Some of the common questions that pop up often between two Indian's conversation who live/work in US are
1). Do you have Green Card?
2). If Yes, then Are you a US citizen?
3). If Yes, then the final statement (You can sense a question behind the statement) would be, "I guess you are going to settle here".
Irrespective of the intent of the question, 99% of people would answer that "They don't want to be in US permanently and have plans to go back to INDIA in next couple of years".
I have been in US for 16 years and I heard the same questions and similar answers million times. The common thing in last 20 years answers is "INTENT TO GO BACK TO INDIA". Many conclude that everyone will say that they want to go back to INDIA and it will never happen.
Why do you think people are not able to decide on moving back to INDIA? I would rather question "Why many fail to move back to INDIA when their intent is not to settle in US". Here are some of the reasons that I can think of and would request others to add if I miss any.
Batchelor - Most of the people come here with two or three years of IT/Medical/Management experience. When they come to US, their primary goal would be to earn money. (Most are batchelors). If you ask a batchelor at that time about his plans to settle to US, the answer would be a strong NO. (The decision is linked with one individuals choice). The intent of batchelor at that time would be to earn good for next 5 years and gain good exposure to better life. Not to forget, the savings seem to be good at this stage. Tend to visit India every year.
After Marriage -
All the batchelor Savings are spent on Marriage and Honey moon. Income might have increased another 5 to 10 percent (Ofcouse if there is no Recession). But costs double. Move from Shared room to Independent house, and fulfilling both your dream and your spouse dream. All of a sudden the savings seem to diminishing and India trips are procrastinate to two to three years. The intent of stay exends another 3 to 5 years to have kids in US (Kids born in US gets US citizenship).
After Having kids; - Even though the initial intent of 5 years is over, the goal of US stay estends another 5 more years because they want to have second kid in US again to make sure that both kids are given equal opportunity. Parents/in laws visit on 6 months visa to support the family during this stage. Savings and bank balance seem to be diminishing further.
Kids Studies: Cost of day care/ pre school added to the monthly cost. Getting admissions in the best schools. Admit kids in Swimming, Skating, Basketball, Soccar and Karate. Additional callses like KUMON and ALOHA adds more cost and takes lot of time away. If only one parent is working, I doubt whther there would be any thought of savings. At this time they want to go back to INDIA and realize that they neither had good savings to back to INDIA and the most surprising thing to know is the cost to get the schooling India is much more expensive than getting in US or anywhere in the world. Since the studies in US till 12th standard is free for most of the public and charter school, they decide to stay in US till their schooling.
Kids College: At this point of time it is too late to go back to INDIA because Kids won't be coming with you back and in most cases you have already lost lot of loved ones in INDIA.
The intent is not to scare you with lot of -ve things. There is NO best time to go back to INDIA and also there is not need to go back to INDIA if you feel your family is happy to be in US. It is very difficult to adjust in INDIA after spending considerable amount of time in US. But you also need to look at the positives that you get in INDIA. You need to follow your dream and in that process be ready to face any hurdles on the way. It may seem very simple move, but ultimately reverse migration to INDIA is the biggest decision of your life and there is no quick fix for this problem.
--
1). Do you have Green Card?
2). If Yes, then Are you a US citizen?
3). If Yes, then the final statement (You can sense a question behind the statement) would be, "I guess you are going to settle here".
Irrespective of the intent of the question, 99% of people would answer that "They don't want to be in US permanently and have plans to go back to INDIA in next couple of years".
I have been in US for 16 years and I heard the same questions and similar answers million times. The common thing in last 20 years answers is "INTENT TO GO BACK TO INDIA". Many conclude that everyone will say that they want to go back to INDIA and it will never happen.
Why do you think people are not able to decide on moving back to INDIA? I would rather question "Why many fail to move back to INDIA when their intent is not to settle in US". Here are some of the reasons that I can think of and would request others to add if I miss any.
Batchelor - Most of the people come here with two or three years of IT/Medical/Management experience. When they come to US, their primary goal would be to earn money. (Most are batchelors). If you ask a batchelor at that time about his plans to settle to US, the answer would be a strong NO. (The decision is linked with one individuals choice). The intent of batchelor at that time would be to earn good for next 5 years and gain good exposure to better life. Not to forget, the savings seem to be good at this stage. Tend to visit India every year.
After Marriage -
All the batchelor Savings are spent on Marriage and Honey moon. Income might have increased another 5 to 10 percent (Ofcouse if there is no Recession). But costs double. Move from Shared room to Independent house, and fulfilling both your dream and your spouse dream. All of a sudden the savings seem to diminishing and India trips are procrastinate to two to three years. The intent of stay exends another 3 to 5 years to have kids in US (Kids born in US gets US citizenship).
After Having kids; - Even though the initial intent of 5 years is over, the goal of US stay estends another 5 more years because they want to have second kid in US again to make sure that both kids are given equal opportunity. Parents/in laws visit on 6 months visa to support the family during this stage. Savings and bank balance seem to be diminishing further.
Kids Studies: Cost of day care/ pre school added to the monthly cost. Getting admissions in the best schools. Admit kids in Swimming, Skating, Basketball, Soccar and Karate. Additional callses like KUMON and ALOHA adds more cost and takes lot of time away. If only one parent is working, I doubt whther there would be any thought of savings. At this time they want to go back to INDIA and realize that they neither had good savings to back to INDIA and the most surprising thing to know is the cost to get the schooling India is much more expensive than getting in US or anywhere in the world. Since the studies in US till 12th standard is free for most of the public and charter school, they decide to stay in US till their schooling.
Kids College: At this point of time it is too late to go back to INDIA because Kids won't be coming with you back and in most cases you have already lost lot of loved ones in INDIA.
The intent is not to scare you with lot of -ve things. There is NO best time to go back to INDIA and also there is not need to go back to INDIA if you feel your family is happy to be in US. It is very difficult to adjust in INDIA after spending considerable amount of time in US. But you also need to look at the positives that you get in INDIA. You need to follow your dream and in that process be ready to face any hurdles on the way. It may seem very simple move, but ultimately reverse migration to INDIA is the biggest decision of your life and there is no quick fix for this problem.
--
No comments:
Post a Comment