Middle and lower-class Iranians in general are facing serious problems: inflation, poor economy, lack of jobs and money, poor opportunities for advancement, restrictions, political problems, and lack of personal freedoms—and in the last three years—covid19. Such difficulties impact Iranian youth all the more. Their parents have been set up in their lives, but the youth often have not. The expenses of a wedding, setting up a home, and supporting a wife—and children--are too often out of reach for young men who have great difficulties to find jobs—at the level which they expect. Fathers need to continue supporting young men and especially young women into their 20s and even 30s. Females face even greater challenges finding suitable jobs, gaining any independence, and finding suitable husbands. Although young women, more so than young men, would like to marry, young men often do not have the attentive, modern attitudes and behaviors young women have now come to expect. Men want to avoid responsibility. “Youth” is continuing into ever older years. For both females and males, emigration has become the dream, the only way out of their dilemmas. A Tehran friend stated: Iranian youth talk mainly about sex and migration. Based on about four years of living and conducting research in Iran and more than 30 interviews mainly with younger people about issues of migration, I find lack of perceived suitable alternatives to be the main reason for the wish to migrate. Females especially have to live with their parents, and thus cannot develop their independence, increasingly an expectation and wish among the young. With marriage ages of both males and females dramatically climbing, issues of sex also become problematic in the cultural milieu. Sexual gratification is culturally expected for both Iranian males and females, but particularly for females, it should be within the confines of marriage. Sexual relations outside of marriage have become much more common, sometimes bringing females more problems—such as need for (illegal) abortions. Iranians who want to migrate fall mainly into two groups: people who are disadvantaged or in trouble and see migration as the only way to escape, and people who have advantaged situations and want to progress further, to develop themselves and their talents, and see migration as the best or only way to accomplish this. Individual stories illustrate reasons for migrating, perceived pros and cons, and experiences and evaluations of migration.