery winners with a relative petition or an employer labor certification pending before April 30, 2001, may be eligible to be interviewed in the United States under Section 245(i), provided they have not triggered the 3/10 year bars by leaving the US.

Inquiries may be made to the EIIC at their Woodside, Queens’s office at (718) 478-5502 or at their Woodlawn, Bronx office at (718) 324-3039 or on the EIIC website www.eiic.org.  Both centers along with the Aisling Irish Community Center on McLean Avenue (914) 237-5121 in Yonkers are currently scheduling DV applications.

###

EIIC Welcomed Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Eamon Gilmore

Tanaiste on Sunday at the EIIC
Pictured with the Tanaiste on Sunday at the EIIC Noel Kilkenny, NY Consul General, Siobhan Dennehy, Carol Hanney, Eamon Gilmore, Hanora Kilkenny, David Coonan and Fiona McCabe

The Emerald Isle Immigration Center Welcomed Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore T.D. to its Woodlawn Office in the Bronx, on Sunday, September 25, 2011

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Eamon Gilmore, visited the Emerald Isle Immigration Center on Katonah Avenue in Woodlawn this past Sunday to celebrate the services the Center has given the community for almost twenty-five years. The Tánaiste witnessed the vibrant Irish network that exists around the Emerald Isle, met with local seniors and members of the Bronx community.

He was greeted by EIIC Chairman Brian O’Dwyer, Board members and Executive Director Siobhán Dennehy, who introduced the Tánaiste to the Immigration Services, the Seniors Program and the Social Services that are provided by the Center. The visit follows the week in which the Center’s Meals-On-Wheels scheme was formally launched by New York State Senator Jeff Klein, capping a busy period for the staff and a welcome service for local seniors.

Siobhan Dennehy, Tanaiste Eamone Gilmore, Aine Murphy, Lisa McGovern and John Stahl

Among those assembled on Sunday to meet An Tánaiste was the Irish Language Group that meets every week in the EIIC to practice their cúpla focal under the tutelage of staff member Aine Murphy. The Center’s hugely productive Knitting Group was also represented in the audience for the Tánaiste.

The vital Immigration Services that the Emerald Isle offers to the community were to the forefront, as the Tánaiste met with the staff that has been on the frontline of a recent increase in emigration from Ireland. Staff members on hand were able to elaborate on the valuable work of the organization, their experience of recent trends in Irish immigration and the prospects for immigrants in a sluggish U.S. economy.

Questions:

Contact Executive Director, Siobhan Dennehy via email: siobhand@eiic.org or 718/478-5502 Ext 206

USCIS Launches Citizenship Public Education and Awareness Initiative

Released May 25, 2011

WASHINGTON—U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Director Alejandro Mayorkas announced today the launch of a federal initiative to raise awareness about the rights, responsibilities and importance of U.S. citizenship. The Citizenship Public Education and Awareness Initiative will provide new opportunities for immigrants to learn about USCIS’s free citizenship education resources available to eligible lawful permanent residents (LPRs) and immigrant-serving organizations.

“Citizenship is the common thread that connects us all as Americans. This initiative emphasizes the importance of citizenship—not only to immigrants and their families but also to our nation as a whole,” said Director Mayorkas. “This effort marks a new milestone in USCIS’s outreach to lawful permanent residents.”

Approximately 7.9 million of the estimated 12.5 million LPRs living in the United States are eligible to apply for naturalization, according to the most recent Department of Homeland Security analysis.

USCIS will employ digital media, a video public service announcement, and print and radio messages in a variety of languages. The initiative will direct individuals to citizenship preparation materials and other training and educational resources available on the USCIS Citizenship Resource Center at www.uscis.gov/citizenship. Messages will run May 30-Sept. 5, 2011, in the first phase of a planned multiyear effort.

Since the early 1900s, the federal government has promoted an awareness of citizenship and prepared immigrants for successful citizenship. This current initiative builds upon those historic efforts and supports the mission of the USCIS Office of Citizenship, which was created by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to promote instruction and training on citizenship rights and responsibilities. Since July 2009, USCIS has reached more than 32,000 LPRs and potential citizenship applicants at approximately 560 naturalization information sessions through partnerships between USCIS field offices, local community groups and immigrant-serving organizations.

To view the video public service announcement, visit the USCIS YouTube channel atwww.youtube.com/uscis. To learn more about the Citizenship Public Education and Awareness Initiative and how organizations can support it, visit www.uscis.gov/citizenshipawareness.

Last updated:05/25/2011