[lighthouse]

Why can't UK citizens enter the green card lottery? (clicked on the pop up at the top of the screen to have a look). I'm sorry but it's outragous that our country can be drawn into an alliance with yours in wars that occasionally seem illegal, UK citizens are killed in said wars, and we have this so-called 'special relationship' everyone bangs on about, but we can't enter a comp to get a green card. I like to think that there are decent minded people in the US who can see the injustice here. I mean, it's like we in the UK are slowly becoming a sort of silent reserve of 60 million waiting to be called up to fight and die in some conflict or other to maintain someone somewheres' way of life. Unless of course the notion of a green card or US citizenship has become something of an anachronism in a country that could slowly be turning into the 51st state anyway, except that we have a PM instead of a governor, MPs instead of Senators and Congressmen, and we have a Monarch.

What the hell is going on???

[somefellow]

No Canadians either .......must be only taking people from drug capitals , terrorist nations , gang families etc..etc...

[lighthouse]

................But I'd like to establish here that there should be no resentment towards peaceful peoples from the countries that are eligible because that would be wrong. I'd like to think that this is some oversight and not suggestive of anything untoward going on somewhere!!!

[Jaim]

Quite funny. According to them "Qualification is determined by your country of birth". So a Swedish or French guy can enter, but as a UK citizen i can't?
Really great...

[N E Key]

Quoted from that site;

"The Green Card Lottery, officially called Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, is a lottery for people who come from countries with low immigration rate to the United States. Each year 50,000 immigrant visas are made available through this program. None of these visas are available for people who come from countries that have sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the past five years."

No slight intended.

[treespirit]

You can always come to Canada instead, Lighthouse.

[Infidel_Kastro]

They're not green, they're pink.

[lighthouse]

Treespirit

[Mulderator]

You can bet this is another ingenious plan by liberals to promote more "diversity."

[linskyjack]

Well well well--we now have a Republican Congress and White House---Lets see what the Monkey and Chief can do to reform immigration---What is Mulder going to do when four years from now nothing has changed and he can't blame it on the "liberals"

[Mulderator]

Originally Posted by linskyjack

Well well well--we now have a Republican Congress and White House---Lets see what the Monkey and Chief can do to reform immigration---What is Mulder going to do when four years from now nothing has changed and he can't blame it on the "liberals"

Nope--that doesn't fly hi-jack. You know as well as I do that the split between the parties is still very close. While Republicans have more power, they don't have enough to push their agenda completely. They still have to compromise and there will still be plenty of "liberal" agendas that get pushed through Congress. Trade this for that, etc. And frankly, this is one of those issues that Republicans really don't care about (i.e., immigration) so they will basically be more then willing to compromise. But you can bet that whoever came up with this policy is a lefty just like you!

[linskyjack]

I knew that you would begin to make excuses for the new Congress and the administration before they even take office. Mulder, this is what you people have dreamed of for years! As I have said, within this right wing government are the seeds of self-destruction.

[RSM123]

FWIW,

I rread up on the issue of emigration to the US some years ago - apparently Congress set fixed quotas for each country of the world .. they compiled a demographic breakdown of the composition of the US population - based on the country of origin of Americans sometime in the 1920s. As a result Britain, Germany, Ireland, Holland, and Italy have some of the most generous allocations of 'green' cards. Despite this these countries are if anything oversubscribed - there are far more people willing to get out than Uncle Sam is willing to take

Conversely, many countries in the Third World particularly, have applicants who cannot meet the criteria of spouse, next of kin etc, and who have nowhere near enough money to qualify as an investor, and possibly no particular special skill or educational credential to qualify. As a result those countries quotas remain unfilled. I believe it is these 'slots' that are then offered as part of the lottery.

Any feedback would be most welcome - as what I have stated may only be part of the story.

[Mulderator]

Originally Posted by linskyjack

I knew that you would begin to make excuses for the new Congress and the administration before they even take office. Mulder, this is what you people have dreamed of for years! As I have said, within this right wing government are the seeds of self-destruction.

I should post this advice for all you liberals here--take off the tin-foil hat and take some Prozac--the paranoia should fade.

[poochee]

Hey there Lighthouse, I'd like to trade you for 100 of some of the others that are getting into my country. You know, potential terrorists!!