-
Macaulay Honors College
at Baruch, Spring 2011Professor Els de Graauw
ITF Emily Sherwood -
Authors
▪ Alyssa Alicino
▪ Brandon Baksh
▪ Ru Xiao Chen
▪ Belinda Chiu
▪ Els de Graauw
▪ Becca Glickman
▪ Elisabeth Greenberg
▪ Doris Hu
▪ Peky Huang
▪ Toby Joseph
▪ Haesol Jun
▪ Nika Kartvelishvili
▪ Farrukh Khan
▪ Holly Kiang
▪ Julian Kipnis
▪ Kar Yi Lim
▪ Yang Lin
▪ Cait McCarthy
▪ Sofya Moshkovich
▪ Mariya Tuchinskaya
▪ Ying Zhang Login
To login, click here.
Immigration Process
Since New York City’s immigrant population is diverse, it is not surprising that immigrants’ experiences with the immigration process are diverse as well. For some immigrants, a simple plane ride and few bureaucratic headaches were all it took, and they remember the immigration process being easy. For others, however, making the journey to the United States involved dealing with smugglers and offering bribes, often at great emotional and financial cost. The promise of a better life in the United States makes migration an appealing choice for many immigrants, but for some the decision is nonetheless a difficult one to make. On this page you can learn about immigrants’ personal recounts of their differing immigration experiences. Among others, they include stories of individuals who were forced to leave their home countries and stories of those who came to the United States to reunite with their families.
Click on another subcategory (Learning English, Encounters with Discrimination, Finding Employment, Political Participation & Citizenship, or Miscellaneous) to explore other quotations from our interviews.
Paying Off a Couple of Guys
Maqbool immigrated to New York City from Pakistan when he was in his mid-sixties to be with his family. He has been living here for about two decades now. He talks about the immigration process:
It was a process to say the least. The hardest part was probably getting the visa. It took some time for the paperwork to clear and I ended up paying off a couple of guys to get the job done. But since my sons were already citizens, it was relatively easy to get a visa compared to other people. As for financing the trip, it was not a problem. I worked as a telecommunications engineer and made a decent living. So buying the tickets was not a problem. Plus I had a lot of money after selling everything. […] My wife and I were in our late sixties at the time and we were too old to do everything by ourselves, especially since our sons were not with us. All my family and friends helped us in the moving process. They helped us pack, clean, and pretty much everything else. With their help and my wife’s guidance, we were able to clear out the house in a week. That was one of the craziest weeks of my life. There was so much yelling and screaming and confusion. My job was just to actually get us there, so I tried to stay away from it all as much as possible. Especially since because my wife was so attached to the house because we have lived in it ever since we were married and raised our family in it. She was in a very emotional state and very volatile. So, I decided that since it was pretty much her house that it would be best if I just let her handle it. I wanted to avoid any unnecessary arguing or yelling.”
Cocaine-Smuggling Innocents
Johnny, a 30-year-old male immigrant, talked about the obstacles he faced when he tried to immigrate to the United States as a Colombian national. He was born in Venezuela, brought up in Colombia, and then moved to New York City at the age of 11 and back again at 18:
They had applied for us to come to the United States as a Colombian citizen, but at the time Columbia was experiencing one of its most dangerous, most violent times probably in recorded history. And, Colombians have a stigma with them of being cocaine smugglers or something that’s negative. […] And so because they applied for us under Colombian citizenship, I was denied. I could have entered the U.S. under Venezuelan citizenship with no problem. But we did not know the law, we did not know that was possible, that it could be that simple. So, because I was denied, my mother at the time […] she tried to get us, get me, here.”
Coming to America
In an interview with a 30-year-old male immigrant, Johnny, we discussed when and why his family moved. He was born in Venezuela, brought up in Colombia, and then moved to New York City at the age of 11 and back again at 18:
We were in Medellin, well, I was in Medellin until the age of 11. My parents immigrated first, to the U.S., and I was left with my grandparents. They watched over me during the time they were in the U.S. […] They came here to work, for a better life, as most Latin American families do when they come to the US.”
Comments Off on Coming to America
You Are Not Going to Win the Lottery
Pedro, a 26-year-old male immigrant from Brazil, came to the United States at age 13. Here, he talks about the misconceptions people in Brazil have of the United States:
They actually thought that the people who are able to move [to the U.S.] and moved were going to improve their lives. […] Actually, when I came back to visit Brazil, people […] thought it was some big thing, and that I had a lot of money and stuff like that, which is […] not the case. But people have false impressions. Just because you move to the United States, things might be a little different, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to, you know, win the lottery.”
Getting a Better Education
Casey immigrated from Hong Kong when she was 18 years old, and she has been living in New York City for nine years. Here, she talks about why she moved to the United States:
I think it wasn’t any quality of America that makes me want to come here. […] I know that they have well known school here and at the time I have to go to college and people have […] impression or whatever that Americans has good college. That’s why I come.”
Fear of Religious Persecution in China
Jennifer moved to the United States from mainland China when she was 21 years old in 2002. She has been in the United States for more than eight years now. Here Jennifer explains how she eventually sought asylum to legalize her immigration status in the United States:
Since my husband is a citizen, the first thing that came to our mind was I could apply a legal status through my husband’s status. However, when I first came, there is no record of my entering under my name. Therefore…in order for my husband to sponsor me, I have to go back to China first. So, basically he cannot sponsor me, because I do not want to go back to China and wait for that long process of immigrations. I am afraid of going back. I have two children here. I…my family is here. What if I go back and am not able to come back to the United States again? I am worried.”
Later on in the interview, she went on to say:
When I was pregnant with my second child, I heard that from my friend… how can I put it? Okay. I am a Christian. When I had my second child, through my friend, I knew that I could sue for my legal status based on political asylum. […] Recently, there are kinds of political asylum in the United States for undocumented as a method, umm, to get their legal statuses. Basically, political asylum gives undocumented immigrants a legal status to stay in the United States to prevent them from deportations since they are going to get political prosecutions for some reasons in their home country. […] In my case, I know for sure that I am going to have some kind of prosecutions in China if they deported me. First of all, if I go back to China with my kids, I am going to get prosecuted. According to the One Child Policy in China, they are going to do tubal ligation on me to prevent to give more birth. Secondly, I am going to get prosecuted for practicing freedom of religion. I am afraid of these prosecutions. I do not want to be treated that way.”
A Snakehead Got Me In
Jennifer moved to the United States from mainland China when she was 21 years old in 2002. She has been in the United States for more than eight years now. Here, she talks about how she originally entered the United States:
I came here through snakehead, who smuggled me to the United States. […] We borrowed money from our relatives and friends. After I came here, I got to work really hard to earn money and pay the money back to our relatives and friends. […] If I go to work every month, back in my days with my condition, it probably took me like three years or so [to pay off all the debt].”
A Paradise, a Dream Land
Jennifer moved to the United States from mainland China when she was 21 years old in 2002. She has been in the United States for more than eight years now. This was what she thought of America before she arrived:
Before coming to the United States, inside my heart, I dreamed the United States as a paradise. Very nice place. A dreamed land. However, my friend also told me that jobs in the United States are tiring. Anyways, before I arrived, I had a wonderful image about the United States.”
Escaping a Bad Life in China
Jennifer moved to the United States from mainland China when she was 21 years old in 2002. She has been in the United States for more than eight years now. She explains her reasons for coming to the United States:
I was one of the people who had a bad life. That is why I came to the United States. […] After I graduated from some high school, it was really difficult for me to find a job with my diploma in China. There were too many people, but not many jobs. In addition, many people had higher education than me. Therefore, I really was thinking about going to the United States.”
Disappointing Experiences in the Land of Opportunity
Carolina, a 48-year-old immigrant from Romania, had a shocking awakening when she arrived to what she earlier in the interview had referred to as a “wonderland.” Here, she describes her first disappointing experiences in the United States:
And when [my husband] came here in May, I think and we came during the summer vacation, I think in July and he found the rent in the basement and I was so scared, because I never saw people live in the basement underground (laughing). […] I saw the lights just day and night, because they don’t have a window, just a small window and in the outside they have the backyard and uhm… garbage. It was put in front of the window and it was a rain in that summer, heavy rain, and all the garbage come outside and during the night all the cockroaches came and run on your bed, and I was so scared and now upset… and I told him if this is America that you’re dreaming, I take my kid and I go home. And in one week we left back for Romania and I left my husband here.”
Thoughts on America before Immigrating
Antonio, a 43 year-old man who immigrated from Mexico, has been living in America for 28 years. These were his thoughts on America when he was making the decision to immigrate:
Well, you know what they always say, America is the land of opportunities. I believed that, or else I wouldn’t have left… Well, I probably would have left no matter what, but I may have moved to another part of Mexico instead… But anyways, I felt that America would give me the opportunities to make more money and just have a better life in general, you know? I know it was gonna be hard, but I mean come on I was already working on a farm all day already how hard can America be? [chuckles] I just wanted a better life for myself and my family and I think coming to America will make it possible for me.”
The Pain of Losing a Son
Antonio, a 43-year-old Mexican man who immigrated from Mexico and has been living in America for 28 years. At the age of 15, he decided to immigrate to the United States without his family. When asked how his family responded to his decision to leave Mexico, he commented:
Oh, they were not happy. [smiling] They were not happy at all. Can you imagine what it’s like to lose a son? Well that is probably what my papa felt. I mean … I know he was proud of me for wanting do something with my life but… I guess it was because I was so young? Yeah, I guess it wasn’t the safest thing for me to be going off to another country by myself. But I had to you know? Am I supposed to be a farmer the rest of my life? I had a good opportunity and I didn’t think much but go for it.”
How to Pack up Your Entire Life and Move to America
Ivan came to American at the age of 15 from St. Petersburg, Russia. He is now 47 years old, has a family, and works as a freelance computer programmer. When asked what he and his family knew before coming to the United States, Ivan commented (he replied in Russian):
I didn’t know much. [My parents knew] what they heard on the “Voice of America” radio, which was actually forbidden. Then people would get together and talk about what they knew. No they never said that [the streets were paved with gold]. Sometimes letters from the U.S. would actually make it to people, this was rare, because people were scared to mail them, because mail was screened. Then people would get together and share the information especially among the circle of people that was interested in immigrating. [This information included] what to bring with you if you left. Then how people live, how they go to school.”
A Victim of Immigration Fraud
Choi immigrated to the United States from Korea about 10 years ago. She is now 46 years old. Despite her best efforts to follow legal procedures and apply for a green card, she became an undocumented immigrant today due to fraud:
My lawyer took the money and fled. I should have known, since he wanted me to switch to a P-3, which is for people with specialized skills. I don’t have any, but he told me it’s okay, so I did it. That jerk. So many frauds in this country, you know? Targeting the poor ignorant immigrants who don’t speak English. Such corrupted society.”
Family Ties and the Promise of a Better Future
Jennifer moved to the United States from mainland China when she was 21 years old in 2002. She has been in the United States for more than eight years now. Here she comments on why she decided to come to the United States instead of another country:
Because I have many relatives, classmates and friends here. And they told me if you were willing to work diligently in the United States, your life would basically become better than what you have in China.”
American Wonderland
Carolina immigrated from Romania and has resided in the United States for over 13 years now. When questioned about the reasons for why she and her husband came to the United States, she responded:
Yeah, [my husband] won a lottery and he wants to see how it is in this country, because in the other part of olden Europe, America is considered like a land of wealth [draws out word]. The wishes you put in your mind, you know, it’s a wonderland. They call America a wonderland. […] Yeah, and they want to see if real life is like movies, like we saw on TV.”
Immigration Changes Prospects for the Future
Rose moved to the United States from Jamaica at the age of fourteen. She has lived in New York City since and has flourished both academically and socially. For her, ultimately the desire for a brighter future brought her to the United States:
If I had stayed in Jamaica, I feel like I would have only had a, like I would have had a ceiling on how far I could go. Right now, I feel like I can pretty much do anything I want or like go as far as I want, I don’t know if that’s true but that’s how I feel. In Jamaica, I feel like I would’ve, uhm, graduated high school, probably went to university, as they call it, not college, and, uhm, then graduated and got a job. And I don’t know what would’ve happened after that. I might’ve just been in the same job. And, you know, I feel like there is more pressure to have more children earlier and to kind of get your life settled. So, I feel like there would’ve been a different life. Right now, I feel like I can kind of just do what I want to do. Like it’s my own life and I have more choices of where I want to go with it.”
An Initial Hesitance to Immigrate
Rose moved to the United States from Jamaica at the age of fourteen. She has lived in New York City since and has flourished both academically and socially. Here, she comments on her initial hesitance to move to the United States:
I actually didn’t want to move here, because I thought I already had like my life established in Jamaica and I had all my friends there. And so moving here was sort of bittersweet, like I did want to come and see what it was all about, but I also felt kind of lonely and weird, because I was an only child and I guess because I was in school my experience kind of centered around school. In Jamaica, my school was more of like a social thing. People could walk around and hangout and there’s this like big football field and you know like it was a very laid back atmosphere. And then here it was very institutional. It was very just four corners in a building that went up a couple of floors and it was just really weird to get used to. Um, and also like I didn’t really know anyone and I’m sure I had a weird accent. People were just like, “what?” so yeah I mean that was the biggest challenge but I got over it pretty quickly.”
Attracted to the Big Apple
So-yeon immigrated to America from South Korea when she was 12 years old. When she first arrived, she lived in Washington state, but was attracted by New York City to leave the West Coast:
The primary reason why I chose New York is actually because I had another relative who was living here, so that was the main reason. But as I look back at my decision now, I see I was drawn to that image of New York City, like that vibrant atmosphere of New York City, and everyone, I mean now it’s slightly changed, but I had that admiration about New York City, the way the media portrays it, the way New York City is the center of the world and has all the energy going on. So that’s what I admired about it I think.”
A Short Term Adventure
Joe immigrated to the United States from Malaysia when he was 21 years old and has been living in New York City for over 30 years. For him, immigration was a chance for adventure:
[Leaving the country] was like an exciting trip and it was just like traveling for me at the beginning. I didn’t think of anything, you know, anything more than that. So, I’m an adventurous person. I just came with a couple of underwears, a couple of T-shirts, and not even that many pairs of pants. A couple of hundred dollars in my pocket and then I came. Didn’t even have a toothbrush.”
The Greener Side
Anna immigrated to the United States from China. She is now 49 years old and has been in the country for approximately 25 years. In her mind, the United States offered her a better life than what she could have in China:
It’s hard out here and there’s a lot of stuff that you have to work with, but life is definitely better here. I have my own apartment, my kids are now here in America with me, and both my husband and I have stable jobs. It’s not easy, but it’s better than what we have in China. We can afford to buy things now, even things like food.”
Apprehended and Locked Away
Anna immigrated to the United States from China. She is now 49 years old and has been in the country for approximately 25 years. When she first tried to enter the United States, Anna learned the hard way that her fraudulent immigration papers could not get her into the country:
[Immigration officials] asked me questions like where I came from, my birth date, my name, and stuff that was on the papers. I don’t know what happened, but they saw something wrong and these guards came and took me to a smaller room. […] I kept on saying that I was innocent, that I did nothing wrong, but he wouldn’t listen to me. […] We were taken to a long bus. It had bars on the windows, like we were convicts or something. It was dark outside, but I didn’t know English anyway, so I couldn’t read the sign or understand what the uniformed people were saying. […] We were taken to a large building. It looked so scary from the outside, like there was no happiness that existed there.”
An Emotional Rollercoaster
Anna immigrated to the United States from China. She is now 49 years old and has been in the country for approximately 25 years. Here, she talks about the emotional and financial toll that the process of applying for a visa took on her and her family:
Every day that passed by without hearing from the firm, we grew more and more anxious. We were risking everything. My brother had to give to me all of his life savings and borrow money to pay for it. I didn’t have enough money to cover the expenses, but he said he would take care of it. I felt so bad. If things went wrong, my brother’s life would be over. He wasn’t living very well here either, but he did it anyway.”
Buried Under Paperwork
Anna immigrated to the United States from China. She is now 49 years old and has been in the country for approximately 25 years. Here, she remembers all the paperwork she had to complete in order to immigrate to the United States:
The only thing that comes to my mind when I think of immigrating here are papers. There are papers for everything. I had to travel to the big city to get the papers and every time there were new documents I had to travel and get someone to help me fill them out. They asked for everything. I felt like I was pouring my life out to a bunch of random strangers I didn’t know. And they were all important too! I was so scared that if I had written something wrong, my application would be denied.”
Lack of Help
Daisy immigrated to the United States from India. She is now 58 years old and has been in the country for over 28 years. When asked whether she received assistance during the immigration process, she replied:
There is no organizations here helping out at all. Now, there is. But back then, you had to fend for yourself. Currently, we go to church, but then we did not know about the church when we came here. Only family helped us.”
The Difficulty of Immigrating
Daisy immigrated to the United States from India. She is now 58 years old and has been in the country for over 28 years. Here, she talks about the challenges of being an immigrant in the United States:
Oh, the [immigration] process was long, 6 months to one year. It was very tough. We were just coming here. I was not comfortable here. I had no one here then. I came thinking I know everything I need to have success. But no. I had an interview. They responded after a while. It was very hard though, you know, Indian way of life and American, very different, very hard to adapt. But because I was professional, I had to do many other things. Apply for permit, get it, take state board, take test after test. It was very difficult.”
Leaving Everything Behind
Alexandra is a 32-year-old Russian immigrant who has lived in the United States for eight years. On starting life in the United States, she commented:
First few years I would say it was really hard and I miss of course my old friends, and my job and my parents and everybody. But then when you get more comfortable with English, you can get a better job, your life is becoming better and its improving and it’s easier.”
Lucky Draw
Alexandra is a 32-year-old Russian immigrant who has been in the country for eight years. On why she came to the United States, she commented:
I played the lottery, the green card lottery and I just… let’s say I accidentally won it, the lottery and I decided to come to see if I liked it here. And then I came here and I liked it and I stayed.”
Refugee Decisions
Irina immigrated to America from Russia as a refugee. She is now 39 years old and has been in America for 21 years. Here, she talks about the conditions under which she and her family were forced to leave Russia:
No really, the money was tight and we were only allowed to take from our country $100 per person. They wouldn’t let us take more money; they wanted everything to stay in Russia. No gold no nothing, whatever you wore and could fit or hide you could take everything else we were forced to leave in Russia. It was very hard; we had to decide what was more important to take with us. We left everything behind in Russia. The government wanted to take all our money away.”
