mark213

Help.... any advice and opinion on my dilemma would be very much appreciated.

I've won the US 2007 Diversity Visa Lottery..... Yes it was great to win and I was excited to get the option of having the option of going to the USA. Today I got my interview letter requesting i go to the embassy for the visa processing. And now my dilemma...

Yesterday I got my PR visa come through for Australia and am thrilled to get that. I really want to go to Australia to begin my new life. However I am at odds with the option i have now of a USA visa. Totally its going to cost another GBP 600, a flight to the USA to activate it etc and i am not sure if its totally worth it if I am going to live in Australia. I would like the option of being able to work in the USA career wise, and perhaps live, but for now my mind is set on Australia.

What does the US DV give me? Do i have to go and work straight away in the USA? Can I keep it for sometime in the future? Should i not bother with it at all if its not valid for very long? Some may think I'm greedy with all the options but to be honest i didnt expect them all to come at once!!

Your opinions would be valuable in seeing what i should do. Thanks in advance.

Noorah101

When you enter the USA using your DV lottery visa, you become a PR upon entry. I allows you to live and work in the USA. I believe you will be eligible for US citizenship 5 years down the road, if you meet the eligibility requirements at that time. I am not sure how long this visa is good for, but other immigrant visas are good for 6 months, in other words you have 6 months to use the visa to come to the USA, otherwise you lose it. Once you become a PR in the USA, you are expected to live here, and if you spend too much time outside the USA while you have PR status, you risk losing your USA PR status. In my opinion, if you are more interested in Australia, don't bother using the DV visa to come to the USA. Why spend all that money and set up house here in the USA, if you don't intend to stay at least 5 years to get your US citizenship?

Those are my thoughts....
Rene

mark213

Thanks Rene - appreciate your opinion.

hcj1440

I think one thing you should consider is that it is much easier to immigrate to Australia than to the US... so if you decide on Australia now, you may not be able to immigrate to the US in the future if you change your mind. Whereas, if you immigrate to the US now and you decide to go for Australia in the future, chances are much better of you being able to immigrate to Australia.

Life is probably better in Australia but there are more jobs and opportunities in the US.

fatbrit

Money can't buy a better visa. If you want to live and work in the US, this is your opportunity. Many struggle for years and spend $$$ to reach the permanent resident status you will have on entry. This is a one-off opportunity.

Noorah101

If the OP doesn't really want it, though, he can choose to not pursue it and give up his spot to someone who really DOES want it and has no other country in mind to immigrate to.

Rene

pianoplayer

I agree with this. I think someone posted on a similar topic a couple of months back.

I am a permanent resident of Australia and the US --- while I studied here on the F1 visa, my family immigrated to Australia and included me in the process, so I do hold PR in Australia. Meanwhile, I met my wife in the US and got married and so became a US permanent resident.

While I disagree with the fact that Australia has easier immigration requirements (the whole process took my family about 3 years), Australia does have more liberal requirements on retaining permanent residence. For example, I do not lose my Australian PR by living in the US. My PR visa will expire in 5 years, but my status remains unchanged. Australian PRs who want to return need to apply for a resident return visa, which can be issued for 5 yrs or 3 months. You do need to show some ties to Australia (which in my case, would be substantial family ties), but it is much easier to get than the resident return visa for the US (for GC holders who overstayed outside the country.)

Therefore, it may be in the OP's interest to go ahead with the Australian PR as well as the US PR (moving to the US) to preserve her choices. Since she does not have any family ties in Australia however, she would probably have to make up her mind within 5 years whether she wants to settle in Australia or not, since she may not be granted a resident return visa to Australia.

I would weigh the two countries carefully. I think I have said this before and I will again: I love living in the US and there are many great opportunities. But I think, if I were not married here to a USC, I would probably have moved to Australia. I think it also offers a lot of opportunities, but with wonderful additional lifestyle benefits, vacation time, excellent public health care system, healthy social security system etc. Even my USC wife, who at first professed that she would never be able to leave the US, has expressed some interest in moving to Australia in the future.

That is a general comment. It depends so much on your given profession. Some professions have better opportunities in Australia, others in the US. So it all really depends on the individual too.

Therefore, I would advise the OP to keep her options open as far as possible and to really weigh and balance her choices. For me, I plan to apply for USC in a couple of years, but I'm preserving my Australian PR should me or my spouse ever decide to start something new over there.

Good luck and best wishes

hcj1440

Pianoplayer -- overall I agree with your whole post, if possible it would be best to preserve all options. It was interesting to read your experience about Australian PR-ship. For example I had not thought about the possibility that the OP could preserve her Australian PR even while pursuing a US PR.

I am curious re: your thought that it is not necessarily easier to immigrate to Australia. I understand that it takes time, but I'm curious -- if your family had chosen to pursue the US instead, would they have had any basis for applying? I've only immigrated to the US personally so I have a one-sided personal experience, but from seeing relatives and friends of the family immigrate it seems Australia is much more achievable and you can pretty much buy your way in. Whereas the US seems unreachable unless one has family here, is able to get a job here, or has ridiculous amounts of money to invest.

JAJ

That's true in general,although there is now the E-3 visa for Australian citizens:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-3_visa

Another issue to bear in mind that Australia is proposing to increase the citizenship residence period from 2 years to 4 years sometime in the first half of 2007. Existing permanent residents will be grandfathered, but will have only 3 years from commencement of the new law to clock up the 2 years and apply for citizenship.

The other important factor in all this is that winning the DV Lottery does not guarantee an immigrant visa. If the original poster decides to go for the US it would make sense to validate his Australian PR visa in case the US immigrant visa does not come through in the end.

pianoplayer

Well, it all depends on what your basis is for immigrating, what your profession is etc. With regards to my parents --- they have had several job offers in the US, but decided not to take them.

I think the US is a more relative-driven system and it is harder to immigrate otherwise. However, I would not say that it is easy to do that in Australia either. You can certainly not "buy your way in" any more than in the US. Many of my dad's colleagues in Australia are on work visas --- some have been there many years and still have not been able to obtain permanent residence. They are forced to work from year to year. Incidentally, a child born in Australia is not automatically an Australian citizen.

I believe it ultimately comes down in Australia to what you have to offer --- it is a skills-based immigration system, whereas the US system appears to be more geared towards family-based immigration, with limited employment-based immigration.

JAJ

That's unusual in the light of reforms in April 2005 which make it a lot easier to get permanent residence after working for a few years on a temporary visa. Provided there's not a complication like aged 45 or over, or employer not wanting to sponsor.


True, but children born to non-Australians with permanent residence are automatically Australian.

pianoplayer

You probably know much more about the visa reforms than I do. I happily concede the point --- my statement was merely based on what I know about colleagues of my dad.
Yes, I knew that children born to Australian PR are citizens, but that is quite a significant restriction compared to US policy, where the birth just needs to take place on the soil.

I would not dare to argue further with a seasoned Aussie about Australian immigration policy ---- just my thoughts.
Best wishes

mark213

Thanks all for your valuable opinions. I think the way that my mind is that i will decline the US DV visa.

Reasons being many but the whole validity of the DV visa being my primary concern. It would require me to go the USA pretty much immdiately whereas for personal reasons Australia is a little more forgiving in that respect.

Secondly I do have a small tie to Down Under with my girlfriend desperate for me to arrive, and sister living nearby too. Also i am really looking to move in the next 3 months, really out of wack with any US visa.

Finally I am also from Southern Africa originally, and find culturally, that Australia fits better. The way of life is similar to England as well with the colonial feel that i'm used, whereas the USA, whilst wonderful and very large in opportunites, has a few issues that in the long term could possibly make me feel unsettled. I appreciate the same could be felt with Australia, but with significant visits to both places under my belt I could relate to Australia more.

I also suppose that if i'm required to say work in the USA then a sponsored visa or E-3 Visa is another option to having a way in to the USA at a later stage. Hey - i could even apply again for the DV lottery again if needed to! I also agree with Rene that someone who actually wants the visas should get them. This would be more of a distraction and would decline someone elses ability to migrate when i have no real intention of going just yet.

Mark

Tegwyn

There are so many Saffers in Aussieland that you will do well there. When I visited the place, I felt like I was back in S.A. Just exchange the elephants for the roos! I would love to go back for another visit.

JAJ

Are you a British citizen? If not, and you only have Indefinite Leave to Remain, you should be fully aware of how your ILR can be lost once you no longer live in the UK.