Every year, thousands of Moroccans participate in a lottery for green cards in the hopes that they can go to the US and fulfill the highly romanticized “American dream.”
With results of this year’s lottery having been published earlier this week, many of them have taken to social media to express disappointment – sometimes sarcastically– over not being selected for the US Diversity Immigrant Visa (DV) lottery.
The sarcastic sentence “has been selected to stay in Morocco forever” has been trending on all social networks, as Moroccans jokingly conveyed their disappointment over not being selected to apply for the visa.
The trend was not only exclusive to Morocco but expanded to the Middle East and other parts of the world.
Social media users’ stances on the matter fluctuated between sarcasm and bitterness. One Twitter user shared, “‘Has been selected to stay in Morocco’ is the most read sentence today haha.”
Another one expressed: “In light of the current economic state, it’s logical for youth, especially the ones with credentials and academic excellence, to consider the United State’s lottery as a chance to improve their social status and find better opportunities.”
“I reminisce of the time when I was reckless and used to get annoyed over not winning the US lottery,” another user wrote. “There is no point in getting angry over failing something that is solely linked to luck. You can’t base the will to change your life on a lottery result.”
Jokingly, one user shared a photo of the football star Messi and wrote, “These are the only types of people who win the lottery.”.
Every year, millions of people across the globe apply for the lottery, but only a slim minority are selected.
Administered by the Department of State as a way to increase the diversity of the immigrants choosing to settle in the United States, the program offers more than 50,000 randomly selected people the chance to get a green card and with it permanent residency in the US.
In order to be eligible to apply for the Visa, you must be born in a country that sent less than 50,000 immigrants to the United States over the past five years.
Entering the diversity program requires filing a free form online and the winners are chosen randomly.
The Bureau of Consular Affairs, which allows immigrants to live permanently in the United States, has published in its latest report of the statistical DV Lottery 2024 winners by country.
Over 119,000 applicants have been registered and are now eligible to apply for an immigrant visa.
Though there are 55,000 green cards available, more names are selected because not everyone qualifies for an immigrant visa or pursues their case to its completion.
According to last year’s DV Lottery 2023 statistics, Morocco was among the countries that benefited the most from the program, receiving nearly 4,500 winners.
Countries like Egypt, Iran, Russia, Algeria, and Uzbekistan led the chart with over 5,500 applicants chosen.
