Join the army and become a US citizen in 6 months

WASHINGTON: For decades, high-skilled professionals from across the world, particularly India, have fought their way to US citizenship through legal immigration channels — a process that can take up to a decade or more. Now, Uncle Sam is making it easy. Fight your way — literally — to American citizenship in as little as six months.

In a far reaching proposal, the US military will open its doors to skilled immigrant guest workers (such as those who hold H-1B visas) who have lived in the US for a minimum of two years. The move is aimed at offsetting the poor recruitment intake from traditional sources at a time the US military is stretched thin by deployments in Iraq and the Af-Pak theater.

US Green card holders, also known as permanent residents, have long been eligible to enlist in the military. But this is the first time since the Vietnam War that the armed forces will be open to temporary immigrants and offer them a path to citizenship, a move that in some ways amounts to outsourcing its wars.

The program comes at a time when skilled immigrants in the US are facing a slowing job market, offering them an avenue to turn potential pink slips into not just Green cards, but citizenship — if they are so obsessed about their American Dream.

A pilot program that will take in 1000 immigrant recruits nationwide will begin in New York City in the first year, according the New York Times, which first reported the development on Sunday.

By going to the pool of skilled immigrants, recruiters actually expect to improve the quality of US military personnel, since most foreign skilled guest workers typically have more education, foreign language skills and professional expertise than many Americans who enlist. This is expected to help the military to fill shortages in medical care, language interpretation and field intelligence analysis.

The program is particularly germane to Indian guest workers who constitute the largest segment of skilled foreign workers in the US, and although Spanish-speaking Latinos constitute the largest group of immigrants, they are largely unskilled.
The one-year pilot program in New York City that will recruit 550 personnel (rest 450 will come from across the country) explicitly excludes Spanish speakers, while being open to immigrants who speak one or more of 35 languages, including Hindi/Urdu, Tamil, Arabic, Chinese, Nepalese, Pashto etc. US officials have said in the past that they sorely lacked field intelligence operatives with requisite language skills to be deployed in the Af-Pak theater.

The army's program will also include about 300 medical professionals to be recruited nationwide. If the pilot program, which is restricted to the army and some other agencies, succeeds, it will expand for all branches of the military.

Go to http://www.usadiversitylottery.com/ to enter the Green Card Lottery today.

The U.S. DV2011 Green Card Lottery

Obtain a Green Card without any form of sponsorship
One way in which SOME people can obtain a Green Card without any form of sponsorship is to participate in the Diversity Visa Lottery which is held each year. Between October 2 and December 2, 2009 the US State Department have in effect the 2009 Diversity Visa (DV2011) Lottery program. This is a lottery where applications from all over the world are received so that the applicants can be considered for a Green Card. Not everyone in the world is eligible. Only those from traditionally low visa requesting countries may apply. Not every who applies is selected and not everyone who is selected obtains a Green Card. The Visa Lottery has strict exclusions for some countries and specific requirements that must be fulfilled by the recipients.

Eligible Countries
Countries with traditionally high volumes of visa applicants are NOT eligible to apply. Thus, high volume visa applicants from the countries listed in this paragraph are NOT permitted to apply. Everyone else in the world not mentioned can apply. So, people from the near Caribbean such as Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica are NOT eligible to apply. People from the following South and Central American Countries are also NOT eligible to apply: Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. In addition, some nationals from Asia such as those from the Philippines, South Korea, and Vietnam are not permitted to apply either. Also people from the United Kingdom are NOT permitted to apply, but people from Northern Ireland ARE permitted to apply. Also, if you are from one of the excluded countries mentioned above, but you are the lawful spouse of someone who is eligible to apply, you can claim the nationality of the eligible spouse so long as, if selected, both of you apply for the Green Card at the same time and enter the US simultaneously.

How to apply for the DV2011 green card lottery
So, if you happen to be from a country that is permitted to apply for the Visa Lottery, what should you do? You apply on line at http://www.usadiversitylottery.com. The application does require a small fee and requires that the applicant complete all the biographical information such as name, dates of birth, country of origin/birth (or nationality), address, etc. Also, the applicant must provide or upload an electronic/digital photograph to include with the application. The digital photograph requirements are very strict. The photograph must have been taken within the last six (6) months and must be similar to a passport photograph, customarily 2 inches high by 2 inches wide of the head and shoulders, no jewelry, and straight faced, for details see the photo requirements at httP://www.usadiversitylottery.com/photo.php Also, each applicant can include the names of immediate family members which are limited to a spouse and all biological or legally adopted children under the age of 21.

DV2011 green card lottery requirements
The DV2011 lottery program only allows one submission per person, but a husband and wife can each submit a separate application and include the other as an immediate family member. Of the millions of applications submitted each year, only approximately 55,000 are selected each year. Of the 55,000, approximately 5000 are allocated to other visa programs and the remaining 50,000 are notified that they were selected or are visa lottery winners. Once selected, the applicant has a specific and limited time in which to submit a properly completed visa application or, if in the United States, an adjustment of status application. If the applicant is in the United States, s/he is only eligible to adjust status if there has been NO lapse in status. That is, when applying for the Green Card, s/he must be in a valid immigration status, usually with an unexpired I-94 arrival record. If the immigration status has expired, then even if selected for the DV2011 lottery, the application will be denied!

Other requirements for the Green Card Lottery application are standard regardless if it is for the lottery or through any other means. A DV2011 Lottery recipient must not have a serious criminal background otherwise s/he will be disqualified from the application process. Simple fraud crimes such as shoplifting to big things such as drug possession can disqualify an applicant. Also, unlike the regular Green Card requirements, the DV2011 Lottery applicant must have completed high school and must produce a high school diploma or equivalent when submitting his or her visa or adjustment of status application. Improperly completing the lottery application, omitting requested information, or not uploading a photograph, will also result in the applicant’s disqualification.

Once selected if the applicant has no stumbling blocks in the application process, s/he can obtain an US Immigrant visa if outside the US or can adjust status if physically in the US. The applicant’s family can join and simultaneously enter the US; however, if the applicant is in the US, s/he can then file a petition to have his or her family join him in the US once he has been approved for the Green Card. This process may take a year or more if family members are overseas while the principal applicant is in the US.

Go to http://www.usadiversitylottery.com to enter the green card lottery today.