We won the lottery!! 

And by lottery, I mean the Green Card Lottery, and what did I win?

A green card?

Not exactly, turns out that I have “won” the opportunity to apply for a Permanent Visa via the Diversity Visa Scheme – which literally translates to “6-12 months of form filling and compliance checking”.  I won’t go too far into what the DV Lottery is (what us peeps in the know call it), and how it came about, however I have linked to the pertinent (and legitimate) information as relevant for those that want to investigate further.

Let me be clear, I am ECSTATIC at the opportunity- the ability to live and work in the USA for the average NZ’r became a dream post 1980 (trust me, you will want to see the video of our stance against Nuclear Weapons being codified, little old NZ essentially pulling the finger to a super power, at the height of the Cold War – plucky yes, smart? I am not to sure, but I digress), and myself and the beloved are past the age for many Working Visas.

I heard about the Green Card lottery when a colleague of mine about 6 years ago “won”, and upon research it appeared that the entry rate of NZers was rather low.  This was our 2nd year of entry, and it is true that the entry process is rather painless. Enter in October of one year, start checking (and keep regularly checking) from May to end September the following year. Then out of the blue, the response is not “you have been unsuccessful” but rather becomes a personalised letter providing you with further instructions.

So here I am, an email saying congratulations, and me really no idea what I had “won”. There was a reasonable amount of information and support online for the initial application process. Checking the web since we have “won” has shown me blogs of happy successful people now living their dream States side, with a brief blush over the paperwork and process.  On first glance, it looks to be like we are about to go down a process and a half! Are we up for it? Hells yeah!!

So, please feel free to join me in my journey of bureaucracy and what is sure to be some ups and some downs.

In the meantime, I will follow the wisdom of a friend of mine, celebrate each achievement – so here’s to me and winning the lottery

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