AS predicted, lots of American lawyers are now advertising to help Hong Kong people get green cards.
They charge serious dollars and then enter their clients in the green card lottery already discussed a couple of times in this column.
The lottery allocates green cards entirely by chance to Hong Kong-born people.
This green card lottery is free. However, you'll find no mention of this in the literature of, for example, Edward Patrick Gallagher, a lawyer based in Washington DC, who asks for US$100 per person, plus $50 for each spouse and child over 18.
He makes a lot of fuss about using a ''specifically identifiable envelope'' to enter the draw, but in fact, as long as you don't send it in a stupid envelope the size of a football field, the US authorities are quite happy.
Much cheaper, and more literary, is Will Dwyer II, also of Washington DC, who charges just $20 and describes himself as ''an ally of Hong Kong democracy.