Hundreds of Moroccan winners of the U.S. Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery for fiscal year 2025 are expressing deep frustration and psychological strain due to prolonged delays in scheduling their consular interviews.
Despite the U.S. Consulate in Casablanca initiating interviews at a pace of roughly 80 per four days, applicants say the process is moving far too slowly. By comparison, they claim that the number of daily interviews last year exceeded 100.
With the lottery program’s deadline of Sept. 30 rapidly approaching, the end of the U.S. government’s fiscal year, many applicants fear they could miss out on the opportunity entirely.
“I’ve been taking anxiety medication since February, when my number became eligible,” one winner told local news outlet Hespress AR. “Since then, I’ve been waiting for that one email. My life has been on hold.”
According to the same source, a number of applicants have sought to transfer their interviews to consulates in other countries, including Tunisia, Egypt, Georgia and Turkey, incurring significant travel and visa costs, only to be denied for not having legal residency in those nations.
The applicant said the situation has made Morocco an outlier compared to neighboring countries such as Algeria and Tunisia, where interview processes have reportedly moved faster despite less robust diplomatic ties with the U.S.
In letters submitted to Hespress AR, several applicants describe the psychological toll of the prolonged wait. One person wrote that they had resigned from their job to prepare for immigration, while others abandoned their studies — only to find themselves stuck just one step from their dream: the consular interview.
“This endless waiting has drained us emotionally,” the letter read. “We had high hopes for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but we’ve been left with no appointments, no answers, unlike applicants in neighboring countries where the process is running normally.”
The writers urged Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita to intervene, emphasizing that time is running out, with September 30 looming.
Applicants also criticized the lack of formal response to the complaints submitted to U.S. diplomatic channels. Hespress AR reported that it attempted to contact the U.S. Consulate in Casablanca and the U.S. Embassy in Rabat for comment, but received no reply.
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