Sue in the USA

Well, after some initial hesitation I have decided to post on this log the initial reason why I want to start keeping this log. On April 24 2006, something amazing happened. Something I had always hoped for but never dreamt that it would actually happen to me. I received a letter from the Kentucky Consular Center in Kentucky. For those of you that are not familiar with this institution, it is a US government institution responsible for (among other things) sending out Notification letters for people that have signed op for the Diversity Visa lottery (aka Green Card Lottery), to let them know that they have been selected to apply for a Permanent Resident Visa for the USA. Once obtained it will give the holder the right to live and work permanently in the USA. Well, I received that first Notification Letter from the KCC on April 24. For those of you who know me very well, you know that it has always been my dream to work and live in the USA one day and basically leave Holland for good. So when I opened my mailbox that evening and saw a letter that came from an organization called Kentucky ...(rest was obstructed by other mail) I initially thought it came from Kentucky Fried Chicken (me being in the fast food industry and all) and how odd it was that they did not use their well known logo and why on earth they would even be sending me a letter in the first place...Then it dawned on me that maybe this might be The Letter. I quickly took the letter out of the stack and to my utmost surprise it read Kentucky Consular Center. You cannot imagine the sheer joy and happiness that I felt at that point and also somewhat a feeling of disbelief. Like "Could this really be happening to me? Is this for real?" I opened the letter and there is was my 1st Notification Letter and all the necessary forms that I had to fill out. Wow, a dream comes true. I had lived in the US before. I went to MSU for a semester during a student exchange and after my exchange I continued doing an internship in Orlando Florida. After my internship I was pretty reluctant to come back and always hoping that I would get the opportunity to one day return to the US for good. Well given the difficulties obtaining a permanent visa this was not likely to happen anytime soon. But there was always the DV lottery. I had been participating in this lottery ever since I was 18 and before that my parents had entered as well, but I/we had never any luck with it. Until April 24 2006 that is :-) So I keep mentioning a 1st Notification letter. Is there a second? Oh yes. Basically every year the US government gives out 50.000 green cards via the lottery. But every year they notify 100.000 applicants. This is because it turns out that of those 100.000 applicants the majority decides not to pursue the green card after all. This because they might not qualify after all (at least a secondary education at a certain level, or two years of work experience in specific occupations, financial resources, and at least a postal address in the US) or they do qualify but do not want to pay the fees you need to pay (yes there are fees and also a bunch of paperwork and documents that need to be obtained) , or they have decided that now they actually have a shot at obtaining a green card it is getting a bit too creepy as they would have to leave their high paying job, house, family etc or maybe they have applied only to find that their loved ones (spouse, kids) are not up for it. There are so many reasons why people would decide not to pursue the rest of the application process the list is basically endless. Anyway, that is why they invite almost double the number of people than available visas because they want to make sure that all 50.000 available visas are actually all being assigned to willing applicants. Millions of people from all over the globe apply for the DV lottery each year. And of these millions only 100.000 actually get the wanted 1st Notification Letter. Basically the odds of actually getting that letter are slim to none. I was very very lucky this year. There are people that apply for the DV lottery for the first time and get a Notification letter, but there are also people out there that have applied for 5, 9, 15 or more years in a row and have never seen any letter coming their way. Is there a best time, date etc to send in the online application? Not really. It really is just a matter of sheer luck and nothing else but that. Last week it was confirmed to me by the KCC that they have received and are now processing my paperwork. I have to wait for them to assign me an interview and basically interviews are assigned per the order the paperwork that had to be returned comes in. As the KCC send out the first notification letters in steps it is usually the case that the lower numbers, will also be returned first and will therefore get the earliest interviews assigned to them. Well at least I know that my paperwork was received, so all I can do now is wait for the interview appointment. As my number is fairly low, most likely I could be assigned an early interview. Let’s hope so. From people that have already been through this process I know that the notion of the possibility of obtaining that Green Card and actually moving to the US for good is basically controlling your daily life and is never from anyone's mind. That is oh so true. Not a moment goes by that I do not think about it...the likely possibility of my dream finally coming true. In this log I will keep you posted on what is going on from now on. In the beginning I might not have regular updates, but the more a reality this opportunity is likely to become, the more I will post.

Hi there,

Thank you for coming to my weblog. Basically this post is a test.

Eventually if my dream comes true, I will be keeping a weblog regularly to keep my friends and family updated on my whereabouts.

I'm currently in the process of not only working on making my dream come true, but also trying out this thing called weblog. I'm completely new to this weblog thing so bear with me. I should be posting here on a somewhat regular basis and I will try posting links, photos and all that, so keep coming back.

Sue