Catch the tail of the American dream: six stories of people who won the green card

“We played for six years and did not lose hope,” Alexey Savinov, 32 years old, Minsk, Belarus.

Alexey Savinov with his family. Photo: from the personal archive

Alexey and his wife have been playing the lottery since 2011, and never lost hope, although each time, in response to their inquiry, they saw the same phrase “has not been selected”.

“This time I checked my profile first - the same familiar inscription. Then I started checking my wife’s status – and then a completely different picture with completely different words pops up. And, of course, we were stupefied, we then double-checked it several more times - what if there was some kind of error, a failure in the system. This also happens.”

The couple already has two destinations where they would like to go: either the state of California (it’s expensive there, but they have friends), or Pennsylvania. “I looked at the information, read various ratings - there is work there, the crime rate is low, and there is a large Russian-speaking community, so it will be easy to adapt,” says Alexey.

He doesn’t worry about work - with his specialty as a car mechanic, he will always find a way to make money. Dinara is a cook by profession, so she can get a job. Alexey is learning English on his own, and now Yaroslav’s wife and 11-year-old daughter will begin to improve their language skills. The girl played the lottery with her parents for all six years and now only talks about America.

“I always wanted something different. Recent economic events in my country make me think about the future, and in Belarus it is becoming foggier and foggier. I watched a lot of videos and re-read a lot of blogs of emigrants who left for the USA. And I didn’t find anyone who, having adapted there, would complain about life and want to go back. Everyone basically says that a sea of ​​opportunities opens up in the States, and I believe in it,” says Alexey.

“We were lucky the first time, my husband immediately ran for gin to celebrate,” Elena, 30 years old, Kyiv, Ukraine (she asked not to indicate her last name).

Helen says that before 3 May, when it was possible to check the results, they did not sleep half the night. And exactly in 12 of the day already sat near the computer.

“Many people complained in the forums that their site immediately froze, but for us at first everything worked. First they checked my number - no. So let’s check my husband’s profile and we’ll see an official letter that this number has been selected.”

The girl says that she didn’t even believe in such luck and didn’t hope to win. “At first there was shock, silence, we looked at each other, and then they started screaming - hurray. My husband immediately ran for gin to celebrate.”

The family will prepare and prepare documents with the help of a lawyer. Since the political asylum case is already in the process, they are afraid that it would damage the green card. "We will do two things in parallel, let's see which one will burn out."

And in America, the family has already settled down - they live in Miami, where Elena works as a hairdresser and her husband is a cook. “We feel very good and we are glad that we left. We didn’t have anyone here - we just decided, got ready and went with a great desire to stay here.”

“I already have all the documents ready, even for the interview,” - Yulia Rusina, 20 years old, Lipetsk, Russia

Julia Rusina. Photo: from the personal archive

“I never dreamed of winning; I’ve never had any luck with this kind of thing. But I decided to try my luck and didn’t regret it even once,” says the girl. She immediately went to work to her mother with a cake to tell her about the good news and celebrate.

The girl has a management degree, but she dreams of moving to New York to study again and try her hand at the art field. She will go to conquer America alone.

“The youngest daughter won. This is the third green card in our family,” Polina Serdobintseva, 55 years old, Chicago, USA

“We were unable to stay in the States for a long time; we moved to Canada, where we learned about winning a green card. But we couldn’t activate it for a number of reasons—to put it simply, we didn’t get to the interview,” says Polina. Then the family returned to the States again, where they managed to legalize. But there were two more daughters left in Russia - at that time the girls were studying at institutes and Polina did not want to interrupt their education.

“Family reunification is a very long process, it takes 5-7 years, so I continued to play the lottery.”

Polina filled out all the forms for the children and their husbands herself, the only exception: every year she demanded fresh photos from them - “every time she called and said: now there will be a new draw, come on, send them a photo.” And five years ago, the eldest daughter Valentina won a green card. Back then, confirmation came by regular mail, and Polina specifically indicated her American address - she did not trust Russian delivery.

And this year the luck repeated itself - now the youngest Anya got the chance to get a green card.

“I really wanted to, I prayed to all the gods, wrote a letter to God. Before turning on the computer, I lit a candle, prayed to the icon, went to the computer, click - and win. My husband is on the first floor, and I shout to him from the second: “Glory, she won.” Then we came to our senses a little and started calling Russia - they did it around four in the morning. My daughter didn’t believe it at first,” says Polina.

“You know, the attitude is important - if you really want to come here, put down roots and live here, everything will work out. When I came to America, it seemed to me that she had been waiting for me for a long time - all the people were smiling, I was simply euphoric.”

In Russia, a woman had a good life - a high position, her own home. “But when I gave birth to my son in 1994, and I imagined that he would go into the army and fight with Chechnya, I was ready, you know, to take him on my back and crawl across the border.”

Polina’s main advice to new immigrants is to learn the language and get ready for hard work. “When a person is given such a chance by God, he needs to sit down, weigh everything and decide correctly. You must interest America in something, first of all, as a specialist.”

Yuri Bocharov with his family. Photo: from the personal archive

“I then won a green card. But the confirmation was sent by mail, and it came to me too late - I simply did not have time to submit further documents.” The second time luck smiled in 2012. He and his family got an interview in early October, and already in April he, his wife, youngest son and dog moved to Kentucky. The eldest daughter stayed to finish 11th grade and joined her family a couple of months later.

Yuri advises: in an interview you need to prove that in America you will not immediately sit on the neck of the state. Or show a good amount of money you can take with you. Or demonstrate the sought-after profession.

“Actually, I am a businessman, but by profession I am a doctor. So, if I had indicated that I was a doctor, they wouldn’t have hired me: they don’t need doctors. The same goes for lawyers. But blue-collar workers, engineers, very much so.”

You also need to understand that immigration is not a cheap matter. “At first you need to live on something, rent an apartment, eat,” says Yuri and immediately warns: be prepared for the fact that most likely you will lose your status.

“For example, my wife - she was a sought-after pediatric surgeon in Perm, but here no one knows her, she couldn’t get a job for a long time. Because without an American diploma, no one needs you.”

Therefore, at first she was just a volunteer, then she was given night shifts and much later she was invited to work in a private clinic, but as an administrator. Yuri’s wife is also studying now, and he has opened his own business - he buys apartments at bank auctions, renovates them and sells them. He says that, despite all the difficulties, he is happy that he moved, primarily because children in the States are clearly better off. “My daughter studies at a university in Chicago, my son goes to school. Both are already fluent in English. Nobody has nostalgia.”

“I played the lottery with a friend. I won, she didn’t,” Yuri Torop, New York.

“We have already filed a deadline for filing, but because of the time difference in America, there were still a couple of hours to file, so I managed to register and immediately forgot about it.”

The guy had even stopped communicating with his friend, but she unexpectedly called and said that she had checked his profile - he won! “Later they told me that this is how it usually happens: those who don’t really want it win. But those who dream and play 8-10 times - no.”

At the time of winning, Yuri was 31 year, and he admits: he did not want to start life from scratch. But he decided to take a chance. He collected all the documents himself and urges not to pay big money to firms that promise to do it for you, because the process is rather simple.

First, Yuri went to friends in Arizona, worked for the summer in North Carolina, and now lives in New York. He has private clients, and he simply bought a coach license on the Internet after completing online courses. “It’s strange that with my higher education and experience I just had to buy confirmation that I can train people.”

He has two main pieces of advice for immigrants: collect money and learn English. For him, language is still a problem - his environment is mostly Russian-speaking. Therefore, the guy decided: most likely, he would join the army, obtain citizenship and try to build a life here.

“The green card, of course, makes the road easier, but you must understand that this is not a lucky ticket. After winning, everything just begins.”

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