Green Card Lottery Service Reviews

Welcome to the green card lottery services review page from myGreencard.com. We also provide suggestions When to Use a greencard lottery service and ways to avoid green card lottery "Scams". If you have a Complaint about your lottery service provider, please tell others on myUSAi's Discussion Forum. Read Fraud Letters used to victimize so-called lottery "winners".

Last year we examined 80 lottery service domains and Rated each by fee, service reputation, user collaboration, attorney contacts, traffic ranking, support, and more. Our ratings, including our Top 12 Sites, are listed below and in our booklet. Reviews were carried out in April-May, 2009.

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2009 GREEN CARD LOTTERY SURVEY RESULTS	How We Group Services
Who We Reviewed	Review Criteria
The Winners	USING A LOTTERY SERVICE
About the Winners	Why Use a Lottery Service
The Losers	Guidelines
About the Losers	Disadvantages of Using a Service
VISA LOTTERY SERVICES REPORT	Sample Complaint Letters
Summary	Sample Scam "Winners" Letters
Ordering the Report
Finding the Information You Need

Survey Results

The services we reviewed are listed below. Top sites are shown in blue. Primary URLs of top-rated Services are in blue bold. Use websites in red at your own risk. See detailed Descriptions of winners. If a site we review redirects lottery applicants to another URL, or is a duplicate or near duplicate of the primary domain, we rate only the primary domain. The site must also be the service that confirms the registration and provides support for the lottery entrant.

1mmigration-lottery.com	infodomain.com	usaza.com
americagreencard.com	migrant.org	usdvlottery.com
americagreencard.org	myusai.com	usgcls.com
americandream.de	myusai.org	usgclva.com
americangreencard.com	myusgreencard.com	usgco.com
americangreencard.org	nationalvisaregistry.com	usgreencardlottery.com
dvgreencard.com	nationalvisaservice.com	usgreencardlottery.org
dvlottery.com	official-green-card.org	us-green-card-lottery.org
dvlottery.state.gov	rapidimmigration.com	usgreencardoffice.com
dvlotteryhelp.com	usa123.org	usgreencardoffice.org
getgreencard.com	usadiversityvisa.com	usimmigration.com
greencard.com	usafis.org	us-immigration.com
green-card.com	usagc.com	usimmigration.org
greencard.info	usagc.org	us-immigration.org
greencard4life.org	usagc.webs.com	usimmigrationagency.org
greencardexperts.org	usagcl.com	usimmigrationservice.com
greencardforall.org	usagcl.org	usimmigrationsupport.org
green-card-lottery.org	usagcla.com	usiso.com
greencardlotterygroup.com	usagcls.com	uslawyer.com
green-card-lottery-usa.org	usagcls.org	uslotteryregistration.com
greencardplus.com	usa-green-card.com	visalaw.com
greencardusa.com	usagreencardlottery.org	visalottery.com
h1base.com	usaics.org	visalotteryregistration.org
immigration.com	usa-immigration-package.com	visanow.com
immigration-aux-usa.com	usa-official-greencard.com	visapro.com
immigration-bureau.org	usavis.com	visawin.com
imminfo.com	usavis.org	winvisalottery.com

If you find another service we missed with great service, reasonable fees, and has all the information you need, please let us know on our immigration discussion forum at myUSAi.org. If you've had a bad experience also tell us. With your help, we can continue be a watchdog for scam sites and spotlight those services that provide what you need.

The Winners

Our top rated services are shown in alphabetical order below.

Green-card.com ("The American Dream" – Berlin, Germany; New York, NY). They also own or are affiliated with Americandream.de, NationalVisaService.com, Greencard.info, and dvlottery.com.
Greencardexperts.org ("Green Card Experts" – Boston, MA, USA). They also own or are affiliated with usa-greencard.com
Immigration-aux-usa.com ("Edward Weiner, Attorney at Law" – Boston, MA, USA)
MyUSGreencard.com ("MyUSGreencard" – New Haven, CT, USA)
USAGC.org ("USAGC DV Lottery Services" - Limassol, Cyprus; Istanbul, Turkey; Houston, TX, USA). They also own or are affiliated with usagc.com, americangreencard.org, usa-official-greencard.com, greencardforall.org, usa-immigration-package.com
USAGCLS.com ("USA Green Card Lottery Registration Service", Los Angeles, CA)
USAGreencardLottery.org ("USA Green Card Lottery" – Henderson, NV)
USGreencardLottery.com ("American Visa Service" - Haleiwa, HI). They also own or are affiliated with visawin.com
USGreencardOffice.com ("US Green Card Office, Ltd" – New York, NY, USA; London, UK). They also own or are affiliated with usgco.com and usgreenardoffice.org
US-Immigration.com ("United States Immigration" - Chicago, IL, USA)
VisaLaw.com ("Siskind Susser - The Immigration Law Portal" – Memphis, TN, USA)
VisaPro.com ("Visa Pro US Immigration Services", Washington, DC)

Some ratings are pending scheduled site updates.

About the Winners

Descriptions were provided by participating lottery service owners and edited by us for length and clarity. They do not represent a recommendation for any particular site. Exact wording and order of appearance may change at any time at our discretion.

USGreenCardOffice.com is one of the first Green Card Lottery services in the industry and have been handling applications since 1998. Today they are among the largest services worldwide. Their team handles applications from all over the world in 20 different languages. With 24/7 e-mail response, live chat support, and a toll-free phone support at +1 866-569-5010, UsGreenCardOffice's fees start from just $49 with no extra costs. They operate with a 100% full satisfaction guarantee to all their customers. "Apply online today so you can be one of this year’s lucky Green Card winners." USGreenCardOffice was rated at '8' out of 10 possible points.
USAGC.org claims to be one of the biggest international sites in the Diversity Visa (Green Card) category in the world, with five offices worldwide and more on the way. USAGC.org invests in customer service by "... operating an international call center in 10+ languages, using a live chat service; a U.S. toll free number and local number in every office". They also offer additional products to potential immigrants including English language teaching software, international dictionary, an immigration booklet, and more. USAGC.org uses their own servers to better support its clients from all over the world, which enables them to save money. USAGC.org uses a secure payment system licensed by Thawte and have a top score from Trustgauge.com and McAfee. USAGC appears for the very first time this year as a top site with a rating of '6' out of 10 points.

Green-Card.com (The American Dream) consistently ranks as one of the very top sites we review. This year they tied for the top rating with '8' out of 10 points. Founded in 1996, they are one of the longest-running full service providers worldwide. With offices in New York and Berlin, Green-Card.com offers extensive support for diversity visa entrants in 7 languages. As the only government licensed immigration service in Europe, they also provide legal services for obtaining other types of U.S. visas. Other free information can be found on their comprehensive website, such as immigration statistics, attorney contacts, a live chat, free monthly newsletters, and information about the company itself. The American Dream claims to have helped more than 13,000 winners, who can contact each other on a winner's forum. They also own americandream.de and dvlottery.com.

USAGreencardlottery.org is a full service Diversity Visa Lottery Service for entrants located all over the world. USAGreencardlottery.org distinguishes itself from the rest of the competition in one major area - customer service. Unlike many other service providers they actually answer phone calls. In fact, they suggest that you can try calling them anytime Monday - Friday PST at +1-702-942-1750 and you will actually speak to someone. They also claim to do a great job following up with prospective customers, paid customers and winners. In addition, they provide customers with the ability to fill out both pre-payment and application information in their own language, which includes English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Russian, Japanese, German and Arabic.

If you have questions about a lottery service, please post your question on myUSAi's Discussion Forum.

The Losers

We strongly recommend you stay away from the following "red-flagged" websites.

1mmigration-lottery.com, infodomain.com
green-card-lottery.org
greencardlotterygroup.com
greencardusa.com
immigration-bureau.org
nationalvisaregistry.com, usimmigrationservice.com
usafis.org, official-green-card.org, us-green-card-lottery.org, usagcl.com, usagcl.org, usagcls.org
usagc.webs.com
usaics.org, migrant.org, usa123.org
usaza.com
usgclva.com
usiso.com
uslotteryregistration.com
winvisalottery.com

About the Losers

Most losers are sites that display obsolete lottery requirements that were two years (or more) out of date at the time of our review. Although we usually forgive sites that may accidently list one incorrect visa eligible or ineligible country, there is no excuse for this level of mistake.

USAFIS.org is a special case because we routinely receive the most complaints about their service. Although higher numbers of complaints can be due to their higher web traffic (usafis advertises very heavily), most complaints are for unanswered service inquiries, for telephone calls to sell “VIP services” that are unnecessary and overpriced, for unauthorized credit card charges and refusing to reverse the charges, and for soliciting extra money with claims they can increase an entrant’s chances of winning. Many of these complaints could involve fraud.

On September 3, 2008, China Post reported a criminal investigation into USAFIS, charging them with scamming $587 USD by charging a credit card of a victim, according to the Criminal Investigation Bureau:

"After telling him that his 'application had been received' USAFIS said they must provide his credit card number and card security code before his application could be processed. Li revealed the information after he was assured that no money would be charged to his credit card without his signature and that the application was "free of charge,". Almost immediately after hanging up the phone, Li felt suspicious and that he might have been scammed. He called his credit card company only to find that an overseas transaction amounting to NT$18,285 had just been added to his credit card bill."

USAFIS also owns or is affiliated with: official-green-card.org, us-green-card-lottery.org, usagcl.org, usagcl.com, and usagcls.org.

Last year we received many emails from victims of Greencard4life.org and Greencard4life.com. Do not, under any circumstances give these people your credit card number. They are calling lottery entrants from other lottery services who may have sold them a phone list, and requesting credit card numbers. Then they charge the victim a large sum of money, and refuse to reverse the charges. This may be a typical phone-based scam operation.

Visa Lottery Services Report

This comprehensive report is an Excel spreadsheet geared toward an audience of site owners, web masters, immigration professionals, and other consumers of diversity visa lottery information.

The myGreencard report contains all publishable raw data from our 2009 survey of 80 green card lottery services, including reviewer comments about each web site, physical address, public telephone number, individual and total points for each rating criteria for each service; PLUS sorts, bar graphs and scatter plots and more. Since the worksheets are live you can edit and redisplay the data in new ways. The report includes Information not available on our web page or our booklet.

Our strategy is to add new ratings criteria each year making it progressively harder to get an average score. This also makes it nearly impossible to get a perfect score of 10.

NEW! in our 2009 report are:

Domain relationships in relation to a primary domain

Google “importance ratings” for each service

Affiliate program data

NOTE: we no longer publish a separate, free version of our annual lottery services report. Instead, we summarize the key results on our site.

Report Summary

The average overall rating was 3.3 plus or minus 2.4 on our rating scale of 10 possible points. No site was ranked above '8'. The 12 top ranked sites (15%) have a rating of 5 or higher.

This year, 22 sites (27.5%) earned a “red flag” rating, indicating either understaffing, negligence, inactivity, and/or poor service. Most were penalized in our reviews for posting extremely obsolete rules (i.e. 2 years or more) from past visa lotteries, or for multiple unresolved complaints about their service. This represents an increase from 16% "red flag" sites in 2008. This increase is because several red-flagged services added additional secondary URLs, and each new domain is counted in the total.

The average fee charged by green card lottery service providers was $58 USD for one person and $79 for two persons. This fee was unchanged from 2008. However, this compares to average fees of $45.50 for one person, and $70 for two persons in 2005. Many registrants pay for additional services that substantially increase the overall cost.

This year, for the first time, we found a correlation between the base registration Fee and the Service rating, based on our criteria. That is, in general, the higher the fee, the higher the level of service, suggesting you get what you pay for.

Several green card lottery services that appear near the top of well-known search engines under searches for “green card lottery” actually rank the lowest in our review. Many or most "red-flag" services have well designed web sites.

Ordering

The 2009 report available for $250 USD via PayPal. It includes an Excel spreadsheet with seven (7) separate worksheets in either MS-Excel for Office 2007 (.xlsx format) OR MS-Excel for Office 2000 (.xls format). If you wish to order this report, it is now available on Scribd and the United States Association of Immigrants at myUSAi.org.

Where to Find the Information You Need

To help you determine where content you may want is located, please see the table below. You can also visit Win the Green Card Lottery! chapter heading and subheadings on the Table of Contents page. Or you can view "bookmarks" in the Free version available on our Downloads page.

Information Web Page Free
Booklet Paid
Booklet Report

PREFACE
x

x

x

CHAPTER 1 - Introduction
x

x

x

CHAPTER 2 - Registration Instructions
x

x

CHAPTER 3 - Residential Requirements
x

x

CHAPTER 4 - Personal Requirements
x

CHAPTER 5 - Lottery Winners Only
x

CHAPTER 6 - Other Ways to Get a Green Card
x

APPENDIX A - Green Card Lottery Service Provider Questionnaire
x

APPENDIX B - Sample Winning Letter
x

APPENDIX C - Occupations Requiring Two Years Training or Experience
x

APPENDIX D - Lottery Visas Allocated by Country for DV-2009
x

APPENDIX E - Guidelines for Producing High Quality Photos
x

GLOSSARY
x

INDEX
x

List of top lottery services ("winners")
x

x

x

x

List of all lottery services in our review
x

x

x

x

List of losers (sites with major penalties)
x

x

x

x

When to use a lottery service
x

x

x

Disadvantages of using a service
x

x

x

Guidelines for lottery service owners
x

x

x

Site type classifications
x

x

x

x

Average Fees
x

x

Average Service ratings
x

x

Average Information ratings
x

x

Average Total Point ratings
x

x

Bar charts and scatter plots for each rating criteria
x

Reviewer comments for each service
x

Total points earned for each service
x

Fees for 1 person, for 1 year and 2 years
x

Fees for 2 persons, for 1 years and 2 years
x

Contact information (address, phone, fax, email) for each site, if available
x

List of URLs that are duplicates of the sites we review
x

List of URLs that redirect to the sites we review
x

Ratings for each site for every criteria we review
x

Services sorted by Total Points then by Fee (1) person

x

Services sorted by Total Points then by Fee (2) persons
x

Services sorted by Fee then by Total Points
x

Services sorted by Service then by Fee
x

Services sorted by Fee then by Total Points
x

Services sorted by Service, then by Fee
x

Services sorted by Information then Fee
x

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Lottery Service Review Criteria

Below describes the information we use to rate each site. To earn a perfect score, a lottery service must have a rating of 10 points.

Fee (2 points)
We rate published fees for one person for (1) year, two persons for (1) year, and one person for (2) years, and two persons for (2) years, if available. Two person entries are sometimes called “family” applications. We DO NOT rank prices beyond two (2) years because lottery eligibility rules, electronic data, and contact information change every year, making a previously submitted application useless. Low prices are worth two points out of 10. All prices were converted from Euros to USD based on an exchange rate of 1.35 U.S. dollars to 1.00 Euro.

Some sites give discounts for entering early or for sending referrals. Other sites publish different prices for online entries versus applications sent by mail. If two prices are listed, we list fees for applications sent by mail, reflecting our bias toward sites that provide truly useful services. If prices vary according to entry date, we use the price listed for an October entry, which is when most people should enter. We do not rate discounted prices for very early entries.

Note that many services rightly charge additional fees for entering Children, for multi-year entries, for Airline Tickets to come to the United States if you win, and have other useful options including Immigration Books, Legal Fees, etc.) that can substantially raise the average price of doing business with a service. However here we only use the direct registration fee in our ratings.

Information Content (2 points)
Some sites do not even provide the State Department information freely available at http://www.travel.state.gov. If they do provide this information, it is usually located in an “FAQ” (Frequently Asked Questions) link located on their site. Alternatively, they should direct you to the State Department web site. They should also list or provide a link to the U.S. Department of State O*Net codes page listing the occupations requiring at least two years training or experience to perform. A “yes” here is worth 1 point.

If the site provides advice for lottery winners either via links, a booklet, or as a service, this makes the site much more useful. After all, what good is it if you win the lottery, but fail to get your green card, or can't get your family members into the United States? A "yes" is worth 1 point. Very few sites include this information.

Service (4 points)
Since we are rating green card lottery services, we believe this category should be weighted most heavily at 4 points out of 10. Some sites only accept digital photographs. If the site does not accept standard hardcopy photos we do not award a point. Furthermore, sites should not require you to register just to get an answer to this basic question.

The web site should have an immigration attorney available to respond to your questions, for no charge or for a reasonable fee—depending on the complexity of the question. We feel that legal advice could be required if you win the lottery. A "yes" is worth 1 point. If we are uncertain whether the site has access to an attorney, we do not award a point.

A telephone number should be available if you are doing business with a reputable lottery service. A "yes" is worth 1 point. If we cannot easily find the phone number, we do not award a point. A toll-free telephone number is worth 1 more point. Some have a 24 x 7 toll free hotlines for international callers.

Member Collaboration (2 points)
Chat can be a particularly useful way to communicate. Operators can chat in real time with registrants, and registered members can potentially chat with each other. Although chat can also be useful for immediate answers it is limited by its inability to save the conversation for later reference. Presence of a chat service is worth one point.

A discussion forum for registered users is a nice feature. Typically, legal sites have more active boards than general visa sites or green card lottery services, sometimes with scores of topics generating hundreds of posts each. Ideally, these boards are moderated by an immigration attorney skilled in U.S. immigration law. Presence of a message board is worth one point.

Alternatively, linking to the myUSAi lottery services Discussion Forum is worth a point.

Penalty Points

In most cases, sites were penalized for listing obsolete lottery instructions that are two or more years out of date. In our opinion, if owners make basic mistakes like this on their site, there is a much higher risk they will not properly validate lottery applications. In our review, we subtract 1 point from their total score if they violate the standards listed earlier. Although these mistakes may be due to mere sloppiness, it may also indicate negligence or that the service is inactive or understaffed. Another reason we penalize a site is if we receive multiple unresolved complaints about their service.

We take away 1 point if the site contains some of the most obvious red flags listed earlier, reflecting our bias against potential lottery scam sites. This interpretation can be subjective and significantly lower the site's score, so we tend to err on the side of the lottery service. We encourage site owners to dispute our findings if incorrect and clear up any issues. Sites cannot earn less than 0 points.

If you find this information useful, please Tell-A-Friend.

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How We Group Lottery Services

Immigration Law Firms handle general immigration issues and provide green card lottery assistance as an additional service, but usually for a larger fee. Although they may also process immigration forms, they tend to focus on immigration casework and provide legal assistance to lottery winners. We generally review law firms if they display a “green card lottery” link.

General Immigration Services process immigration forms of all kinds, including student visas, H-1B visas, green cards, and green card lottery applications. Some have immigration attorneys available to help you (usually for a fee) and can be quite useful to some immigrants.

Dedicated Green Card Lottery Sites specialize in processing green card lottery applications only. If they provide other services and forms, we classify them as a General Immigration Service.

All three types of sites should excel in mass registering users for the lottery at the official government web site. Some have links to “New to America” information for jobs, schools, citizenship, and other information that could be of interest to immigrants. Our current opinion is that an established, Dedicated Green Card Lottery site with good service with immigration attorney contacts and a telephone number with live assistance is the best choice (assuming you need a service at all)l. This is because they are usually prepared to handle the extra heavy application workload during the green card lottery open registration period. These sites are easier to navigate since they not cluttered with other information that you do not need. An Immigration Law Firm is unlikely to be disreputable but the cost can be significantly higher, especially if you use their services if you win. In most cases, winners will need to consult an attorney at some point anyway.

A General Immigration Service is between the two extremes, but some charge for forms that are free at government web sites. All three should have easy to find links to immigration attorneys and the capability to track your application once you have mailed (or emailed) it to them.

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Why Use a Lottery Service

This section explains when you may need or prefer to use third party assistance to enter the diversity visa lottery.

We also list Guidelines for ethical lottery services and how to avoid scam sites, sample Letters of Complaint that we received, and a typical Scam Letter from Bankok, Thailand.

Convenience. One benefit of using a service is the convenience of registering any time of the year without worrying about missed registration deadlines. For example, if you cannot register within the open registration period then you may want to use a service.

Poor English Language Skills. If your English language skills are weak, then a lottery service can help. The service should either correct mistakes for you or return your registration and tell you where to make the correction. Since millions of applications were prepared incorrectly in past years, there seems to be a clear need for this type of service.

Lack of Computer Access. You must have access to a digital camera to take your picture, or a scanner to digitize your photographs. If you do not have computer technology available, you may wish to send in a paper application and standard photograph to a lottery service so they can scan your picture and enter your information electronically for you.

Unreliable Postal Service. People with slow or unreliable postal service in their home country should use a lottery service. If your winning notification letter does not arrive in a timely manner, you will lose critical response time.

Unknown Future Residence. Others may not know where they will be living when winners are selected and need use the return address of a trusted third party that will not change.

If You Use a Service. If you decide to use a service send in your paper application at least four (4) weeks before the closing date of the lottery. Some lottery services only accept electronic entries. We question the wisdom of paying a lottery service to enter your electronic application for you, since you must already have the ability to enter your information, including digital photos, into a computer. However, if you do not want to worry about missed deadlines or local mail issues, or just want the satisfaction of a check by a good provider, then sending your electronic entry to a service any time of year can be worth the relatively small fee.

There are several excellent lottery sites that provide good service. Some have 24-hour toll free telephone numbers, attorney contacts, and complete translations for non-English readers. Some lottery services even spend extra time cleaning up poor photographs that would normally be rejected by the government. Others accept applications received as late as one or two weeks before the closing date of the lottery, but charge an additional fee for processing last minute applications. Remember it may be difficult or impossible to change incorrect application data if you submit your application too close to the end of the lottery.

If you have a question, please post on myUSAi's Discussion Forum.

Our Guidelines

Below is a summary of myGreencard's guidelines to help you avoid potential problems when using lottery service. Our warnings are more stringent than those listed at the FTC site. Warnings in RED are "red flags" that indicate you COULD be dealing with a lottery scam site. In our reviews, we penalize sites that have these red flag warnings.

AVOID calls from any service that asks for your credit card number over the phone. They may claim you "won" a VIP selection or that they "received your application". Many sites charge your credit card and fail to deliver any service. Or just as serious, they will wrongly enter incomplete or inaccurate information for future lotteries and which will disqualify you from receiving a visa if you win. And some callers impersonate legitimate services.

AVOID paying lottery services in advance for more than two years, since your personal information and the lottery rules can change from year to year rendering the information you supplied obsolete. DO NOT pay for extended 5-10 year offers.

AVOID any lottery web site that claims to be "official" or implies they are associated with a U.S. government agency. NO lottery service has a government affiliation. Avoid any service that uses "Kentucky Consular Center" in their headings.

AVOID lottery services that "guarantee" you will win.

AVOID lottery services that claim to increase the chances of your registration being drawn, since the lottery is based on a random computer drawing.

AVOID lottery services that list obsolete eligibility information. Specifically, avoid services that still include signature information or fail to list Peru, Ecuador, and Guatemala as visa-ineligible countries. (NOTE: Russia was eligible again for DV-2010).

AVOID lottery services that attempt to fool you into believing you are accessing an official U.S. government site. These operators often use government icons and images to impersonate a government web address and use a Washington DC-based physical address. They should always post a disclaimer if they use U.S. government images.

AVOID lottery services that do not provide you with your official U.S. State Department confirmation number for you to obtain the status your unique entry. Ethical ervices should ideally provide this number by mail, or electronically.

AVOID lottery services that fail to list their fees until you register.

AVOID lottery services do not provide an "about us" page with contact information (e-mail address and telephone number) to reach them if questions arise about your application.

AVOID lottery services that force you to register before they provide their contact information.

AVOID lottery services that do not have contacts with an immigration attorney to answer your questions, either via e-mail, chat, or by telephone.

AVOID lottery services that include an "eligibility test" but fail to mention work requirements for those without a secondary school education.

AVOID lottery services that fail to provide a link to the U.S. Department of State's O*Net occupation listings or list those occupations that require two years of training or experience for those applicants without a secondary high school education.

AVOID fee-based lottery services that fail to notify you personally if you win, but depend on the government to notify you since that is what you are paying the service to do.

AVOID lottery services that do not warn you about sending in your application very close to the registration deadline.

AVOID entering the lottery before October unless you will be unable to provide your registration information after that date.

AVOID sending in multiple applications, unless both you and your spouse both qualify for the lottery separately since the government can now detect multiple applications using facial recognition technology. Note that you will lose your entire U.S. government visa application fee if your duplicate application is detected. In this case, for a family of four, you could lose $775 per person x 4 = $3100.

Remember, these are general guidelines. Many green card lottery web sites violate at least one of our guidelines.

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Disadvantages of Using a Service

Lottery scams are difficult to spot. Some charge you an entry fee but then fail to send in your entry. Since the government does not notify lottery losers, you never know if the service is cheating you. Others get to you pay huge fees for "multi-year" entries and then fail to send in your entry or send it in with errors. Some send fake winning letters by email or by local postal mail, requesting money.

Handling Incorrect Entries. Many sites "guarantee" that only correct entries will be submitted. Unfortunately they do not always explain how they will handle an incorrectly submitted entry. They should either call you or e-mail you to let you know there is a problem with your registration. Otherwise, if they simply return your application, then it may be too late for you to correct the problem and send it back to the service, especially if you live in an area with poor mail service. This entire process will take more time and money than if you entered the lottery yourself and follow the instructions.

New Government Specifications. This is becoming more of a problem now since the government is continually changing their processes. Some changes by the government will require lottery service operators to reprogram their systems or risk being incompatible with the government's ever-changing specifications. For example, starting this year, they are only validating photographs with a resolution of 600 pixels by 600 pixels. What happens if you previously submitted a 300 pixel x 300 pixel image to your lottery service provider? They should either rescan your hardcopy photograph for you, or request a higher resolution image. Of course, if they can't reach the applicant, or if the applicant doesn't respond in time, then he or she is out of luck for this year's lottery. We expect the government will continue to change their processes and rules, rendering obsolete some software used by lottery services to upload your personal information. Even worse, the government could, in the future, end uploading of multiple lottery entries, so that services will need to upload each entry individually. If so, many services could go out of business after they take your money.

Charge You Money If You Win. Unscrupulous agents and operators charge money if you win. If you are EVER charged a fee if you win, please contact us and forward us the letter from your agent. We will publish the letter on our site, minus your personal details.

Obsolete Information. Some services still list obsolete information from previous visa lotteries. In our opinion, if they make basic mistakes like this on their web site, there is a much higher risk they will not properly validate your lottery application. In our reviews we penalize those sites by subtracting one point from their total score. For example, if they fail to list all visa-ineligible countries, or they wrongly state that signatures are still required. Although these mistakes may be due to mere sloppiness, it may also indicate negligence or that the service is inactive or understaffed.

Missing Occupational Requirements. Last year we added a requirement that the service must list required occupations for those without a secondary school education, or provide a link to the U.S. Department of State O*Net occupation page. Since the State Department can't seem to keep this page up or otherwise manage it intelligently, the best sites provide the actual list of qualifying occupations.

After all, what good is it if you are not a secondary school graduate and win the lottery, and later discover that you cannot enter the U.S. because you don't meet the occupational requirement? NOTE: we also list those occupations requiring two years training or experience in our booklet.

Multiple Applications. Some services have been known to mail multiple applications on your behalf to increase the chances of your entry being selected. Although this may have worked in the past, the current automated system catches multiple entries and disqualifies the applicant.

False Claims. More typically, disreputable lottery services simply lure customers with false claims. For example, any service that claims to be "number one," "never had an application rejected," or "guarantee you will win" are classic false claims. Remember too, you CANNOT judge a scam visa lottery site by the quality of their web page or their advertisements. In our experience many of the better looking sites earned the lowest point totals. For the official U.S. Federal Trade Commission warning on green card lottery scams, visit: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/lottery.htm

Another Problem. Fraudulent or service-challenged English-language Green Card Lottery Web sites are not the only major sources of fraud. Applicants who do not or can not use the Internet fall prey to unscrupulous local visa service agents, particularly those operating in countries such as Bangladesh and Nigeria. According to a September 2007 GAO study, some agents and local postal employees intercept winning notifications and charge ransoms for the letter. In other cases, they coerce winning applicants into sham (“pop-up”) marriages. Applicants are not innocent either, with some using false identifications, especially educational documents. The good news is that most of these issues are solvable.

If you've been ripped off or experienced exceptionally bad service, please contact us or discuss your problem on myUSAi's Discussion Forum.

Sample Complaint Letters

Do not use a poorly ranked service! Here are just a few sample letters we received from victims of fraud and poor service. If you've been ripped off or experienced exceptionally bad service, post your complaint on myUSAi's Discussion Forum. Conversely, if you've had a great experience, such as winning the lottery, please Contact Us.

"USAfis is a complete first class scam, I work in a bank fraud investigation in a card processing department and every day have to block cards that have been used on sites like these. They change constantly www.8usafis www.4usafis and charge thru the Caiman islands, Singapore, Israel …..You block one ten new pop up like mushrooms after rain and after they get your information they keep charging your card until it is completely empty. If you are scammed [by USAFIS] report it immediately to your Credit card issuer to cancel your card or they will empty it for you."

- name and email address withheld (posted February 2010.)

Good day, I received a mail on sunday from usgreencardservices@gmail.com with a link to USAGC.webs.com informing me that I won the US DV lottery and that I should pay $399 for them to send my documents and flight ticket to me.after reading this I got confused because I don't know if its real and so I started browsing; eventually I got to your site and so I want you to ascertain the genuity of this mail for me. I'll paste the letter below.they also asked me to payit on or before 30 june. Please reply as soon as u receive my mail."

- name and email address withheld by request.
NOTE: USAGC.webs.com is a scam site but are not affiliated with USAGC.org.

"Hello! I just got a call from these people at Greencard4life.org saying that I aparently applied for the Visa Lottery with their company. I did apply some time ago, but it was at the Bureau of Immigration, not to their company, and the application was not complete because I didn't upload any photo. Somehow they knew this, and some other personal details about me, which made me believe that I actually used their site at the time. To make a long story short, I was stupid enough to disclose my personal credit card information and I was charged 179 euros for a special registration fee and another 29 for a book on immigration. I immediately emptied my acount and locked the card, but the transaction was made as we were still on the phone. I will close the account today and ask for the issuing of a different credit card from the bank so that the data they now have should be invalid. I also wrote them an e-mail saying that I no longer want to participate to this lottery and asked for a refund. I received 2 receipts for these transactions but I don't know exactly what my chances are in terms of getting some money back. Is there any hope?"

- name and email address withheld by request

" Hi, I have been billed by Greencard4life.org but I did not make any authorization for them to do so. Is this possible? Sorry for not having read about your site beforehand. "

- name and email address withheld by request

" Hello, I made a really bad experience with Greencard4life. The service is absolutely terrible and they have been promised so many thing they haven't been true! Of course I already paid! So it was a really painfull experience!"

- name and email address withheld by request

" I have had a very bad experience with "USAFIS.org". After receiving an email last fall to say we had won, and send money etc, we were advised it was fake. Since then I have been trying to get info from usafis, but all I am told is that we were entered and hadn't won in 2005 or 2006. The emails are in badly written english. Today I finally got to speak to someone at the Kentucky Center and found out that we were actually drawn for the DV 2005, but my application was disqualified because my photo was in my wife's place and hers in mine, and also hers was poor quality. What a blow. Our daughter lives in Ralaigh and we would dearly love to be near our newborn grandson. We could work so my wife could look after him. This mistake is a life altering one in that had it proceeded as hoped ours and our family's lives would have changed forever, for the good. People like these have to be stopped. We paid for a service that was not provided. "

- name and email address withheld by request

" You may want to warn your readers to steer away from USAFIS. In 2003, I used my credit card number for a friend to make a green card application for him and his wife USAFIS for $69. In November 2004, I noted two charges, one for $89 and another for $25 on my credit card bill that I did not recognize. I, of course, challenged these charges and my credit card contacted the firm that had made the charges, and it turned out to be USAFIS. USAFIS had the nerve to fax my credit card company the bill from 2003, which carried a charge of $69 and which they had easily turned into $89 with the quick swipe of a pen. I have conacted USAFIS about this obvious fraud but to date have received no reply, and of this date I still have not managed to have this charge cleared from my credit card. I have sent all the information about this case to the US Attorney General's Office for the Southern District of New York, and I also have reported the fraudulent acts of USAFIS to the Office of the New York Attorney General. Hopefully, one or the other will manage to shut this phony organization down."

- name and email address withheld by request

" I read the reviews on those green card lottery Web sites and I saw USAFIS.org got bad reviews. Personally, I would totally agree, since they have been sending me spam emails for about 2 weeks now. I registered on their Web site without completing a payment and one week later I got a telephone from an enthusiastic woman saying I have more chance to win a green card because I am born in Belgium, which was weird, since everybody has the same chance, I thought. She also offered me to apply for 40 years in the green card "programme" (as she called it), for "only" 700 euros. Another striking thing was the fact that she asked me quite frankly why I didn't complete the payment; I said I needed to think about it and she said: "how long do you think that will take, because you're missing chances here." Then she asked for my credit card number, but I said: why is that necessary? And she suddenly became very rude and she passed the phone to her manager, who apologized for her colleague's behaviour. I told that person I didn't want to apply anymore (the first woman's behaviour had rang a bell!). But now, 2 weeks later, I keep getting emails from USAFIS without asking for it and I am even thinking about changing my email address..."

- name and email address withheld by request

" I have used usgreencardlottery.org and paid for assistance with the application for the diversity lottery for a friend. I also paid to have the application resubmitted should my friend not be successful in the lottery. I have sent them an email to update my email address and have not received a reply that my email address has been updated. I sent a second and third email requesting notification that my email address has been updated, and have still not received a reply. I am presently looking for a telephone number to contact them. I am very displeased with this company's service and am now unsure if the application was infact submitted. I definately would not recommed anyone using this organization."

- name and email address withheld by request

Again, if you've been ripped off or experienced exceptionally bad service, please contact us or discuss your problem on myUSAi's Discussion Forum.

Sample "SCAM" Winners Letters

Here are examples of fraudulent emails sent to "winners". Remember, the U.S. State Department does not send winning letters by email.

FROM:

Department of State July 24 2009
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Kentucky Consular Center (KCC)
3505 North Highway 25W
Williamsburg KY, 40768 U.S.A.

AMERICAN DV-2009 VISA LOTTERY PROGRAM WINNER: CASE NUMBER 2009AES 00023472

Hello,
Congratulations! You were among those randomly selected and registered for further consideration in the DV-2009 diversity immigrant program for fiscal year 2009.

This success notification letter on your success in DV-2009 as you applied has been sent to you via e-mail owing to failed attempts at getting your response after the normal letter was sent by post. We are assuming that the letter has been lost en transit hence this as the last resort.

Indicate your interest or otherwise to this notification by getting in touch with your processing correspondent Frank Wallace’s through his e-mail: frwallace.state.gov@usa.com with the following:

1. Your CURRENT contact address (Re-confirm for record purposes),
2. SCANNED copies of your RECENT passport photograph,
3. Telephone number,
4. Marital status,
5. Age,
6. Occupation.

Note that the passport photograph must be taken within the last six months, and must be 35mmsq or 2 inches by 2 inches. You should also provide the passport photographs of your spouse and other dependents; (if applicable) depending on the type of your application, during registration. Your case number is 2009AES00023472.

For further information get in touch with the Clearance Officer Deborah Settle through his e-mail dskccdv.state.gov@usa.com, for instructions on how to pay the clearance/acceptance fees which is $429.67 for single applicant and $729.67 for family applicants. The payment of the fees ensures that your file is cleared for processing.

At the completion of the processing of your file (which shall be after the above requirements have been provided), you shall be provided with your Visa Lottery Acknowledgment Card with which you may then contact our Embassy for the issuance of your Green Card proper.
N.B- Please note that the attached form has to be filled with black pen and is to be attached to your e-mail box and send it back to us including your international passport page details and the processing fee receipt showing the payment details so that we can process your file within 5-working days.

Note that this country's Code of Conduct and Constitution Vol.176/866:Act 690SN guiding all immigration, and Green Card permit Agencies, dictates that 15 working days after the dispatch of this e-mail, that all such notified winners who fail to comply to the provisions herein contained, shall lose the opportunity.

Congratulations.

Elizabeth Scott,
Diversity Visa Lottery Coordinator,
Bureau of Consular Affairs,
U.S. Department of State.

FROM:

dskccdv.state.gov@usa.com

Department of State July 7 2009 Bureau of Consular Affairs Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) 3505 North Highway 25W Williamsburg KY, 40768 U.S.A. AMERICAN DV-2009 VISA LOTTERY PROGRAM WINNER: CASE NUMBER 2009AES 00023472

Hello, Congratulations! You were among those randomly selected and registered for further consideration in the DV-2009 diversity immigrant program for fiscal year 2009.

This success notification letter on your success in DV-2009 as you applied has been sent to you via e-mail owing to failed attempts at getting your response after the normal letter was sent by post. We are assuming that the letter has been lost en transit hence this as the last resort. Indicate your interest or otherwise to this notification by getting in touch with your processing correspondent Frank Wallace through his e-mail: frwallace.state.gov@usa.com with the following:

1. Your CURRENT contact address (Re-confirm for record purposes),
2. SCANNED copies of your RECENT passport photograph,
3. Telephone number,
4. Marital status,
5. Age,
6. Occupation.

Note that the passport photograph must be taken within the last six months, and must be 35mmsq or 2 inches by 2 inches. You should also provide the passport photographs of your spouse and other dependents; (if applicable) depending on the type of your application, during registration. Your case number is 2009AES00023472.

For further information get in touch with the Clearance Officer Deborah Settle through his e-mail dskccdv.state.gov@usa.com, for instructions on how to pay the clearance/acceptance fees which is $409.67 for single applicant and $709.67 for family applicants. The payment of the fees ensures that your file is cleared for processing. At the completion of the processing of your file (which shall be after the above requirements have been provided), you shall be provided with your Visa Lottery Acknowledgment Card with which you may then contact our Embassy for the issuance of your Green Card proper.

N.B- Please note that the attached form has to be filled with black pen and is to be attached to your e-mail box and send it back to us including your international passport page details and the processing fee receipt showing the payment details so that we can process your file within 6-working days.

Note that this country's Code of Conduct and Constitution Vol.176/866:Act 690SN guiding all immigration, and Green Card permit Agencies, dictates that 15 working days after the dispatch of this e-mail, that all such notified winners who fail to comply to the provisions herein contained, shall lose the opportunity.

Congratulations. Elizabeth Scott,
Diversity Visa Lottery Coordinator,
Bureau of Consular Affairs,
U.S. Department of State.

FROM:

usgreencardservices@gmail.com

After a careful review of your application, the DV lottery board using it's computer system is pleased to inform you that you have won the DV visa lottery 2009 which automatically gives you an automatic green card and visa to the USA as US citizen and a flight ticket. Please click the link below to follow the procedures to request your winning visa documents and flight ticket sent to you:

http://www.usagc.webs.com/retrievedocuments.htm

If the above link does not work, please copy and paste it into your browser. Congratulations. From, US Department of State. http://www.uefachampleague.com/

FROM:

U.S Department of State kccusvisa.state.gov@usa.com

FINAL NOTICE: AMERICAN DV-2009 VISA LOTTERY PROGRAM WINNER: CASE NUMBER 2009AES 000#####

Hello,

Please download the attached file for further instructions regarding your success in the DV-2009 American Visa Lottery Program.

Congratulations.

Elizabeth Scott,
Diversity Visa Lottery Coordinator,
Bureau of Consular Affairs,
U.S. Department of State

FROM:

The-Official U.S Green Card-Program
United States Department of State, National Visa Center
65 Rochester Ave. (Portsmouth. NH 03801-2909)
www.us-green-card-lottery.org

Congratulations! You are among the lucky selected winners of the U.S Green Card lottery program of the 2007/08 edition which was conducted under the terms of Section 203 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) Section 131 of the Immigration Act of 2006 (Pub.L.101-649)

Your registered e-mail address alongside 5.3 million e-mail addresses were randomly extracted during the 66-days extraction period that ran from (11.00 AM on December 8, 2007 until midnight, February, 11 2008) The-email addresses were assigned to different-ticket numbers for representation for final selection, and your-email address attached to N0-# #####-drew-the numbers that won you the U.S Green-Card.

Notification is through the selected-email addresses with Case Numbers. Approximately 575 winners had been notified through their selected-email addresses including you today (Thu 11-09-2008)

Your visa type permits you to travel to the U.S with your family members. All selected winners and accompanying family members will get the constant legal status of the U.S inhabitant, an opportunity of free country entrance and departure, the right to be working legally and getting American salary, Green Card holders also receive health, education, retirement, taxation, social security and other benefits.

The visas have been apportioned among the six geographic regions and our Green Card processing experts had been apportioned among the six geographic regions. Your-Green Card-winning details falls within our Asia-pacific region office as indicated and we have forwarded your win-ning details to our Asia-Pacific office for the-processing of your Green Card registration and immigrant visa issuance application documents with your Case Number.

Therefore, For Your Green Card And Visa Issuance Application Forms And Requirements, contact our Asia-pacific office to which your case has been assigned. Contact them with the below contact details:

Contact Person: Mr. Mark Howard.
Address: Indra Tower Suite 105, 75/6 Wireless Road Panthumwam Bangkok Thailand.
Tel: 66-835 619 209 66-843 578 622
Fax: 66-2251 9977
Email: nscis@America.Hm

If it should be necessary to contact our Asia-Pacific office by telephone, you must always refer to your Case Number as they appear below. Your Case Number is clearly written at the lower left hand corner of your notification letter.

Please read and follow all the enclosed instructions very carefully. You and your accompanying family members will obtain your visas through the U.S Embassy in your home country or your nearest U.S Embassy. You will be notified of your visa interview appointment and should go to the Embassy when directed with your processed documents and visa interview appointment letter for the issuance of your visa. All visa issuance are scheduled by appointment only.

You will need to act on your visa issuance application quickly before the expiration of the visa issuance deadline which is on the 11-10-2008

The processing fee which all the selected winners must pay are as follows:
Single- $970USD
Dual/family- $1,490USD

The processing fee pays for the accuracy preparation of every document, Green card experts charges a nominal fee to cover administrative and processing costs incurred in conjunction with the careful processing of every document.

According to J.Stevenson Wilson, Author of Visa Lottery services Report, the total average fee charged by Green-Card lottery services ($970USD) for one person, there is no correlation between the fee charged and the quality of services provided and its- benefits.

Prior to the submission of the completed filled forms and requirements, please note the followings:

All forms and correspondencies should-be directed to our Asia-Pacific office where your case has been assigned. Fees should be made payable to our Asia-Pacific office for the processing of your documents. Your documents will be post to you once the processing is completed.

Case Number ****************
Preferences-Categories****************
Foreign -State-chargeability: Asia-Pacific

Selected winners living legally in the United States who wish to pursue their Green Card status should contact any of our regional offices where their winning details falls for information's on the requirements and procedures.

Selected winners from the following countries are not eligible: Mexico-Brazil-Canada-Elsalvador-Jamaica-Peru-Korea-Dominican Republic-Philippines-Vietnam-Taiwan-China-Russia-India-Pakistan and United-Kingdom (except Northern-Ireland and its dependent countries)

Do not reply to this notification e-mail (busy)

Best regards,
Mrs. Roselyn Williams.
Secretary General , US Consulate-Kentucky.

MyGreencard.com

Green Card Lottery Service Reviews

Green Card Lottery Service Reviews

On This Page

Survey Results

The Winners

About the Winners

The Losers

About the Losers

Visa Lottery Services Report

Report Summary

Where to Find the Information You Need

Lottery Service Review Criteria

How We Group Lottery Services

Why Use a Lottery Service

Our Guidelines

Disadvantages of Using a Service

Sample Complaint Letters

Sample "SCAM" Winners Letters

Information	Web Page	Free Booklet	Paid Booklet	Report
PREFACE	x	x	x
CHAPTER 1 - Introduction	x	x	x
CHAPTER 2 - Registration Instructions		x	x
CHAPTER 3 - Residential Requirements		x	x
CHAPTER 4 - Personal Requirements			x
CHAPTER 5 - Lottery Winners Only			x
CHAPTER 6 - Other Ways to Get a Green Card			x
APPENDIX A - Green Card Lottery Service Provider Questionnaire			x
APPENDIX B - Sample Winning Letter			x
APPENDIX C - Occupations Requiring Two Years Training or Experience			x
APPENDIX D - Lottery Visas Allocated by Country for DV-2009			x
APPENDIX E - Guidelines for Producing High Quality Photos			x
GLOSSARY			x
INDEX			x
List of top lottery services ("winners")	x	x	x	x
List of all lottery services in our review	x	x	x	x
List of losers (sites with major penalties)	x	x	x	x
When to use a lottery service	x	x	x
Disadvantages of using a service	x	x	x
Guidelines for lottery service owners	x	x	x
Site type classifications	x	x	x	x
Average Fees	x			x
Average Service ratings	x			x
Average Information ratings	x			x
Average Total Point ratings	x			x
Bar charts and scatter plots for each rating criteria				x
Reviewer comments for each service				x
Total points earned for each service				x
Fees for 1 person, for 1 year and 2 years				x
Fees for 2 persons, for 1 years and 2 years				x
Contact information (address, phone, fax, email) for each site, if available				x
List of URLs that are duplicates of the sites we review				x
List of URLs that redirect to the sites we review				x
Ratings for each site for every criteria we review				x
Services sorted by Total Points then by Fee (1) person				x
Services sorted by Total Points then by Fee (2) persons				x
Services sorted by Fee then by Total Points				x
Services sorted by Service then by Fee				x
Services sorted by Fee then by Total Points				x
Services sorted by Service, then by Fee				x
Services sorted by Information then Fee				x