Dhaka, Nov 30: Despite anger over the US-led invasion of Iraq, the American dream lives on for Bangladeshis who are hoping to win a residence permit for the country in an online immigration lottery.
Thousands of Bangladeshi men and women have been crowding cyber cafes or the homes of friends who have internet connections to file their online applications for a Green Card, or residency permit.
The US Diversity Visa 2005 lottery is being held from November 01 to December 30.
Washington offers 50,000 diversity visas each year to countries from which less than 50,000 people emigrated to the United States in the previous five years.
According to newspaper estimates, at least 500,000 Bangladeshis try their luck in the scheme each year.
This year the quota for Bangladesh is a maximum of 3,500.
The lucky few will get a Green Card in 2005 which will allow them permanent residence in the United States.
"I have been working hard, but I am not making enough money for a comfortable life," said Musharraf Hossain, 27, an executive in an import-export business in Dhaka.
Another hopeful, 25-year-old Munirul Islam, a marketing executive with a foreign trading company, added: "life has to be worthwhile and I am ready to work 24 hours now for the life I dream of -- luxury holidays, travels and a nice Jaguar car."
Both said they, like many Bangladeshis, were angry when the United States invaded Iraq this year, but this did not change their dream of emigrating to that country.
Bureau Report