Coming to America
27 January was my 6th year anniversary.
On that same day in 2001, I made the US my new home. And New York City will be home for 6 years this coming April.
I have traveled here before, many times with family and with absolutely no intent of staying. For me back then, America was a great place to vacation but life was definitely sweeter in Manila.
In 1998, the last time before 2001 that I traveled to the US as a tourist, I had a great job that paid well with a company that was going through expansion. I was renting my own condo in Makati and was home to my parents in the weekends. The work that I was doing was what I had always wanted to do – in the dynamic industry of IT and was in charge of a department that managed events, advertising, public relations and marketing communications. And then things happened fast – the technology bubble burst, the exchange rate of the Asian currencies against the dollar plunged, bank interest rates skyrocketed and people and businesses stopped buying computers and software.
With a daughter just starting college and realizing my income as a single parent and sole breadwinner was not going to be enough to finance her education, I had two options: get married and have someone help me out with the financial situation or move abroad and receive remuneration in a foreign currency. I chose the latter. And the first step was to try my luck in the US.
I was unhappy, however. The friend who I shared the Burbank apartment with was going through a rough time at work and in her personal life. She was romantically frustrated and would often come home surging with hostility which unfortunately got redirected to her sister and I, the people she would find home when she arrived. She was often unhappy and it was a very stressful time for everyone.
At work, too, there was much bickering going around and the incompetent supervisors often felt threatened by the more proficient and so they enforced power play. I realized that the politics in a tiny company was much more unbearable than that of a huge business.
There is a mindset about working abroad – it is acknowledging that as a foreigner on a work visa you automatically become a third class citizen and will be abused. There is just no way out of it – if you decide to fight your supervisor and the management you run the risk of losing your sponsorship and then the processing of your green card application goes back to square one. A process cycle takes approximately eight years and about $15,000 dollars. It is a long time to keep biting your lips and swallowing your pride. I have met a lot of unhappy people who are unable to go home to their countries and are unpaid and overworked. I knew this was not for me. I could go back home, I thought and put up my own marketing communications business if things did not work out. But I knew I could not survive if I broke my soul.
It also seemed a very complicated way to get started with a new life. I surmised that in time I needed to find myself my own apartment once I got settled; and I also needed my own car, a major requirement to survive in California. This, on top of immigration and lawyer fees to process the work visa I needed to get to stay. And of course, I had my financial responsibilities at home in Manila. It was not working out as I expected.
On that same day in 2001, I made the US my new home. And New York City will be home for 6 years this coming April.
I have traveled here before, many times with family and with absolutely no intent of staying. For me back then, America was a great place to vacation but life was definitely sweeter in Manila.
In 1998, the last time before 2001 that I traveled to the US as a tourist, I had a great job that paid well with a company that was going through expansion. I was renting my own condo in Makati and was home to my parents in the weekends. The work that I was doing was what I had always wanted to do – in the dynamic industry of IT and was in charge of a department that managed events, advertising, public relations and marketing communications. And then things happened fast – the technology bubble burst, the exchange rate of the Asian currencies against the dollar plunged, bank interest rates skyrocketed and people and businesses stopped buying computers and software.
With a daughter just starting college and realizing my income as a single parent and sole breadwinner was not going to be enough to finance her education, I had two options: get married and have someone help me out with the financial situation or move abroad and receive remuneration in a foreign currency. I chose the latter. And the first step was to try my luck in the US.
My first stop was Los Angeles where a friend offered to help me out. Upon arriving, she gave me the number of her headhunter who specialized in the placement of Filipinos in jobs requiring special skills with companies that would eventually provide work-visa sponsorship. I started with a company four days after I arrived, being requested to report the day after I made my first interview and was working for an elite clothing company in Van Nuys within a few weeks.
I was unhappy, however. The friend who I shared the Burbank apartment with was going through a rough time at work and in her personal life. She was romantically frustrated and would often come home surging with hostility which unfortunately got redirected to her sister and I, the people she would find home when she arrived. She was often unhappy and it was a very stressful time for everyone.
At work, too, there was much bickering going around and the incompetent supervisors often felt threatened by the more proficient and so they enforced power play. I realized that the politics in a tiny company was much more unbearable than that of a huge business.
There is a mindset about working abroad – it is acknowledging that as a foreigner on a work visa you automatically become a third class citizen and will be abused. There is just no way out of it – if you decide to fight your supervisor and the management you run the risk of losing your sponsorship and then the processing of your green card application goes back to square one. A process cycle takes approximately eight years and about $15,000 dollars. It is a long time to keep biting your lips and swallowing your pride. I have met a lot of unhappy people who are unable to go home to their countries and are unpaid and overworked. I knew this was not for me. I could go back home, I thought and put up my own marketing communications business if things did not work out. But I knew I could not survive if I broke my soul.
It also seemed a very complicated way to get started with a new life. I surmised that in time I needed to find myself my own apartment once I got settled; and I also needed my own car, a major requirement to survive in California. This, on top of immigration and lawyer fees to process the work visa I needed to get to stay. And of course, I had my financial responsibilities at home in Manila. It was not working out as I expected.
Two months after I arrived, I was informed that I had a chance to work for an international organization in New York. I quit my job in Los Angeles, took my last pay and dedicated the last week of my residence in Los Angeles to playing tourist. I bought an unlimited bus pass and found myself in Pasadena, Long Beach, Hollywood, Glendale, downtown Los Angeles, Universal Studios, Beverly Hills/Rodeo Drive and Santa Monica.
On the first week of April, I took off LAX and traveled to New York. As the plane hovered over the West Coast, I told myself that this would be the last time I would see this side of the country and that I would never come back again.
On the first week of April, I took off LAX and traveled to New York. As the plane hovered over the West Coast, I told myself that this would be the last time I would see this side of the country and that I would never come back again.