Going To America

My friend Aziz called me the other night and asked me to come out to a cafe with him and his friends. He added that he had something to tell me.

I showed up half an hour later and after the standard greetings and jokes, we chatted a while in Arabic. When the conversation fragmented, Aziz turned to me and, speaking quietly in English (which the others didn't understand), told me he had won the American visa lottery.

It was obvious he was excited. Only a small percentage get the chance to become legal residents of the United States but many yearn for it. I had helped another Moroccan apply back in November, but I didn't know that Aziz or his friends had applied. I probably should have known better. For a good number of Moroccans, it is a yearly tradition.

Fortunate though he was, I could also tell he was uncertain. As he explained further, I learned he had his doubts. His mother has been sick recently. He is the only son. And his father doesn't want him to leave.

"They told me, 'If you are going to raise as much money as you need to go to the U.S., you might as well just start a business here, close to home.'"


After leaving the cafe, we walked around some and he asked me more about my opinion.

I told him that he could always come back if he needed to. One of my co-workers certainly did. I also warned him about some of the common pitfalls: getting involved in pyramid schemes, working a time-consuming job and never having time to get more education, etc.

He still isn't sure. First he needs to pay for an extremely expensive medical exam. Then he has to prove he can pay for the airline ticket and for his first few months in the U.S. Then he has to decide where he wants to go. Likely he will know someone who knows someone already there and use the Moroccan immigrant community for a head-start when he arrives. The whole process will take close to a year. A lot can happen in that time.

It's a bit strange to think about immigration from this end. My ancestors crossed the Atlantic Ocean by boat in a trip that took weeks and allowed no return. Within a generation or two (helped largely by World Wars against their former home), they had shed the old language and culture. And now we are all firmly American.

Aziz can fly across the Atlantic in a few hours. He can return every year if he has the money. And he has issues here before he even arrives in the United States. I generally think of immigration as an issue of finding a job, learning the language, and fitting in culturally; but that is only one side of the story.

I'm very excited for Aziz. Of all the Moroccans I know, he is the one who deserves a Green Card the most. I wish him the very best.