If your home country was as rich, would you still want to immigrate? please vote!

S

Sankrityayan

Registered Users (C)
Let us say that whichever country you hail from is as rich as the US, but everything else is the same other than the natural changes that come about because of increased prosperity, like for e.g., less corruption. Would you still want to emigrate to this country?

I just want to understand what it is that we are chasing; wealth, cultural identity, political environment, some other, or a mix of these.
 
Ofcourse money is not everything but it is an important factor in our life.
It provides some kind of security in your life.

If employment oppurtunities are same in our country , I will not migrate.
 
Degree of Freedom, greenbacks, and National cojonnes

Those are the only areas the US outshines the country of my citizenship, though my wife might also add "warmer weather"
 
If I get the same kind of money, I wouldn't care for other things. All said and done, I love my country where I was born and brought up and I feel comfortable living there. Money is the major factor that brought me here.
 
no way

if my coutry has even 10% opportunity and wealth (relative to US) I would not be here.
 
political climate

money infrastructure everything put together makes it the right place.
india has a long way to go on all this. for me infrastructure and political situation is what makes it so bad...
 
What about pollution free air? Its priceless. Not all things can be measured in dollars.

I think main factor to initiate the move is money. Or for some it could be good education or research they are doing. But with time, for most of the people, other things which are non-monetary become more and more important. And then the fear of unknown to go back to your own country having settled here for years. For most people I think, things and lives, as planned as they may overtly seem, just flow randomly along the paths of least resistance.
 
If I could find a $12K/yr job with flexible hours that would allow me to attend a university in my home city, I would never come here. I am more concerned about environmental pollution there than corruption or a lack of freedom.
 
I will not be here if my country was richer, less corrupt. From your answers guys/gals, I get the feeling that the majority would not be here for a long period of time.

So, let me post another question: if in 15 years you're well off with assets and a decent bank account, would you continue to stay here, or would go back home and retire there?
 
sd1963,

there are more than 10% oppurtunities .
As far as political and environment are concerned, we are responsible for that...
Just waiting for somebody to start something ...

If money is there rest things are quite easy to maintain.
and also our goverment is responsible for excahnge rate.

Check this link out..
http://www.freedomindia.com/02.html
 
Professionalism and Lifestyle

Those are our (spouse and me) main reasons, besides wealth, to immigrate. We actually had a great experience making this comparison as I had the chance to work in our home country on a US++ salary for sometime, while our firm worked on a project there.

Professionalism: The level of professionalism is no where close to what we have in US. People take ur time for granted, don't show up on time for meetings, talk on cell phones during meetings, mean something say something else, change decisions unilaterally without creating consensus, the list is endless.. The experience was frustating at times. And I agree that things are changing, but they still have a lot of catch-up to. Till that happens, that would be our single most important reason to try to immigrate to US.

Lifestyle: Things that we take for granted in our daily life - quite homes, nice roads, organized traffic, freedom to go for a walk at anytime, less pollution. And though not the most important reason, back home people are a tad more intrusive. It doesnt bother us too much but we like our privacy here.

All of us are different, but I would just like to say that it is easier to sit here and say we would like to go back if we had the money; we used to say that too; but after having experienced what going back is like; we have started appreciating other nuances of our lives here.

goodluck to our collective motherlands.. I do sincerely hope they catch up sooner than later on these "other" factors. And I know we should be doing more than just wishing "goodluck" but oh well.. we are just lowly mortals looking out for ourselves..

sorry for the ramblings..

-ab
 
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It seems that people feel pollution is a big concern. Without sidetracking from the main topic, as societies get more prosperous, they also become less polluted, because the economic cost of pollution increases with wealth and therefore gets addressed with increasing seriousness. There is a paper (widely criticized at the time for being politically insensitive) by Larry Summers when he was the chief economist at the World Bank on this very issue.

I think it is safe to assume increasing wealth will concurrently bring about a cleaner environment and also better infrastructure and educational / research opportunities. This may not be so with respect to civil and human rights record of a nation, its politics, culture, arts and heritage etc.

Speak on..
 
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I hate reservations based on caste in India

I hate reservations based on caste in India. Just an example, After completing my B.Tech, I wrote competitive exam to join a large public sector company. I am the 3rd from top of list. I joined that organization and I was shocked by looking at the seniority list for promotions, I was placed on 34th position by putting SC/ST candidates who scored lot less marks in competitive exam on top of the list. It was due to the reason that those positions were from previous year backlog positions not filled due to non-availability of SC/ST candidates. Even though I belong to forward caste, I am not from financially strong family. My father had to work hard to pay tution for my engineering college where as my class mates belonging to SC/ST get their tution and food paid by government and will not work hard.

I liked US for not having reservations in education or job and my children will not be distinguished from other students by castism.
 
Re: I hate reservations based on caste in India

Originally posted by visak
I hate reservations based on caste in India. .... where as my class mates belonging to SC/ST get their tution and food paid by government and will not work hard.

I liked US for not having reservations in education or job and my children will not be distinguished from other students by castism.
Click to expand...

Sounds like an extreme version of affirmative action. But go on ....
 
Sankrityayan you righly said ….” This may not be so with respect to civil and human rights record of a nation, its politics, culture, arts and heritage etc. “ I think primarily we all are here because of Professionalism and better lifestyles and better education system. Remember few years back there was a craze for middle east countries, even in IT. Money was also there with Dinar and other currencies more stronger than $$$ but very few really went there. Also just couple of years back there was lot of demand for IT guys in Germany and UK but still there were some hiccups initially….I think the freedom of speech, other forms of arts and education gives special flavor to people getting attracted. I think in the long term money become secondary thing.

Anyways it makes an interesting reading....Great!!!
 
Sankirtyayan,
Before I came here, I had all the signs(decent salary, good recognition, happy family etc.,) of making a decent living in India and the only thing lacking was International experience in S/W field. So for a moment I did not think my country could not provide me opportunities if I could put in the hard work (I mean in the pvt sector, I did not even wish to get into the Public sector citing the same reasons such as "AFFIRMATIVE ACTION" and complacence :mad: :mad: ). But yes, then the prospects of accelarating personal and professional growth thru' Intl' experience & ofcourse the lucrative USD drove me here.

Little realizing that in a few years, I could join a group of good people doing What of Analyses we are doing now and cursing the Govt (exactly what I did in my country for inaction ;) ) and waiting for the Babus to give us what we deserve lawfully, ofcourse I miss the bribing part of it( just kidding :D )

Enuff said, btw, I saw somewhere that Sankirtyayan is someone who chants a word or name????? (may be it was derived from the Sanskrit word Sankirtyana), now that we know the meaning I guess all of us can use this same call name

CIAO
 
>sd1963,

>there are more than 10% oppurtunities .
>As far as political and environment are concerned, we are >responsible for that...
>Just waiting for somebody to start something ...

>If money is there rest things are quite easy to maintain.
>and also our goverment is responsible for excahnge rate.

>Check this link out..
>http://www.freedomindia.com/02.html

achal

not my intention to start a debate here. I beg to differ about opportunities. I am not talking about myself( alreday in mid career). I am talking about my kids and spouse. I have spend more than 35 years in my country (including coming to US and going back many times). and somewhat reluctantly migrated here. I know what opportunities are there for average people with out money and connection. I have worked in public sector( 5 years) private company and public limited companies.

Also I beg to differ on the point that I am one of those responsible for current political and environmental scenario. I am under no illiusion. still I plan to go back to india after my kid settles here. becuase my heart belongs to where I grew up.
 
great discussion !

.... the reasons to stay here get to a very different set than the reasons you have come here first. Most people have come here to US for money and career. Reasons like "I will make sure, my lower middle class family back home, can live a whole lot better "....but then, you live here a few years....and start liking the lifestyle....not just the homes, cars ...but also the space you have for yourself, the greenery, pollution free air, less 'direct' corruption...all those intagibles.....they eventuall become more important....also the initial guilty feeling, that you have ditched your home country by coming here, fades away !! So, for one, I am very comfortable with the idea of living here and visiting there every couple of years.
 
sd1963 its a wishful thinking that you will go back once your kids settledown or get proper education. Its a very subjective thing..also by that time you will get used this environment...so I think it will be very hard to make decision at that point of time..everyone thinks in the same way as you think but finally how many go back..that will be good thing to explore..!!
 
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