A few comments from someone who has emigrated to the US (from Australia).

Greencard lottery (Officially called the diversity lottery) is not available to persons born in the UK unless they were born in Northern Ireland (which incidently allows them to get Irish citizenship as well) - Lottery is based on where you were born not where you are a citizen - each region gets its own allocation and you have to go in the right section of the draw - Official info for the next draw is available at: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2005/42131.htm
Other things to note about the lottery; - if you are eligable and if you get drawn (there are something like 15million applicants for the 50,000 general places each year and just getting an offer doesn't guarantee a place since 1 winner can take up multiple places; if you win it is about 18months to 2 years from when you enter till when you move and they only give you a 6 month window when you have to move.

Do your research about the US - why do you specifically want to come? The US doesn't have a skilled migration program in the same sense as Australia, New Zealand, & Canada - who have published points systems that you can see what you need to do to reach the qualification point... also if you are young enough (under 30?) you can get a working holiday visa to Australia / New Zealand / or Canada and work/live there for a couple of years legally.

Go to your local bookshop in the UK and buy the book "Live & Work in the US and Canada" - I have a copy printed in 1999 by a company called vacation work but I think they update it every few years - it is part of a series (I have seen ones for Eastern Europe & Russia and Australia & New Zealand as well). Covers almost everything you need to know (at least as a starting point) from how to emigrate, to how to get a job (not an easy thing at the moment), standards of living etc in various areas - how to establish a credit history, what to bring with you (in terms of documentation that will help etc).

Finally - moving to the US is not cheap - there are all the initial costs of passport, documentation (police records etc) & medical checks (if you want to emigrate), and getting yourself to the US - then you have the issue of supporting yourself till you find a job, finding somewhere to live (and it isn't easy to get a lease or mortgage with no US credit history - something it will take a couple of years after you get a US credit card to build) so you are looking at share accomodation unless you have family you can live with... if by some great fortune you do get a job and a lease then you have all the initial deposits for utilities / phone / internet etc and don't forget a car (and you won't have enough credit history to get a loan so expect to buy it outright or finance it with your UK credit cards) - unless you live in New York City or San Francisco city you pretty much must get a car (and living in either is really really expensive) This will not be cheap - I used US$20k+ in the initial process and I had family to stay with until I got a job.

Final thought - the second you get to the US legally and get a social security number go to a bank and open a secured credit card account - you will have to deposit $300+ but it will immediately start your credit history - after 6 months you will have a (low) score and be in a position to get rental leases etc more easily - make sure you use the card each month and pay off the balance in full each month to get the best score. - sign up to a credit monitoring service after 6 months (like myfico.com) so you can watch your credit report develop (oh and watch 'The Suze Orman show on CNBC to learn more about how US credit scores work). Also you will need to open both a checking (what we in Australia/UK call Chequing ) and a savings account to get the best credit score.

Oh and don't forget the US has no NHS etc so unless you have a job to come to that offers benefits you will need to buy basic health insurance as well. - And as a new immigrant you have no access to unemployement insurance for the first few years (and then you will only be eligable based on how much you have worked).

Hope this helps.

Andrew

I recommend the Korean Airlines Secured Credit Card from US Bank (see my website for info on it - it is the only secured card I can find that earn FF miles & it is specifically designed for new immigrants so you can get it without a job etc. Korean is a Skyteam member so you can redeem for flights on Northwest / Continental / Delta / Aermexico / Airfrance / KLM / Alitalia / CSA Czech Airlines for flights within & between North America and Europe.