Legal proof of schooling must be obtained and an I-20 form must be filed.
According to the INS website, you can also apply for entrance to the U.S. without a visa through the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). This program allows foreign nationals from certain countries to be admitted to the United States under limited conditions, for a limited time. Ninety days or less is the allotted time that a nonimmigrant visitor can stay within the country. .
These are just three of the ways that a foreigner can legally enter the United States. A more controversial subject in immigration is the visa lottery. This lottery gives permanent residence to 50,000 people a year. This is done using a system requiring the sending in of postcards for required for eligibility during a one-month period. The "drawing winners" get the opportunity to come to America. It provides green cards to people who have no strong ties to the United States, unlike family-based immigration, which offers green cards to individuals with family sponsors. Several terrorists, including those belonging to a sleeper cell in Michigan, have used this service to enter the United States. When examining the lottery, it gives rise to the question of its actual purpose. It does not help those people with necessary job transfers, it doesn't reunite families and it surely does not look at immigrants for what they can offer to this country.
Before September 11th the problem with national security was the reluctance of government agencies to share important information with the INS and the State Department, the two primary agencies dealing with immigrants. The USA Patriot Act passed in the wake of the terrorist activity in New York City in 2001, requires the FBI, the Justice Department and the INS to share more of their data, which would make it difficult for "red flagged" individuals to cross into the United States. For this strategy to work, the U.