The first time my husband sent an application for the American Green Card lottery was three years ago. The reason that prompted him to take this step was an irrepressible desire to prove to my sister that winning the DV is possible. So, thanks to his natural stubbornness, after the third attempt he received a notification that he had been selected by the computer and was among the candidates for a visa. I automatically became a participant, since the win extends to the entire applicant's family.
Step one
If you can fill out the form yourself, go ahead. If not, ask someone you know to help you. I do not advise turning to firms that provide such services. For a "nominal" fee (about 50 hryvnias), they will, of course, fill out the form for you, but instead of your address, where the first package of documents should arrive, they may indicate their own, and if you win, you may well have to shell out a few more hundred dollars to retrieve those documents. For example, we were helped by friends who know English.
Step two
When you have completely stopped hoping for a win, like a bolt from the blue, the first package of documents arrives with congratulations on being enrolled as a candidate for an immigrant visa. You need to fill out the forms as soon as possible and send them to the specified address. Be sure to remember your case number; it must also be written in the upper right corner of each page of the form. This is done so that if documents are lost, they are easier to find. And also: it is better not to show the case number to anyone, because only you should know it and present it at the request of medical center and embassy staff.
After you send the form, do not relax, but start collecting the necessary documents. If you do not yet have a foreign passport, it is better to hurry up and get it - the process can take up to six months.
When you receive a response to the sent form with an invitation to an interview, get ready to travel. If you are a Kyiv resident, then you have one less problem, because the centers where medical examinations take place are only in Kyiv in our country. Here you can also get a Polish visa for a trip to Warsaw for the interview.
Step three
There are two medical centers in Kyiv that conduct medical examinations for American visa applicants. I advise you to contact the Amosov Institute. You can get here from the station by minibus No. 198 or by ordering a taxi in Kyiv. Payment here is $35 less than at the other medical facility.
You need to visit all the main doctors, who will make a note in your chart about your ailments (if any). You must provide them with your childhood vaccination card with the doctor's stamp from the clinic. The therapist will definitely send you to get vaccinated against hepatitis B and rubella (without these vaccinations, you will most likely not be allowed into America). So if you have time and the clinic has the vaccine, it will be much cheaper to get these two vaccinations at your place of residence, because at the Amosov clinic they will cost you more (for example, the hepatitis vaccination here costs 80 hryvnias).
Usually there are many clients at the medical center, so it is better to come at 8 a.m. and get the results by lunchtime. The sealed envelope with the doctors' conclusions must not be opened under any circumstances! The X-ray films will be kept separately and will only be useful when leaving Ukraine for America.
Step four
All applicants for an American immigrant visa undergo an interview at the US Embassy in Warsaw. To travel there, you need to get a visa at the Polish embassy. This procedure usually takes one day, less often two, and is completely free.
The Embassy of the Republic of Poland is located at 60 Bohdan Khmelnytsky Street. Usually a lot of people crowd here, forming two lines: some to get the form, others already to submit completed forms and get a visa. After you receive the form, make photocopies of it so you do not have to stand in line again if you make mistakes. The forms must be filled in with Latin letters. For example: PETROV IVAN VLADIMIROVICH, place of residence - KIEV, PROSPEKT LENINA 5, profession - VODITEL. Refuse the numerous offers to fill out the form for you for 15 hryvnias, because these "specialists" will make many mistakes, due to which you will have to fill out the document again.
When submitting documents for a Polish visa, we needed a photocopy of the first page from the second package of documents (the invitation letter with the date and place of the interview). The embassy employee advised us to take a double-entry Polish visa, since in some cases the American visa may not be granted immediately, and then you will have to go to Poland again.
Step five
According to the lottery rules, each applicant must provide the following documents:
- birth certificate;
- secondary education document;
- certificate of no criminal record;
- marriage or divorce certificate;
- death certificate (if applicable);
- military ID (if you served).
All these documents must be translated into English and notarized. Do not give in to persuasions to legalize the documents - this procedure is unnecessary for Americans.
Step six
At the US Embassy in Warsaw you need to provide a document confirming financial solvency. This can be a sponsor's guarantee, your own savings (preferably in a foreign bank), or a job offer (work guarantor). The third option, in my opinion, is the most acceptable. Even if you don't have an acquaintance in America who could help you find a job and send you a contract with a company ready to accept you, you can visit a website where you will find many vacancies offered by our former compatriots. We found a job exactly there. You choose a vacancy that more or less corresponds to your specialty or existing skills, send an email, and after discussing all the details, ask them to send you a work guarantor, which must specify hourly wages, number of working hours per week, the date from which you can start performing your duties, the position, the specifics of the work, and that it is permanent work, not temporary or seasonal.
There is also a second option for obtaining a work guarantor. There are many sites where a job offer is offered for money (about $500), but this option has many disadvantages. First, this vacancy is most likely non-existent. Second, you will have to invent a story about how you found this place, that is, simply lie, which is in no way welcome.
Step seven
If you can afford a trip to Warsaw by train - go ahead! The advantage of this option is that you don't need to transfer, but the trip will cost half as much if you first take a train to Kovel and then a bus to Warsaw. We saved 150 hryvnias per person: a train ticket to Kovel costs up to 50 hryvnias, and the bus to Warsaw costs the same.
As soon as we got on the bus, the driver, learning that we were not carrying cigarettes or alcohol, handed us a carton and a bottle respectively (it is very profitable to bring alcohol and cigarettes to Poland because they cost twice as much there). At customs, they woke us up, checked our passports, and asked us to fill out a declaration indicating the amount being brought in, the absence of drugs, weapons, etc. In total, we spent about three hours at customs.
In the morning, with red eyes and a headache (after all, the trip is not the most comfortable), we got off the bus on one of the main streets of Warsaw. The first people we asked how to get to the American embassy turned out to be two Ukrainian women. They invited us to their home, fed us borscht and pirozhki, and gave up one bed.
I want to warn you right away that not everyone in Warsaw is so kind. Sometimes, hearing our speech, they will simply look at you contemptuously, and sometimes they will rob you to the bone right in the city center. My husband and I would never allow ourselves to visit strangers, but we had no choice. On Sunday, Warsaw seems to die out - all shops and exchange offices are closed. We had money with us, but there was nowhere to exchange it for zlotys. By the way, a bus ride costs 2.40 zlotys (about three hryvnias), a hotel costs about 100 zlotys, but at the station there is cheaper accommodation, a taxi costs 1.60 per km.
Step eight
The interview is the most important stage in obtaining a US immigrant visa. Dress strictly, be confident, and smile when talking to officials. The US Embassy in Warsaw is located at 12 Piękna Street, not far from central Marszałkowska Street.
First, you need to line up for a visa (along the blue line). Then you enter the hall where you wait for your turn. Numbers corresponding to the serial numbers on the entry tickets light up on the board. First, you will be invited to submit the necessary documents and sign (remember that the signature must be yours everywhere). Then they will give you a paper for payment and ask you to wait. When your number lights up above the cashier's window, you must approach and pay $435 for each family member traveling with you.
Next, you will be invited to a window where the consul and an interpreter are behind the glass. Before the conversation, you will be asked to swear that you will tell only the truth for the entire conversation, and only after the word "I swear" will they begin the conversation. The questions are standard: where you plan to work, who you are going to, whether you have savings, what education you have, etc. After this procedure, you will be told when to come back to get your visa.
As soon as you receive your visa, you can breathe a sigh of relief. But remember that this envelope must never be opened! Only an airport employee has the right to do so. Now you can pack your things and prepare for the move: sell furniture and get your teeth treated - in America this is an expensive pleasure.