USAfrica LEGAL
CORNER
On the U.S. Green Card and
its Lottery
By Attorney Ijeoma Opara
Special to USAfrica The Newspaper, Houston
CLASS
magazine, USAfricaonline.com,
The Black Business
Journal
Q. What is a "Green Card"?
A.
This refers to a card that grants permission for one to reside and
work in United States as a permanent resident. This card prior to
1978 used to be green in color thus the nick name "green card." It
has since changed color and is now white, pink or multi-colored. With
a green card you have all the rights of a United States citizen
except the right to vote. Under certain circumstances, you can be
stripped of you rights.
Q. If I live abroad for over one year will I lose my Green
Card?
A. A permanent resident may stay abroad for up to six months
without losing the Green Card privileges. The Green card serves as a
re-entry document upon return to United States. However, since Green
cards are granted based on the intention to make the U.S a permanent
residence, absences outside U.S. for over 6 months creates a
presumption of abandonment of residence (this presumption can be
overturned with proof of intention not to abandon). A presumption of
abandonment may lead to the loss of the right to use the green card
to re-enter the U.S. To avoid this always obtain a re-entry permit if
you intend to be abroad for one year or more.
Q. What is Green Card Lottery?
A. The diversity visa lottery commonly known, as "green card lottery"
is a program under the immigration Act that makes certain number of
permanent resident US immigrant visas available to persons from
certain qualified countries such as Nigeria. The annual green
card lottery program operates through a system of random selection.
Persons granted this type of visas enter the United States with
immigrant visas and are entitled to reside and work in United States.
Applications for 2005 diversity visas are now being accepted.
The US government makes available 50,000 Green
Cards through the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery Program each year.
Candidates for permanent residence visas are selected in a random,
computer-generated drawing. All individuals worldwide who satisfy
minimum qualification criteria can register until October 17, 2003
The eligibility requirements are:
Applicant must be from an eligible country, applicant must have a
high school degree or equivalent or two years of work experience with
the past five years in an occupation requiring at least two years
training, and applicant must submit a complete application form and
photos of each person listed on the application.
Attorney Opara has recently joined USAfricaonline.com and
CLASS
magazine as a contributing editor on legal and community matters. She
notes that her advice, above, is for educational purposes only and is
not intended to replace the need for an attorney. You may send any
questions with the subject header LEGAL CORNER through
Letters@USAfricaonline.com
or call 713-270-5500
Osama
bin-Laden's goons threaten Nigeria and Africa's
stability. By Chido Nwangwu
OIL
in NIGERIA: Liquid
Gold or Petro-Dollars Curse? By Chido Nwangwu
Nigeria,
a terrible beauty....
Why Bush should focus on
dangers
facing Nigeria's return
to democracy
and Obasanjo's slipperyslide.
How Obasanjo's
self-succession
charade
at his Ota Farm has
turned Nigeria to an 'Animal
Farm.' By
USAfricaonline.com contributor Prof. Mobolaji
Aluko
Abati's Revisionisms
and Distortions of history. By Obi Nwakanma, USAfrica
The Newspaper contributing editor and award-winning poet
Reuben Abati's
fallacies
on Nigeria's
history and secession. By Bayo
Arowolaju
How Abati, Adelaja and others fuel the
campaign
of hatred against Ndigbo. By Jonas Okwara
"Obasanjo, secession and the secessionists":
A response to Reuben Abati's
Igbophobia. By Josh Arinze,
USAfricaonline.com contributing editor.
Abati and other anti-Igbo
bigots in Nigeria. By Chuks
Iloegbunam, USAfricaonline.com contributing editor and
author of Ironsi
Obasanjo's late wake to the Sharia crises, Court's
decision and Nigeria's democracy. By Ken Okorie
Obasanjo's
own challenge is to imbibe "democratic spirit and
practice," By Prof. Ibiyinka Solarin
Is Obasanjo really
up to
Nigeria's
challenge and crises?
By USAfrica
The Newspaper editorial board member, attorney Ken Okorie.
This commentary appears courtesy of our related web
site, NigeriaCentral.com
Obasanjo's late wake to the Sharia crises,
Court's
decision and Nigeria's democracy. By Ken Okorie
Sharia-related
killings and carnage in Kaduna reenact deadly prologue to
Nigeria-Biafra
war
of 1967. By
Chido Nwangwu.
CONTINENTAL
AGENDA
Bush's position on
Africa
is "ill-advised."
The position
stated by Republican presidential aspirant and Governor of
Texas, George Bush where he said that "Africa will not be an
area of priority" in his presidency has been
questioned by USAfricaonline.com Publisher
Chido Nwangwu. He
added that Bush's "pre-election position was neither
validated by the economic exchanges nor geo-strategic
interests of our two continents." These views were stated
during an interview CNN's anchor Bernard Shaw and senior
analyst Jeff Greenfield had with Mr. Nwangwu on Saturday
November 18, 2000 during a special edition of 'Inside
Politics 2000.'
Nwangwu,
adviser to the Mayor of Houston (the 4th largest city in the
U.S., and immigrant home to thousands of Africans) argued
further that "the issues of the heritage interests of 35
million African-Americans in Africa, the volume and value of
oil business between between the U.S and Nigeria and the
horrendous AIDS crisis in Africa do not lend any basis for
Governor Bush's ill-advised
position which
removes Africa from fair consideration" were he to be
elected president.
By Al Johnson
Jonas Savimbi, UNITA are
"terrorists"
in Africans' eyes
despite Washington's "freedom fighter" toga for him. By
SHANA WILLS
Nelson
Mandela, Tribute to the
world's political superstar and Lion of
Africa
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's
burden
mounts with murder charges, trials
TRIBUTE
A KING FOR
ALL TIMES:
Why Martin Luther King's
legacy
and vision are relevant into 21st century.
DIPLOMACY
Walter
Carrington:
African-American diplomat who put principles above self for
Nigeria 
(USAfrica's
founder Chido Nwangwu with Ambassador Carrington at the U.S.
embassy, Nigeria)
DEMOCRACY'S
WARRIOR
Out of
Africa.
…The
cock that crows in the morning belongs to one household but
his voice is the property of the neighborhood. -- Chinua
Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah. An editor carries on
his crusade against public corruption and press
censorship
in his native Nigeria and other African countries. By
John Suval.
ARINZE: Will he be
the FIRST
BLACK AFRICAN
POPE?
By Chido
Nwangwu
HUMAN
RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY
How far, how deep will Nigeria's human rights
commission go?
Rtd. Gen. Babangida trip as
emissary for Nigeria's Obasanjo to Sudan raises curiosity,
questions about what next in power
play?
110 minutes
with Hakeem Olajuwon
Nigerian
stabbed
to death
in his bathroom in Houston.
Cheryl
Mills' first class defense of Clinton and her detractors'
game
Apple, Steve Jobs extend digital
magic
Nigeria's future and the burden
of Obasanjo's leadership. By Okey Ndibe
Debating
Obasanjo's
record
toward Nigeria's South East and South-South. By Pini
Jason
Elections in Nigeria more a
battle of the retired Generals, and votes buying
bazaar. By
Chido Nwangwu
Lifestyle
Sex,
Women and (Hu)Woman
Rights. By Chika Unigwe
Africa
suffers the scourge of the virus.
This life and pain of Kgomotso Mahlangu, a
five-month-old AIDS patient (above) in a hospital in the
Kalafong township near Pretoria, South Africa, on October
26, 1999, brings a certain, frightening reality to the
sweeping and devastating destruction of human beings who
form the core of any definition of a country's future, its
national security, actual and potential economic development
and internal markets.
22 million Africans HIV-infected, ill
with AIDS
while African leaders
ignore disaster-in-waiting
OPINION: 
Destruction
of property and human massacres are always traumatic
events in a community, saddening and enraging, but the
organizers of the beauty contest, as well as the
participants, must understand that they are totally free of
guilt. The guilty are the storm troopers of intolerance, the
manipulators of feeble-minded but murderous hordes of
fanaticism. The nation will mourn the dead and render aid to
the maimed and bereaved, but that same nation must
understand that it will itself join the graveyard of nations
if it fails to uphold the principles of plurality, choice
and tolerance. The phenomenon of intolerance is eating up a
world that can only survive on peaceful coexistence.
By Prof. Wole Soyinka
APPRECIATION
A young
father writes his One
year old son:
"If only my heart had a voice...."
Why Chinua
Achebe, the Eagle on
the Iroko, is Africa's writer of the century.
By Chido Nwangwu
Since 1958, Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" set a standard
of artistic excellence,
and more. By Douglas Killam
DEMOCRACY
DEBATE
CNN
International debate on Nigeria's democracy livecast on CNN.
It involved Nigeria's Information Minister Prof. Jerry
Gana, Prof. Salih Booker and USAfricaonline.com Publisher
Chido Nwangwu. Transcripts
are available on
the CNN International site.
NEWS
5 students from Nigeria at Abilene Christian
University killed in March 31, 2002 one-car
accident.18 year-old Kolawole Oluwagbemiga Sami
was identified as the driver of the Isuzu which had 2 other
men and 3 women. One of those female passengers in the 1994
Isuzu Rodeo SUV had an identification card stating her as
Iyadunni Oluwaseun Bakare. She is also 18 years old.
USAfricaonline.com special report by Chido Nwangwu
USAfrica The
Newspaper voted the "Best Community
Newspaper"
in the 4th largest city in the U.S., Houston. It is in
the Best of Houston 2001 special as chosen by the editors
and readers of the Houston
Press,
reflecting their poll and annual rankings.
Tragedy of Ige's murder
is its déjà vu for the Yoruba
southwest and rest of
Nigeria. By Ken Okorie
What has Africa
to do with September 11 terror? By Chido Nwangwu
Should Africa debates begin and
end at
The
New York Times and
The
Washington Post?
No
NEWS INSIGHT
CNN,
Obasanjo and Nigeria's struggles with democracy.
Why Obasanjo's government should respect
CNN
and Freedom of the press
in Nigeria.
Jonas Savimbi, UNITA are
"terrorists"
in Africans' eyes
despite Washington's "freedom fighter" toga for him. By
SHANA WILLS
It's wrong
to stereotype Nigerians as Drug
Dealers
Private initiative,
free
market forces, and more
democratization
are Keys to prosperity in Africa
What
has Africa
to do with September 11 terror? By Chido
Nwangwu
Africans
reported
dead
in terrorist
attack at
WTC
September
11
terror and
the ghost of things to
come....
Will
religious conflicts be the time-bomb
for Nigeria's latest transition to civilian rule?
Bola
Ige's murder another danger signal for
Nigeria's nascent democracy.
In a special report a few hours after the
history-making nomination, USAfricaonline.com
Founder and Publisher Chido Nwangwu places Powell within the
trajectory of history and into his unfolding clout and
relevance in an essay titled 'Why Colin
Powell
brings gravitas, credibility and star power to Bush
presidency.'
AFRICA
AND THE U.S. ELECTIONS
Beyond U.S.
electoral shenanigans, rewards and dynamics of a democratic
republic hold
lessons
for
African politics.
Johnnie Cochran
will soon learn that defending Abacha's
loot is not as simple as his O.J Simpson's
case.
By Chido
Nwangwu