Immigration to the USA in only 10 weeks

Most USA fans dream about winning the Green Card to be able to live in the land of endless opportunities. That’s why they participate in the annual Green Card Lottery. But what happens, when you actually win the famous permanent residence permit?

Our lottery participants Anne, Andreas and their seven-year-old son are three of the lucky winners! And they truly couldn’t wait to move to their new home country. In 2017 they only had 10 weeks left to move from Germany to the USA after receiving their Green Cards.

Today, they are telling us about why they wanted to immigrate, their obstacles along the way and their new life in the home of the free.

The American Dream

Hello, Anne! What made you choose the American way of life and apply for the Green Card Lottery?

Thanks to a great friendship between my family and an American family, which dates back to the 60s, I visited the USA a lot when I was a child. Many of my childhood memories were made in California, where we currently live, and we’ve also found quite a few friends here during the past years.

The feeling to call this place home has always been very strong.

When my husband and I got to know each other, my excitement infected him, too, so he initiated the application for the Green Card Lottery. He stayed in the USA for a couple of months during university and always considered it as a second home.  

Why did you decide to participate in the Green Card Lottery with The American Dream?

The participation with the help of The American Dream makes everything easier, since all the necessary requirements are being checked. TAD not only makes sure you submit the application correctly but also reminds you of deadlines and saves you a lot of stress.

The transparency and clear processes (customer log-in, participation certificate, notification of results) along with relevant information about following lotteries were very helpful. Our good experience with TAD in the first two years, led to the participation with them the following years (about 6 or 7), as well.

Immigrating to the USA

You and your family jumped right into the adventure of moving to America. How did you approach the immigration and what do you consider as most important when immigrating as a family?

When we received the winning notification, our first thought was “SPAM!”. Only at a second look we noticed that we really won this time! Later we realized that winning in the lottery only means, that you can apply for the Green Card  but there is no guarantee that you will receive it in the end. The following couple of months were very tense until we got the invitation to the interview.

The Premium Service  helped a lot getting through this time and lower the level of tension.

It was important to us to not do anything until we hold our passports with the approved diversity visa in our hands. We only told our closest family and friends about it.

As soon as we got our passports back, everything happened quickly: Three days later, my husband and I quit our jobs and our apartment. We knew that we had to be in the states for the start of term since our son was going to have his first day at school. Consequently, that we had 10 weeks in total from the approved visa until the school enrollment.

Since that day, our life was a rollercoaster. The thesis of the part-time university courses had to be finished and the final exams were just before our flight. With lots of support of our family, closest friends, colleagues and the courtesy of our employers, we could manage everything in 8 weeks (date of departure).

After the arrival in the States, we had 10 days left until the first day of school. The support of our American family and friends on site made everything easier.

Is there anything families should consider before moving to the USA?

Looking back, we gave away too many of our belongings due to the lack of time. We arrived in the States with seven suitcases and a cargo of 20 boxes. Here we had to buy everything again, which cost a lot of money, as well as time and nerves.

Finding a job had been easier in theory. Since we immigrated in such a short amount of time, we only started searching for jobs when we were in California. Everybody who has more time for the final move should try to create a network via LinkedIn in advance. Maybe adjust the CV to the American style.

In addition, you need lots of nerves and time for the bureaucracy with the US authorities.