By Debbie McGoldrick

Irish immigration centres in New York and Boston are expecting a poor turnout from the Irish community in the U.S. inquiring about the State Department’s announced 2007 DV-1 green card lottery which opened last week.

At the Aisling Irish Centre in Yonkers, help is available for anyone applying, but there is currently no formal appointment structure set up.

“We are helping people here, everything is here for them,” said Fran Browner at the centre on McLean Avenue. “People can come in during office hours, but when it gets closer to the time there will probably be a rush and we will set up appointments.

“Though people are turned off by the fact that it is a little harder to apply and of course a lot of people have gone home, there are a number of reasons why fewer are applying. Of course they are turned off by the low number allocated to Ireland, a couple of hundred,” she added.

“Since it has only begun, we haven’t formally started our appointment schedule, but there have been few inquiries,” said John Rattigan in Boston’s Irish Immigration Centre.

“We would not expect the interest to be larger than last year, and it was a light turnout then. Now that the application process is online it makes it more difficult to apply because everything has to be accurate, especially the photograph.”

The application period for the 50,000 green cards began at noon on Wednesday, October 5, and will conclude at noon on Sunday, December 4.

As in the past two years, entries for lottery green cards available on an annual basis are only accepted via the Internet at the following address, www.dvlottery.state.gov. The immigration centres help people apply who do not have access to digital cameras for pictures or Internet access.

“We don’t charge a fee for helping people, but we accept donations,” said Rattigan. On Thursday nights the Boston centre will have Internet volunteers to help people apply.

Applying for the lottery is easy enough. The applicant must provide their name, date of birth, gender, place of birth, mailing address, marital status, and information about spouse and children, if applicable. They also have to include a digital photo for the process.

But immigrant advocates warn that undocumented applicants have to return to Ireland to get their green card if they win. and that can mean getting a three or 10-year ban for overstaying illegally in the U.S. Therefore, the undocumented must proceed with extreme caution, and seek expert advice, before applying.

Siobhan Dennehy at the Emerald Isle Immigration Centre in Woodside says she is preparing a lottery clinic in Woodlawn on October 27 and Woodside on October 25 to discuss the process with those who may be interested.

“We have had a lot of interest already, maybe 50 calls and two walk-ins. We expect it to mushroom once we set up clinics and appointments,” said Dennehy.

Successful entrants of the visa lottery will be notified between May and July of 2006.

For more information contact the Emerald Isle 718-478-5502, the Aisling Irish Centre at 914-237-5098, or the Boston Irish Immigration Centre at 617-542-7654.