Green Card Visa Lottery

Iano_128

Just wondering if someone can answer me a question here.. I applied for the Green Card lottery for 2015.. I didn't do my leaving cert but due to working hard in jobs, getting promotions and picking skills up along the way I'm now in a job that you generally need to have a college qualification for. I'm looking at getting some Microsoft Cert's behind me after Christmas. Can anyone tell me will my 2+ years experience in my current job be enough to satisfy the deciding people, or will I definitely need some Qualifications behind me, or am I already destined to be declined because I don't have a leaving cert? Thanks in advance if anyone can help..


TL;DR: Can I get a Green Card from the Visa Lottery without a Leaving Cert but am in employment you generally need to have a college qualification for?

Iano_128

Can anyone shed any light on this?

silja

Well, it is only a guess but it tends to be difficult to get approved without the Leaving. You'd need solid proof of your experience that it normally takes a college degree to get your sort of job.

Iano_128

Do you know how I could go about getting that? Everyone I know who has the same job as me has a college degree to do it, or about 8-9 years of experience but I'm sure I can't go telling them "all my friends needed a degree"

silja

Hopefully others with actual experience of this will come along, but my suggestion would be to show your anectodal evidence in more concrete form:
- Get a letter from your employer stating that of (say) 35 workers they have with your job title, 33 have college degrees relevant to the field, and also why you are the exception.
- Gather job advertisements from now on till your interview stating that a college degree, preferably in X subject, is a requirement to apply for the job.

Iano_128

That's a real good idea thanks! I'm currently in the process of emailing as many colleges I can find where I can do my leaving cert too. If I can get that done, plus a couple of Microsoft Certifications then I should be in with a pretty good shout if I'm lucky enough to get an interview..

lonestargirl

If you look up the Fetac qualification levels the LC is level 5. There are other courses that have the equivalent Fetac level - in fact there was a Groupon deal this morning for an online nutrition course that is level 5 Fetac certified. I would look up and see if I could find some online courses accredited by Fetac that were relevant to your job and just try and get that piece of paper

Iano_128

I was thinking about the Fetac equivalent earlier but wasn't really sure how it worked.. I thought I'd need to have say 6 Fetac courses in say Maths, English, History etc so it would be equivalent to a Leaving Cert? But are you saying that if I had a Fetac qualification in an area I work in then that would be the same as having a Leaving Cert?

Palmy

I would definitely start looking into doing some type of Fetac level courses or start doing a Diploma (Associates Degree) in your field.
If you do come over this side of the pond, most entry level jobs other than having a Trade or working in Retail will at least require an Associate's Degree at a minimum. Not having at least an Associate's or equivalent (Diploma)you will struggle getting any type of work in a field where it is a prerequisite to have this minimum qualification.
You will also most likely have to get your Diploma, Leaving Certs, Accredited into the United States equivalent. Companies do specialise in this here and will turn a Leaving Cert into the equivalent High School Diploma or GED.
If you apply for a job and you write down the Leaving Cert you may as well put it in Chinese as they wont have a clue what your on about..lol