Is the US a welcoming country overall? What if you more of a blue-colllared worker?
Ask HN: What are the challenges of being an immigrant in the US?
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Re: Ask HN: What are the challenges of being an immigrant in the US?
#2Most people don't care. I have a friend and business partner from India who was an undocumented immigrant, his father was a doctor and brought his family with him. When my friend was 18 he was supposed to take a test to become a citizen and he did not. Eventually they found out and he served 4 years in the US Army to become a citizen.
Just work on your English and try to avoid an accent. Some people are picky about people with accents. Learn the culture, laws, religions, society norms and you'll do fine.
I studied International Business and it tells you how to blend in to a new country.
Re: Ask HN: What are the challenges of being an immigrant in the US?
#3Yeah us is overall welcoming. It helps if you hang out with the locals and not a local ethnic enclave. Also helps to be in a liberal area.
Re: Ask HN: What are the challenges of being an immigrant in the US?
#4The biggest problem is having to deal with USCIS, at least until you get your green card. Simple things like renewing your driver license, getting a mortgage, filling your taxes becomes way more complicated and sometimes impossible. Depending on the type of your your visa, you may have to postpone your foreign travel or job changes while done paperwork is stick in limbo at the USCIS. And if somehow you get into a complicated situation because USCIS messed up your application (happens more often than you think), be prepared to be stonewalled or ignored while you pull your hair out trying to fix it.
Re: Ask HN: What are the challenges of being an immigrant in the US?
#5It’s all the paperwork that’s a nightmare. Drivers licenses, USCIS and it’s fucking endless nonsense, infinite paperwork. Just paperwork paperwork paperwork.
Massive taxes without any benefit.
And most Americans haven’t a clue how much trouble it is. It’s a constant thundercloud in your life.
Anyway, Americans are super friendly and very nice. A few among them are very motivated and the country is unbelievably wealthy so there is a lot of opportunity. Most locals don’t like to challenge themselves very much but the country will give to you tenfold what you put in so it’s worth all the pain and then some.
Oh and don’t go to all the weird places if you aren’t white. Pick an election map and stick to cities and areas that were colored blue. On the Internet people will get very offended about this and tell you how the finest people they know are in the other parts and they much prefer people be upfront and straightforward and all that. But here’s straight talk: stick to the places colored blue.
This is a white collar perspective.
Re: Ask HN: What are the challenges of being an immigrant in the US?
#6Most people don't care. I have a friend and business partner from India who was an undocumented immigrant, his father was a doctor and brought his family with him. When my friend was 18 he was supposed to take a test to become a citizen and he did not. Eventually they found out and he served 4 years in the US Army to become a citizen. Just work on your English and try to avoid an accent. Some people are picky about p…
Your accent isn’t something you can just avoid.
Re: Ask HN: What are the challenges of being an immigrant in the US?
#7Credit score. As a foreigner, you won't have one. And can't rent an apartment, buy a car, or get a mortgage. Many companies run a credit check as part of the pre-hire background check.
If you are able to befriend a local with good credit and get them to trust you so they're willing to cosign, you can work around this, but it's a barrier that is not to be unaware of. Immigrant communities are built on people that do this for others creating community.
Re: Ask HN: What are the challenges of being an immigrant in the US?
#8Most people don't care. I have a friend and business partner from India who was an undocumented immigrant, his father was a doctor and brought his family with him. When my friend was 18 he was supposed to take a test to become a citizen and he did not. Eventually they found out and he served 4 years in the US Army to become a citizen. Just work on your English and try to avoid an accent. Some people are picky about p…
Your accent isn’t something you can just avoid.
I think there is subtle racism in the form of romanticizing it when European people speak English with their heavy accent and despising it when an Indian person speaks English with their accent. That's the truth and you always have to work around it.
Re: Ask HN: What are the challenges of being an immigrant in the US?
#9Credit score. As a foreigner, you won't have one. And can't rent an apartment, buy a car, or get a mortgage. Many companies run a credit check as part of the pre-hire background check. If you are able to befriend a local with good credit and get them to trust you so they're willing to cosign, you can work around this, but it's a barrier that is not to be unaware of. Immigrant communities are built on people that do t…
To help build up a credit score you can register for a credit-card and try to use it as much as possible (paying it off in full each month). Once you build up a paper-trail it gets easier, but can be tricky to start.
Re: Ask HN: What are the challenges of being an immigrant in the US?
#10In addition to dealing with the absurd amount of immigration paperwork mentioned in the other comments: the fact that the US doesn’t recognize foreign records for most matters, even when it would be very easy to do so.
Foreign driver’s license? In most states there is no way to exchange it directly for a local one like most other countries do, you’ll have to sit the driving test again. This even applies to licenses issued by jurisdictions like Canada or Europe, which have similar driving customs and laws.
Foreign driving record? Unless you were driving in neighbouring Canada, with most insurers it won’t count for insurance purposes. You’ll be starting with crazy high premiums like a new driver, as if you never drove a car before.
Foreign credit score? Nope, you’ll have to start from scratch and pay high interest rates on car payments, and deal with a very low credit limit on your credit card. It won’t no matter what limit your previous cards abroad trusted you with. Also you won’t be able to get a phone on a contract, you’ll have to get a prepaid or BYOD because of your low credit score.