A Hot New York City Lottery:Green Card
NYC libraries and other non-profit groups help immigrants apply for the green card lottery.
Matthew Boylan is not a lawyer but immigrants hoping for green cards flocked to see him for third year in a row. Deciphering their requests uttered in sparse English, he carefully aligned heads to snap their picture and patiently placed fingers on the computer keyboard to fill in the online forms, all services free of charge.
Libraries, college immigration clinics and other non-profit organizations in New York City, where many newcomers settle, have mobilized to help local immigrants enter the green card lottery, a random shot at landing papers to solidify a legal life in the U.S.
“Some people we assisted here return to say they’ve won it, but most immigrants come back to apply again the following year,” said Boylan, who is a senior librarian at the Donnell Library Center, one of three New York Public Library branches assisting green card lottery applicants.
A permanent resident card, known as a green card, gives immigrants a lawful status to stay and work in the U.S., similar to that of American citizens. While some immigrants petition the government for permanent residency based on special circumstances such as employment, marriage to a U.S. citizen and political asylum, many test their luck in a diversity visa program (DV), the so-called green card lottery, which makes 50,000 green cards available to immigrants through a computer-generated draw every year from October to December.
“Immigrants find out about our services through advertisements in the ethnic press, through friends, through the community, churches,” said Boylan, who works at NYPL’s largest circulating collection of materials in languages other than English. “The library has always helped the immigrant community advance.”
For three years the Mayor’s Office of Immigrants’ Affairs and NYPL have carried out a program at three library branches to assist local immigrants in submitting basic personal information online and taking or scanning passport size photos, which are required for the green card lottery. Last year 163 people took advantage of the service. About five or six immigrants came to see Boylan on a rainy Saturday in November, he said, adding that more people came as the deadline for lottery applications approached.
“The New York lottery may change people’s lives but the green card lottery gives immigrants new lives,” said Filipe, a 23-year-old Argentine, vying for U.S. permanent residency.
A student at Hunter College, Filipe holds an F-1 student visa, which entitles him to five-year legal status in the U.S to study and to work limited hours in positions pertaining to his major. He is currently violating the conditions for his visa waiting on tables at an Upper East Side restaurant for cash.
For Filipe, who did not give his last name, winning the green card lottery this year means starting a new, more secure life with endless possibilities to work, study and travel, he said.
“It is a chance – they just pick your name out of a bag, and you get it,” said Mario, 22, who did not want to give his name. He is also from Argentina, also goes to Hunter College and works off the books at the same restaurant. Mario is ineligible to apply for the green card lottery because he is an undocumented immigrant. “Winning the lottery does not mean anything,” said Norman Eng of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), a non-profit immigration advocacy group. “If you have been out of status for more than six months, you can’t get a green card if you win.”
Most of the 489,000 undocumented immigrants the Department of Homeland Security says are living in New York State may be prevented from pursuing permanent residency for three to ten years, according to U.S. immigration laws. Winners, banned from filing a permanent residency petition because they were out-of-status, could not claim their green card as the DV lottery did not trump their previous immigration hurdles, Eng said.
But legal status is not always the main concern for DV applicants.
People of certain national origins are ineligible to participate in the lottery. Countries which sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the past five years are excluded from the draw. So far, twenty states are ineligible to participate, according to DV regulations.
But immigration challenges do not stop even if a legal immigrant from an eligible country wins the lottery.
“A lot of people win it but then they have to face up to a variety of requirements,” said Eng. “It is not an easy process.”
This year’s new 50,000 DV residents passed interviews, education and job skills requirements among 82,000 lottery winners, out of 5.5 million applicants, according to government statistics.
“The lottery represents the dreams and hopes of many young people, for many students. They do not have many alternatives,” said Enzo Soderini, a legal advisor at the Immigrant Clinic at City College, which assists more than 500 applicants every year.
“There are many organizations that would submit anybody’s application, without checking, and charge money for it. It is a big business,” Soderini said. Applying to the diversity program is free, but companies charging fees for their services are ample, especially online.
“There are lawyers who charge people money to enter their information in the computer and take their picture,” Soderini said. Immigration lawyers also advertise their services online through websites such as craigslist.org and guarantee correct application submissions for individuals and families for fees.
“It is a tough for immigrants out there. People think, if they pay somebody, the service will be better, “ said Susan O’Connor, a manager of the literacy programs at the Brooklyn Public Library, which is serving DV entrants for a fourth year. “Also, many are cautious – they think that libraries are government, and distrust our services.”
The number of immigrants applying at the Brooklyn Public Library fell from 1300 in 2005 to 800 in 2006, and submissions were low for 2007, she said, adding that the trend was due to the stagnation in the national and state immigration debates. Despite immigration uncertainties, the green card remains the ultimate goal.
“It is the ticket, the gold American Express card, the key for these immigrants to stay here, support themselves and their families, build a life,” O’Connor said.