The Beginning: We are on our Way to U.S. Citizenship

Each year, 50,000 green cards are entered into the Diversity Lottery, and millions of people from all over the world participate. In 1996, 4,400 Green Cards went to Germany and my husband Frank and I got two of them.

We immigrated to the US in the spring of 1997, after we both won the diversity lottery (which is better known as the green card Lottery). Winning this lottery does not mean that the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) will immediately send you the green card (the official name now is Resident Alien Card and it is not green, all your information is printed on a delightful pink card). Winning just means that your name was randomly drawn and you move to the front of the line of green card applications. You still need to fulfill all immigration requirements: you need to prove that you have money or a secure job offer, that you are healthy, that you speak the language and have no means of criminal or unlawful intentions once entering the States.

Which, of course, we didn’t.

We participated for fun, not even thinking of a chance to win, as many or our friends attempted for years and never succeeded. A few months later, within a week we each held our notifications with our interview appointments for the American Embassy in Frankfurt, Germany in our hands.

We were not yet married at that time, but knew we would go through this adventure with each other. In order to “secure” our chances, we decided to get married before the first interview and went to Frankfurt as a married couple, with tons of paperwork required by the Immigration Services and upset stomachs, because we had no idea how the interview process would be handled. Would we sit down with tea and chat with the American Ambassador? Or would we be questioned in a tiled room like Gerard Depardieu in the movie “Green Card”? Nothing fancy, nothing spectacular happened. We were interviewed by a very nice immigration officer, who remarked that indeed, we were the first couple that was seperately drawn by the lottery.

We were asked to confirm that our police records were clean, that we did not plan to live in polygamy, that we had job offers in the US, that we did not intend to participate in any terrorist activities and answer many questions regarding our good moral character. Then we had to swear that all of the information we provided was true. Afterwards, we went to get our physical exams and were sent back home to wait for immigration instructions. 

Those were received within a month - and from that day we had a six month deadline to immigrate to the U.S. or miss our chance ... 

Frank still had to finish his degree from the university, I needed to quit my job, we needed to organize our move, cancel our lease, sell tons of stuff and most important of all: say good-bye to our friends and families.

So now after 14 1/2 years, my husband and I are applying for American Citizenship. We want to be Americans. We had this wish years ago, but there is always something coming up, and as a Legal Alien Resident you don't have many disadvantages, but we want to be able to vote - locally and nationally - but also we want to be able to voice our opinions to legislators or sign petitions which we are not allowed to as non-Americans. We are and will remain Germans, as America and Germany fortunately acknowledge each others' citizenships.

I just checked the UPS website to track our Naturalization Application (N-400): our little package is on a truck somewhere between Hogdkins, IL and Phoenix, AZ, its intended destination. Applications within the U.S. are divided in three areas, and Michigan falls under Arizona.

Find out more information about the Green Card Through Diversity Immigrant Visa Program, also known as the Diversity Lottery.