Entering after K1 divorce?

[unknownuser 13]

The stupidity of leaving the U.S. so quickly to avoid being deported keeps haunting me. Now I remarried a Filipina abroad. Supposedly I can take her with me to the U.S. if I win in the green card lottery.

 

My questions:

• Are the chances of winning a green card truly around 5-10%?
• Will I continue to use my old SSN from 2-3 years ago?
• How much money would you need to kickstart your life in the U.S.? I remember it took me about 14-21 days to find a job. The lack of a decent credit history may make you illegible for loans mostly, so buying a car with cash seems likely. If I make an estimation, roughly 50k should be enough for a safe start?
• My wife has a high school degree and has been working continuously since she was granted permanent residence in Belgium. Is she able to apply? I know she can through my citizenship. But the degree/experience requirements are not so clear.

 

We're currently pursuing FIRE in Europe, her income is noticeably low working in cleaning, so I'd assume she might have a better job working for a company like Walmart or a fast food chain. Either way, as you can see we're quite on track.

https://www.expatfire.org/personal-finance/

[Carpe Vinum 2,327]

What country are you from? Who is applying for the diversity visa? Straight from the State Department:

 

Philippine-born applicants are excluded from the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery Program. 

[unknownuser 13]

1 hour ago, boris64 said:

What country are you from? Who is applying for the diversity visa? Straight from the State Department:

 

Philippine-born applicants are excluded from the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery Program. 

Belgium, but Filipino are allowed to get an entry themselves if the spouse is from an eligible country if I understood it correctly. Took me a while to find out.

PS: I lived in Wentzville for a short while and visited St Louis. I loved it! It's a beautiful area.

[geowrian 22,337]

7 hours ago, unknownuser said:

My questions:

• Are the chances of winning a green card truly around 5-10%?
• Will I continue to use my old SSN from 2-3 years ago?
• How much money would you need to kickstart your life in the U.S.? I remember it took me about 14-21 days to find a job. The lack of a decent credit history may make you illegible for loans mostly, so buying a car with cash seems likely. If I make an estimation, roughly 50k should be enough for a safe start?
• My wife has a high school degree and has been working continuously since she was granted permanent residence in Belgium. Is she able to apply? I know she can through my citizenship. But the degree/experience requirements are not so clear.

1. Much less than that. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/diversity-visa-program-entry/diversity-visa-program-statistics.html
   1. I'm assuming your country of chargability is Belgium, right? If so, there were:
      1. 5,329 entries in FY 2017, of which 95 entrees were selected. That resulted in 42 visas being issued (from a total of 9,622 applicants counting derivatives). That's a 1.78% selection rate with a 0.43% total issuance rate.
      2. 5,352 entries in FY 2018, of which 86 entrees were selected. That's a 1.61% selection rate. The number of visas actually issued is not available yet.
2. Yes. An SSN is issued for life.
3. Depends where you intend to live. Check the Cost of Living for the area you intend to live. In some areas, $30,000/year is reasonably livable. In others, you're looking at $50,000/year or more just for bare essentials. I would suggest having at least 12 months of living expenses in case finding a job takes longer than expected.
4. She can't apply as Filipinos are not eligible this year. Gaining/Losing citizenship does not change one's country of chargability.

2 hours ago, boris64 said:

What country are you from? Who is applying for the diversity visa? Straight from the State Department:

 

Philippine-born applicants are excluded from the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery Program. 

He can apply and bring his derivatives still, such as a spouse.

She can't apply.

Edited March 18, 2019 by geowrian

[Carpe Vinum 2,327]

1 minute ago, geowrian said:

1. Much less than that. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/diversity-visa-program-entry/diversity-visa-program-statistics.html
   1. I'm assuming your country of chargability is Belgium, right? If so, there were:
      1. 5,329 entries in FY 2017, of which 95 entrees were selected. That resulted in 42 visas being issued (from a total of 9,622 applicants counting derivatives). That's a 1.78% selection rate with a 0.43% total issuance rate.
      2. 5,352 entries in FY 2018, of which 86 entrees were selected. That's a 1.61% selection rate. The number of visas actually issued is not available yet.
2. Yes. An SSN is issued for life.
3. Depends where you intend to live. Check the Cost of Living for the area you intend to live. In some areas, $30,000/year is reasonably livable. In others, you're looking at $50,000/year or more just for bare essentials. I would suggest having at least 12 months of living expenses in case finding a job takes longer than expected.
4. <Defer to others>

He can apply and bring his derivatives still, such as a spouse.

She can't apply.

His initial post wasn't clear. I wasn't sure where he was from....)

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

The Filipina spouse CAN apply as well using her husband’s country of chargeability, using the principle of cross-chargeability. In this manner, both spouses must individually be eligible for DV on education requirements (ie both must have a high school diploma deemed the equivalent of a US high school diploma, doesn’t sound like the jobs involved will meet the alternative option of work experience) and both have to enter the US at the same time using their DV visas. 

 

average chance of getting selected for DV is around a half percent, obviously goes up if you both enter. So enter, but remember it’s a low probability lottery, not a plan. 

Edited March 18, 2019 by SusieQQQ

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

For clarification for others here, direct from the DV instructions

https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Diversity-Visa/DV-Instructions-Translations/DV-2020-Instructions-Translations/DV-2020-Instructions-English.pdf

 

On the first page:

If you were not born in an eligible country, there are two other ways you might be able to qualify.
 Was your spouse born in a country whose natives are eligible? If yes, you can claim your spouse’s country of birth – provided that both you and your spouse are named on the selected entry, are found eligible and issued diversity visas, and enter the United States simultaneously.
  

 

And again in the FAQ

 

There are two circumstances in which you still might be eligible to apply. First, if your derivative spouse was born in an eligible country, you may claim chargeability to that country. As your eligibility is based on your spouse, you will only be issued an immigrant visa if your spouse is also eligible for and issued an immigrant visa. Both of you must enter the United States together using your DVs. Similarly, your minor dependent child can be “charged” to a parent’s country of birth.
.....
If you claim alternate chargeability through either of the above, you must provide an explanation on the E-DV Entry Form, in question #6.
Listing an incorrect country of eligibility or chargeability (i.e., one to which you cannot establish a valid claim) will disqualify your entry.

 

[geowrian 22,337]

23 minutes ago, SusieQQQ said:

The Filipina spouse CAN apply as well using her husband’s country of chargeability, using the principle of cross-chargeability. In this manner, both spouses must individually be eligible for DV on education requirements (ie both must have a high school diploma deemed the equivalent of a US high school diploma, doesn’t sound like the jobs involved will meet the alternative option of work experience) and both have to enter the US at the same time using their DV visas. 

 

average chance of getting selected for DV is around a half percent, obviously goes up if you both enter. So enter, but remember it’s a low probability lottery, not a plan. 

Thanks for the info...was't aware of the cross-chargability applicability.

[SalishSea 17,835]

12 hours ago, unknownuser said:

The stupidity of leaving the U.S. so quickly to avoid being deported keeps haunting me. Now I remarried a Filipina abroad. Supposedly I can take her with me to the U.S. if I win in the green card lottery.

 

My questions:

• Are the chances of winning a green card truly around 5-10%?
• Will I continue to use my old SSN from 2-3 years ago?
• How much money would you need to kickstart your life in the U.S.? I remember it took me about 14-21 days to find a job. The lack of a decent credit history may make you illegible for loans mostly, so buying a car with cash seems likely. If I make an estimation, roughly 50k should be enough for a safe start?
• My wife has a high school degree and has been working continuously since she was granted permanent residence in Belgium. Is she able to apply? I know she can through my citizenship. But the degree/experience requirements are not so clear.

 

We're currently pursuing FIRE in Europe, her income is noticeably low working in cleaning, so I'd assume she might have a better job working for a company like Walmart or a fast food chain. Either way, as you can see we're quite on track.

https://www.expatfire.org/personal-finance/

Why are you so intent upon emigrating to the US?  

[unknownuser 13]

On 3/18/2019 at 7:38 PM, Jorgedig said:

Why are you so intent upon emigrating to the US?  

Tough to answer. I think I simply want to go back to fix the mistakes I previously made getting my life started in the U.S..

 

Plus Europe feels a lot like a jail. They want to regulate everything and put rules on everything. It takes the joy away from life. Even though I'm driving luxury company cars and have 34 paid holidays a year, I still felt I had a better work-life balance in U.S. with only 5 paid vacation days a year. When I was off work, I knew Walmart was open or there was a national park I could go for a walk.

 

What I like about the U.S. is, you make your own life exactly the way you want it to be. But wrong choices have their consequences. (Basically applies to any country in the world)

[WeGuyGal 1,052]

59 minutes ago, unknownuser said:

Tough to answer. I think I simply want to go back to fix the mistakes I previously made getting my life started in the U.S..

 

Plus Europe feels a lot like a jail. They want to regulate everything and put rules on everything. It takes the joy away from life. Even though I'm driving luxury company cars and have 34 paid holidays a year, I still felt I had a better work-life balance in U.S. with only 5 paid vacation days a year. When I was off work, I knew Walmart was open or there was a national park I could go for a walk.

 

What I like about the U.S. is, you make your own life exactly the way you want it to be. But wrong choices have their consequences. (Basically applies to any country in the world)

Half the world perceives that.. and desperate to get to the US.  On the other hand, plenty of Europeans live happy.. think Danish, Norwegians 

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

Find it an odd question, particularly for someone who’s lived here before and clearly knows the difference in practice and doesn’t just have some idealized vision.

People are just different. Some people love the Western Europe or Australia type systems and others can’t wait to get out of them. The lucky people are those who have options (Western Europe vs USA is very literally a first world problem  ) rather than being stuck through circumstance where they are born.

[unknownuser 13]

At the other hand, in Europe you're less likely to be a victim of just any random scam or crime.

 

But still, I'd like to travel U.S. for a couple of years, and then FIRE in Philippines between 40 and 50 years old.