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It’s taken a little luck and a whole lot of hard work, but Arjan and Milda Osmani are living their very own version of the American dream.
The couple are Albanian immigrants who live in Crawfordsville. They came to the United States with their two young children in 1999 after being selected by lottery to be part of the U.S. Department of State National Visa Center’s DV-99 diversity immigrant program. |
They received the first notification their names had been randomly selected for further consideration for the program on April 6, 1998.
In that first letter, the Osmanis were told they were not guaranteed a visa “because the number of applicants selected is greater than the number of visas available.” While 90,000 applicants had been chosen for further processing, the letter said, only 50,000 diversity visas were available worldwide.
The purpose of the DV lottery, according to visalaw.com, is to increase the diversity of immigrants coming to the U.S. Therefore, high admission states — including Canada and Mexico — are excluded from the lottery. Low admission states compete equally with other low admission states in the same region, and no single state may receive more than 7 percent of the allotted visas — which was 3,500 the year the Osmanis were selected.
Arjan signed up for the lottery on a whim, he said. Registration for the lottery took place each October at the post office, Arjan said.
“We have a friend who won the lottery,” said Arjan, a dark-eyed man with a cheerful smile. “He come back to Albania talking (America) up.”
The initial letter was exciting, but it wasn’t even close to being the final step in obtaining a visa, Milda said.
“They checked our background, they checked everything,” she said in her thick accent. “We filled out forms, we paid fees. We learned 100 questions about U.S. history and had to take the test.”
That test, Milda said, was something she enjoyed. The Osmanis took the test at the U.S. Embassy in Albania.
“I liked it,” she said. “Someday my grandkids will ask me questions. I don’t want to be stupid.”
The Osmanis went through three interviews and extensive medical screenings. They jumped through hoops, but each time they did, they wouldn’t allow themselves to believe they would make it to the next round of consideration.
“It was not even in our dreams,” Milda said.
Arjan said in order to even be considered for a visa, immigrants have to have a high school or college diploma.
The Osmanis found out they were granted visas on Aug. 7, 1999. One week later, they were in the United States.
“My mom, she cried, cried, cried,” Arjan said. “But she knew this was a good thing for us.”
Milda and Arjan’s daughter Malvina, who was 13 years old at the time, was the only one in the family who knew any amount of English, as she had taken two years of private classes. Her brother Klajdi, then 9, knew some English — Milda and Arjan didn’t speak a word of it.
They learned quickly. They had jobs within a week and had made friends. They rented an apartment and started building a life.
“There was just so much opportunity,” Arjan, 51, said. “First we had just one car. Then we had two, and now we have cars and our kids have cars.”
Two years ago, the Osmanis were able to move out of the apartment and buy their own home.
“I never could have dreamed this,” Milda said.
A local pastor helped them out at first, too, and Milda has never forgotten his kindness.
“I didn’t know anybody, and even for Christmas the people from the church brought money,” Milda said.
Although there were many people who were good to the Osmanis, Milda said she and her family have experienced some prejudice.
“We just forget it when it happens,” she said.
Milda, 46, was quick to point out that she and Arjan were not trying to escape anything when they left their homeland.
“Me and my husband — we had a good life there,” she said. “But we came here for our children, for the schools because that is better here. And if you like to do everything, here there is so much more opportunity.”
In Albania, Arjan was an agriculture professor at a college. Milda was a lab technician with the Albanian Army.
Today, the couple both have jobs at Banjo Corp. Arjan is a line leader and Milda is a production worker. Arjan also delivers pizza for Pizza Hut (where he works with his son) to bring in some extra money.
“People (in Albania) ask me why I work so hard, why I work two jobs,” Arjan said. “I do it for my family and to give us good life. We work hard … we never miss work.”
Neither one had ever worked in a factory before, but Milda and Arjan said the people at Banjo “are good to us and treat us right.”
The Osmani children indeed flourished in the United States, just as their parents suspected they would. Malvina is now a senior at Purdue University, where she is studying Spanish and human resources on a 21st Century Scholars scholarship. Klajdi is a junior at Crawfordsville High School, where he is a member of the basketball and soccer teams.
“His name is in the newspaper everyday,” Arjan said with obvious pride.
Several of Milda’s cousins have also immigrated to the United States. They live in bigger cities like New York and Chicago, but Milda is glad to be in Crawfordsville.
“It’s quiet here,” she said. “I like it.”
The Osmanis — who have been together since Milda was a teen-ager and Arjan was in his early 20s and who just celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary on Sept. 15 — are avid Indianapolis Colts fans. They bought a big screen television to watch the Super Bowl this year.
Milda and Arjan became official U.S. citizens on June 7, 2005. They are excited about being able to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
“We had to vote for communism in Albania,” Arjan said. “Here we have a choice.”
Since coming to the states, Milda has been back to Albania once. Arjan has been back three times, once for the funeral of his mother in October 2005.
Milda said in the beginning, she figured she would get her kids through high school and college, then she’d go back to Albania.
“Sometimes I still think I’ll go back, but then I think, my kids are going to get married and I’ll have grandkids here,” she said. “What am I going to do in Albania?”
By Jamie Barrand From:www.journalreview.com
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