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.”
