Hi everyone, I am a new member and hope to get some advise

Hi everyone, I found this forum from a friend and hoping if I can get some advise.

I enter Untied Stated in 1993 as B-2 Status. I overstay the 6 months visa time frame, I was only 11 back then. I went to high school and later went on to college got a degree in engineer. I continue my education and also received a master degree in science. This past May I graduated again with a MBA degree, I have been selling computer on eBay and in computer trade show on my own for quite few years now. The money I earned pretty much paid off on my tuition. Since I already overstayed that long, I have talked to many different lawyers and they all said they could not help me change the status. There isn’t much of choice I have now, the lawyer told me the only way I can legalize in US is to marry a US citizen. Other than that, they couldn’t think of any other ways to help me.

So, I think my choices are…
1) Get marry with US citizen
2) Self-employed and continue selling computer like I did before and hope immigration laws can pass in the future.
3) Hope I can win the DV lottery, chance are very slim.

I really appreciate if anyone has advice that they can share with me. I have been frustrating by my status for many years now. Thank you for reading my post.

my mother won the dv lottery.....it is not meant for illegal immigrants. You must file from outside the country once you get all the paperwork after u are chosen.

my family was super excited when she won. but then months later, and a ton of immigration attorneys later, we realized that we couldnt benefit from it.

Yeah I've applied to the DV lottery ever since I was 18... but then last year my lawyer told me it was pointless since I was illegal... so it can't help us.

Just keep your fingers crossed that the Dream Act will pass and help out as much as you can. I think we have a pretty good chance. Welcome to the forum!

P.S. Don't marry a citizen just for the papers. That is morally, ethically and just plain wrong. (at least in my opinion)

If you win the DV Lottery, you have to go get your green card in your country of origin -- which means 10 year bar takes effect.

If you were 11 in 1993 that would make you about 25 right now, am I right? If so, you have about 5 years to give Dream a chance, and as the others have said, since the visa lottery would not be of benefit to you and the first option is a bit controversial and could wind up doing you more harm than good, I'd say join us and fight for Dream, but that is just my opinion

Anyhoo, bienvenue!

My advice to you would be to continue fighting for DREAM in the meantime. It seems that you have done well to sustain yourself throughout this process. Keep on selling computers, and when the time comes that you meet someone that you truly want to be with and they are a citizen, then go for it. And at the risk of sounding like a broken record, obtaining residency through the DV lottery is simply not an option.

I really appreciated everyone's feedback, I am glad that I found this forum.
Like everyone else, I believe each and everyone of us did suffer the pain that other can't understand.
It is really tough path that we have to go through, but I truly believe if we have a dream or goal, we need to fight for it, success don't come easily.
I want to thank everyone again for their valuable feedback, LET"S FIGHT FOR DREAM ACT TOGETHER~~!

Regards,