Would you want to settle down in the US?

[Tolaha]

^^You can always retire in India after you earn money in the US. Scores of Indian Americans do that. Relatively easy way to live like a king too, earn in $$, spend in rupees.

Yep! But the title of the thread mentioned "settling down"! So I assumed that they are talking about retirement.

I've got no issues whatsoever working in US! :cool2:

 

[Known_Unknown]

^^Doesn't say "settle down permanently". You can always temporarily settle down, make some good money, then move back to India and live like a king with maids, drivers and servants at your beck and call. You can't have all those facilities if you live in the US unless you're a multi-millionaire!

 

[KS]

^^ Dude the problem is once you raise up your kids the Amreeeekan way, it is really difficult for them to adjust to the Indian way.

I dont want my kids D) to be raised Americans or even as ABCDs. Just like the Indian I was raised, I want them to be.

 

[pmaitra]

Could you give your reasons for your particular choices, if you please.

Replied inline below:

Q. Would you want to settle down in the US?

A. Yes and No.

In detail:
Southern States, yes, except Louisiana. People in the Southern States are very nice, friendly, and respectful. It is not too crowded, and the weather is relatively comfortable. Summers are harsh, but you can get by. Louisiana is in a bad geographical location and vulnerable to natural calamities.
Northern States, no. Weather is cold. People are cold.
New England, NY State, NJ State, hell no. Weather is cold. People are cold. People are rude. Too crowded. Too expensive to live. There is no peace of mind. There is little scope to live close to your workplace. A very backward region, given that majority of stores don't even have a credit or debit card machine, and you have to carry cash, like in the primitive days.
Utah, Yes. It can be very cold, but it is pleasantly cold. I've been there in the winter, and loved the place. People are nice and friendly. Extremely beautiful.
Rest, not sure.

 

[civfanatic]

The American Midwest is the best place to live (temporarily or permanent). I have been to all parts of the United States and the people from this region strike me as the most friendly and hospitable, by far. Their English is also free of that weird Southern/Western drawl and easy to understand. There are good opportunities in IT and medicine (two of the biggest employers of Indians in U.S.). Life in Midwestern suburbs is the most safe, peaceful, and quiet than you will find anywhere, which is what I like.

 

[Ray]

Would you want to settle down in the US?

Must I?

 

[Known_Unknown]

^^ Dude the problem is once you raise up your kids the Amreeeekan way, it is really difficult for them to adjust to the Indian way.

I dont want my kids D) to be raised Americans or even as ABCDs. Just like the Indian I was raised, I want them to be.

Why do you want to control your kids' lives? You will always be half-Indian even if you become American citizen, but if your kids grow up in the US, they'll be much more immersed in the culture and environment and comfortable in that country than you will ever be. They can be full citizens of that country, and they would not like to go back to India. If I were a parent, I would like to give my kids that opportunity.

 

[pmaitra]

^^

Agree with most part, but I am in favour of parents being allowed to dispense corporal punishment to discipline their children. It is illegal in some states (legal in NC). Moreover, certain Indian traits, like supporting their kids till their Bachelor's Degree is a good trait, and I would want my children to do the same to my grandchildren as well.

 

[Ray]

Actually. my experience has been that those who come from Madhyamgram and Baroipur and become US citizens are more keen to show how American they are than those who go from Calcutta and settle down.

And I love their extremely amusing American accent, which even Americans find it hard put to understand!

And since there is this talk of Bromopaper to wipe, the M'gram and B'pur chaps are more keen to acclaim and loudly too that how the hell can they clean up after going to the toilet, if there is no Bromo paper!!

I tell these chaps as Liza told Henry in the song 'There is a hole in the Bucket' - Try water, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry - Try Water!

 

[average american]

Replied inline below:

Spent several weeks last summer camping in UTAH, mainly down around Zion National park,, had won a seat in the World Series of Poker was waiting till the tournment started. It is a beautiful state.

 

[average american]

^^

Agree with most part, but I am in favour of parents being allowed to dispense corporal punishment to discipline their children. It is illegal in some states (legal in NC). Moreover, certain Indian traits, like supporting their kids till their Bachelor's Degree is a good trait, and I would want my children to do the same to my grandchildren as well.

You can use corporal punishment,, but you cant kill them, no honor killings,, or that kind of stuff. We just had a guy from Pakistan that threw lighter fluid on his wife and set her on fire when they got in a argument about him bringing a second wife he had married to the US. He got life, I think they should have hung him.

 

[Oracle]

oracle will bring the drinks in his scorpio

He's even got a Harem of his own!

@OP - US is a land of opportunities, hard work is recognized and rewarded, so why not?

 

[Oracle]

Q. Would you want to settle down in the US?

A. Yes and No.

In detail:
Southern States, yes, except Louisiana.
Northern States, no.
New England, NY State, NJ State, hell no.
Utah, Yes.
Rest, not sure.

So, bhabiji is in Utah?

 

[Bangalorean]

This is something we have discussed in various threads in DFI in the past, in various forms.

I would never ever want to settle in the USA. More and more people I know of in my circle of acquaintances and friends agree with me. The trend of white collar professionals rushing en masse to the West has begun to abate. It was at its peak in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

I work as a consultant and I have visited the US more than once, on business trips. I have not stayed for more than 3 months at a stretch on any of my trips. Now, the US is a nice country and all that - but there is a clinching reason for my decision (and that of several people I know) not to migrate to the West.

With the salary I earn in India, I live a life which a common middle-class American just cannot afford. It all boils down to purchasing power. Of course India has the well-known infrastructural problems, but the Indian middle class just insulates themselves from most of these problems by virtue of their purchasing power. While Indian infra is improving, and we're gradually getting there, in the meantime middle class Indians live their lives employing maids, cooks, buying inverters for uninterrupted power supply, and so on.

I am still quite young, and I have just managed to build an independent house in Bangalore's poshest locality. This is not just me - this is the story of many many people in my strata of society and my circle of acquaintances. And in my field of work, the opportunities in India are massive - much much more than anywhere in the West. I have dozens of American, Canadian, Brit, German, French friends/ex-colleagues, etc. I put forward the fact that as of today, the Indian middle class lives a better life then their counterparts in the West. Mind you, I am not talking about the poor, those who live in slums, etc. - I am referring to the white-collar middle class.

And I haven't even got to discussing the support system and "societal safety net" that I have in India, which I just cannot get in the US.

And let us understand one more thing: it was a trend in the last century for Indians to emigrate there, settle down, get citizenship and produce children there. India just had no opportunities or scope - there wasn't much choice. The trend today is changing rapidly. Even those who do go there (or have been staying there for some years), pump the money back into India, mainly into real-estate. The aim to come back to well-paying managerial jobs in India, live in their mansion built out of remittance money, and give their second apartment on rent.

I ended up typing more than I intended to - anyway, the short answer is no, never - I would never want to settle in the US. I like visiting the place though - I'm sure there will be several more trips. As long as the client pays my airfare and car rental, insurance, my bills in Hilton hotel, etc., I don't mind doing consulting work in the USA any number of times.

 

[Oracle]

A lot of Indians are coming back from the US, more so after 2007. Employment opportunities in India is much better than in US, or so I heard. The craze to go to US and settle down has come down significantly in the last decade. Ofcourse, who would not want to go to US and see it, visit places of interest. There are many expats from US, UK and other western countries living in India, and working in technology and consulting firms. I know some who have been here in India for 4+ years, and some among them do intend to stay back in India. US as a whole would always be the top immigration destination though.

 

[Tolaha]

Bangalorean,

What I said in 3-4 lines, you managed to say it in so many paras!

 

[average american]

Around six out of 10 Indians live in the countryside, where abject poverty is widespread. 34.7 % of the Indian population lives with an income below $ 1 a day and 79.9 % below $ 2 a day. Wonder how many of them prefer to stay in India. How many between them and you want to stay in India? Bang might not want to move to US or Canada but that sure seems to leave a lot of chinese and Indians to do.

 

[Bangalorean]

Around six out of 10 Indians live in the countryside, where abject poverty is widespread. 34.7 % of the Indian population lives with an income below $ 1 a day and 79.9 % below $ 2 a day. Wonder how many of them prefer to stay in India. How many between them and you want to stay in India?

As I mentioned more than once, my entire post was referring to the white-collar middle-class Indian (mainly urban). And it is these Indians that have emigrated to the US historically. IT professionals, bankers, lawyers, doctors, etc. It is just silly and puerile to talk about an illiterate villager in the hinterland of India migrating to the US. Will the US let them in?

By definition, The entire focal point of this thread is the urban Indian middle class, white-collar professionals.

 

[Oracle]

Around six out of 10 Indians live in the countryside, where abject poverty is widespread. 34.7 % of the Indian population lives with an income below $ 1 a day and 79.9 % below $ 2 a day. Wonder how many of them prefer to stay in India. How many between them and you want to stay in India?

What you need to understand is that US is not handing down visas for all and sundry. There are poor people in India, but would US give them visas to settle down in US? No. The many Indians who migrated earlier were business minded people. The lot who migrated in the last 2-3 decades are technology and management professionals. Which means people who might have been poor, but by hard work have come out of poverty and created a good life for themselves in India as well as the country they chose to reside. And even if the poor people want to go to US, which visa would they chose? L1, B1, H-1B? So the poor know they have no chance in a lifetime of going to US, and instead better off living here in India.

Savvy?

 

[Bangalorean]

And an additional point about this silliness of measuring poverty in "daaalarrrs per day". What happens here is, the average American Joe sees that Indians are living on 2 dollars a day, which is the cost of a bottle of water from a vending machine in any decent American hotel. And they go, "OMG! They must be living like rats".

Its just ignorance of the concept of purchasing power parity. Now, I am not saying that those poor people live good lives. They live terrible lives, but the direct comparison in dollars makes things ridiculous. At the rate of $2 per day, a family of five (typical family size in low-income neighbourhood in Indian urban poor), will earn Rs. 16,000 per month. This is not enough to live well, but one would do well to remember that a low-income hotel (the kind that caters to construction workers etc.) provides a wholesome meal for as little as Rs. 25. The same thing cooked at home will cost less than Rs. 8, on an average.

So, in order to have sensible perspective, this purchasing parity disparity needs to be recognized and understood. This ignorance of purchasing power parity is what makes the trolls on American forums like slashdot speak about how Indian IT workers are being paid "slave wages" and "exploited" by evil American corporations "bent on destroying America for their own gains". Load of bullshit :bs: - like I said earlier, as long as you compare things in daaallarrrs, this is what is going to happen. The reality is that the amount that a decently experienced IT guy in India earns will enable him to live a very very comfortable life in any of India's big cities - Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, etc.