Rabat – Morocco ranks as the third largest Arab nation to receive US immigration visas in 2022, a report from the US State Department shows.
In a report released on Saturday, data indicates that the US government issued a total of 4,065 visas to Moroccan nationals. Ahead of Morocco is Egypt with 5,293 visas, followed by Yemen with 5,222 visas.
The US State Department report further indicates that 2,554 of the visas granted to Moroccan nationals were under the Diversity Visa (DV) program, which is dedicated to countries with low immigration rates to the United States.
More than 700 visas issued to Moroccans were granted to immediate relatives, and 673 were granted under the Family Preference Program, which issues visas for “specific, more distant, family relationships with a U.S. citizen and some specified relationships with a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR).”
According to the data released by the State Department, there has been a steady rise in the number of visas granted to Moroccan immigrants in the United States over the past ten years. The number of visas issued to Moroccans increased from more than 1,500 in 2012 to over 2,000 in 2016.
However, the rate of Moroccan migration to the US slowed down between 2017 and 2018, with the number of visas issued dropping from 1,100 to 1,300. The COVID-19 pandemic further caused a significant decline in 2020 as travel restrictions impacted global migration. In 2020, only slightly over 900 visas were issued to Moroccan nationals.
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