green card
passport-service.org
By: Dave Taylor
Its amazing. The very first spam ever sent was from a couple of lawyers who offered
to help people get a Green Card if they paid the law firm a small fee. A Green Card
for those of you that dont know is a proof of permanent resident alien status from
the feared Immigration and Naturalization Service and.. its free if you qualify. So
you dont need to pay anyone for anything. Even better the document required is
pretty simple to fill out.
If its free and easy to fill out why are there still lawyers selling their service to aid
in receiving a Green Card Heres what the Federal Trade Commission has
to say about Green Card scams:
If you or someone you know is trying to get a green card the right to live in the
United States permanently be on the lookout for unscrupulous businesses and
attorneys. Theyll claim that for a fee they can make it easier to enter the U. S. State
Departments annual Diversity Visa (DV) lottery (also known as the green card
lottery) or increase your chances of winning the DV lottery.
Each year the State Department conducts a lottery through its DV program to
distribute applications for 50000 immigrant visas. Winners of the lottery have a
chance to apply for an immigrant visa which
can be used to enter the U. S. Winners
are selected randomly and there is no fee to enter the lottery.
If youre interested in applying for a Green Card you should just go straight to the
U.S. Department of States dvlottery.state.gov site and apply!
The FTC continues with this warning:
Green Card Lottery Scams
According to lawyers at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the nations consumer
protection agency some businesses and attorneys misrepresent their services by
saying that:
they are affiliated with the U.S. government;
they have special expertise or a special entry form that is required to enter the
lottery;
their company has never had a lottery entry rejected;
their company can increase an entrants chances of winning the lottery;
people from ineligible countries still are qualified to enter the lottery.
In addition some companies jeopardize an entrants opportunity to participate in
the lottery by filing several entries. These companies also may charge lottery
winning applicants substantial fees to complete the application process.
So be smart. Go to the State Department directly and sidestep all these snake oil
salesmen.
Dave Taylor has been involved with the Internet since 1980 and has written sixteen
books. He has a great interest in personal finances and has built two Web sites to
share important information with consumers about how to manage their finances:
Real Life Debt and its sister site College Finances.