Aahaa.. appatlo H1s ki America entha bagundedi

[Quickgun_murugan]

Quora lo chadivaa.....

H-1B visa immigrants, what was your experience like when you first came to the US?

When we came to USA in the 80′s, there was no H1B, only H1.

Colleagues and managers used to help out in apartment search, and giving us newcomers ride for work and for weekend groceries till you get an US driving license, and able to buy a car.

Green card wait ( from first application to getting the actual card in the mail) rarely exceeded 30 months.

Getting these green cards fast was useful to settle down sooner, as (those days) you could not get any bank home loan unless at least a green card holder.

The tough part in immigrants’ life was getting credit cards. Many like me started with a trick called secured credit card, and got real credit card like after 2 - 3 years, starting inevitably with Sears cards as our lucky break. One could even rent cars (ftom Budget) using these store cards.

ATM cards were still just for ATM (usually only next to a bank) and inside a select few groceries, and true debit cards were rare. So we could buy, lease or rent cars, but could not rent vhs movies from the corner blockbuster (dvd was not yet invented).

There was no cell phone except for the super rich.. so it was one less thing to worry about. AT&T was the only deal for phones, and they were quite liberal in assigning home land line phone lines as soon as you move in, and never a issue to get utility accounts set up, either.

Another point: no civilian GPS yet. So imagine how paper map was the king! Going to the local AAA office to get a “trip tik” map and getting some traveller's cheques were essential steps when you are driving somewhere far off like going out of state.

No ipass or easypass..every toll road needed coins.

Unlike now, there were very few ethnic Indian food store/grocery and you could expect Indian restaurants only in bigger cities. You could not image a hindi movie in any AMC or Star theaters!

Coming from India, our pet peeve was lack of custom tailored (affordable) shirts, trousers and suits. Getting even just a pair of good work shoes were tough. All you get in the mall for men's shoes were horribly tough leather sole (easy to slip and fall ) shoes with zero padding. General population too wore kind of super uncomfortable shoes you will now think fit for construction workers only. Else we had our 2nd choice of buying comfortable but real ugly white sneakers. Colored sneakers were rare.

We could try our luck on a few (and far off) Clark's or Bata shoe stores, but they would charge 3X price of others shops for their ‘civilized’ shoes. So I remember writing detailed notes to friends in India to bring enough decent woolen trousers and made to fit suits, plus enough work shoes, to survive here, and we used to do the same when returning on trips from south asia.

Positive side was easy acceptance of cheque payment everywhere, and being teated as equal at work. Even those days, most Indians we ever met were IT engineers (or college professors). Used to be a lot of nuclear scientists, but they all changed jobs by end of 70’s, or they went to Europe, thanks to Mr. Carter's inept messing up of Three Miles Island, and end of nuclear generator site constructions.

Truthfully, we hardly ever noticed any discrimination towards ‘Brown’ in 80s. Our seniors told us occassional horror stories of being forced out of white-only eatery or waiting rooms, but that was like 40 -50 years back. So long one stayed clear of certain southern states, we did not have to worry about color of skin. The ‘brown quota system’ (upper limit enforced thru alumni points) now you see in certain ivy league schools was unimaginable in 80s.

Getting into any domestic flight was easy… just like getting into (current) Megabus … little or no security hassle or wait. My wife once showed a citibank photo credit card as her Id and able to board a flight.

You could check two trunk size suitcases in any domestic or international flight, even in economy, and airlines rarely weighted your suitcases to enforce the 70 or 72 pounds limit PER BAG!

Best part: Nearly every airline seat was wide enough (I fondly recall flights in TWA and in Midwest Express ), and nearly every flight offered full and hearty meals.

Acela express was not yet there, but Metroliners were fast enough, and Amtrak first class was always like 4 star hotels-on-wheels. But no wifi!

Perhaps you have to go into Burmah (Myanmar) today if you want to see and feel how life was in usa in 80s without any wifi or cellphone

[Quickgun_murugan]

I was hired by a bodyshopper in India, and they sponsored by H1B. I flew to US in Feb 1998, and landed in NY. One of the employees of my employer opicked me up and took me to the company’s house. This was the house that all the guy that were “on bench” stayed. THe employer was doing something that was technically illegal, but we didn’t know that. They would hire guys in India for a made-up project, get their visa, get them to US, and then contract them out to other bigger employers. So, when you first landed in US, you were on bench, which meant that the employer would find interviews and you would be interviewing full time. If you had first landed, they provided you with house, food and reduced salary until you got the job. After you go the job, you had to move out and find your own accomodations. So, I was suppossed to be going on interviews, but the employer had applied for too many visas, and got more people on bench than they bargained, and they had more people on bench than recruiters. Besides, 2 of the guys who had arrived before me were dumbasses, and they weren’t getting placed. I was like “Give me the interview that this guy just failed. I can ace it”. No, first come first served

So, the first month, I was in this Indian bubble in America. We were in this house In Queens full on Indian guys. We would cook Indian food, watch Indian movies. Every morning, we would all leave for Manhattan, wait there smoking cigarrettes, and then come back. We would go to a food truck to get lunch. One day, the food truck guy asked me “So, where are you from?” I decided to pull his leg and said “Queens”. He said “No, where are you really from”. There’s no fooling New Yorkers

One weekend, we wanted to go out instead of cooking at home. The only guy with the car had gone off somewhere, so we picked a place that was walking distance. We went there, and it wasn’t open yet. So, we were waiting there for the place to open, and we see this huge group of people walk down in a procession carrying the Indian flag. I got scared! Remember that in India, flying another country’s flag in middle of the street is asking for trouble. I was like “ is going down, and they are going to beating up Indians”. I was scared but embarrassed to show I was scared. SO, I stood there. So, this group keeps coming towards us, and I’m getting even more nervous. I see that the group is full of white people, all of them bald. Now, not only was I scared, I was confused. The bald gora procession stopped right in front of us and the flag bearer started waving the flag around. I was about to dirty my pants. But nothing happenned

Moments later, they opened the door and told us that we could come in. The “Indian” restaurant was run by ISKCON. Apparently, the entire ISKCON was full of white people, with no Indians in sight. And this group of gora Hare Krishnas had decided that that very day when we went to eat there, would be a good day to march around with the Indian flag in the middle of a Queens suburb.

Anyways, we were in an “Indian” restaurant run by white people who were (as far as we were concerned) pretending to be Indian. ISKCON in Mumbai is known for it’s good food, but seeing that white people were running the place, I wasn’t sure about the place. So, I decided to play it safe with the food, and order something simple. I ordered Baked Potato. After all, how can you get potato wrong, right? You peel it, cut it, add spices, cook it. bam! So, I ordered baked potato. The waitress was like “Are you sure?” I’m “Yes, I’m sure sure”.

So, they got me something like this

I didn’t even get the green things on top. In fact, there wasn’t even any salt. I’m thinking “What the hell is this? I;ve never seen potato cooked like this”. They didn’t cut it. They didn’t even peel it! They definitely didn’t add any spices. When they said baked potato, they literally meant that they took a potato, and baked it.. and that’s it. You would think that there would be something more to Baked Potato than baking a potato. But, no! A Baked Potato is exactly what it says, nothing more and nothing less.

So, anyways, first lesson in AMerica: Don’t go for the simple foods, unless you are ready to eat for the simple foods. Indian simple foods are sometimes as (or more) elaborate than American standard food. This is true of many fods in the US. You order a burger, you get a patties and buns, nothing more, nothing less. And the patties is cooked with probably a dash of salt. If you want cheese on your burger, you have to order a cheeseburger. If you want bacon, it’s Bacon Cheeseburger. One phrase you need to learn when ordering fast food: Put everything on it. Because, if you are Indian, you really want all the various flavors and textures to blend together. So, you try a new food by asking them to put everything that they have on it. Then you experiment, by taking somethings off until you find the combination you like.

BTW, don;t want to sound too down on AMerican food. I started liking some American foods. Peanut butter is awesome. One I wanted to go on a PBJ diet. Nowdays, I have Oatmeal from the office cafeteria every morning. I take some granola, add honey, and cranberries, and then add a liberal amount of cinnamon. Then I add a ladle full on banana oatmeal on top. The oatmeal has to go on top, not the bottom. Because, by the time I go up to my desk, and say hi to my team, and attend the daily standup, the hot oatmeal softens the granola (which is why the “toppings” go in the bottom). I mix it all up and enjoy the differrent flavors and textures. Sometimes, they change the fruit in the oatmeal. Sometimes I have cream of wheat (Suji) instead of oatmeal.

 

[Quickgun_murugan]

I remember when I first came in California, they let even B1 visa holders to get driver’s license.

Culture shock was the main thing I experienced. Americans like to communicate with eye contacts (while many Asians feel uncomfortable). Most restaurants give oversize meals according to my standards; Pay bills by mail also something I was not used to (back home we have to go to the office). Everything is easy (or easier) to be arranged /less beurocracy; labor cost is significantly higher (From where I come from, we still can afford to have maids at home). Vending machines everywhere.

Due to higher labor cost, people tend to just trash not-needed or not-working items or belongings. In my country of origin, those electronics, even scrap metals are still valuable to be sold to scavengers.

 

[ARYA]

India CHina mexico tappa vere countries annitiki GC 6 months to 1 yr lo vachestundi ippudu kuda...

[Quickgun_murugan]

Ippudu twist ichina answer 

 

H1b is a temporary 6 year visa. As such it is a non immigration visa as opposed to immigration visas where you declare the intent to immigrate to the US and stay here permanently. An interesting thing about h1b is that it is considered a dual intent visa. What that means is even though you enter in a non immigrant catagory, your employer can file for an employment based category green card and become a permanent resident aka legal immigrant without having any legal repurcussions. But if you where originally born in a green card backlogged country like India, you will end up waiting over 40 years or more to get your green card and until then you will be considered a non immigrant.

[princeofheaven]

2 minutes ago, Quickgun_murugan said:

Quora lo chadivaa.....

H-1B visa immigrants, what was your experience like when you first came to the US?

When we came to USA in the 80′s, there was no H1B, only H1.

Colleagues and managers used to help out in apartment search, and giving us newcomers ride for work and for weekend groceries till you get an US driving license, and able to buy a car.

Green card wait ( from first application to getting the actual card in the mail) rarely exceeded 30 months.

Getting these green cards fast was useful to settle down sooner, as (those days) you could not get any bank home loan unless at least a green card holder.

The tough part in immigrants’ life was getting credit cards. Many like me started with a trick called secured credit card, and got real credit card like after 2 - 3 years, starting inevitably with Sears cards as our lucky break. One could even rent cars (ftom Budget) using these store cards.

ATM cards were still just for ATM (usually only next to a bank) and inside a select few groceries, and true debit cards were rare. So we could buy, lease or rent cars, but could not rent vhs movies from the corner blockbuster (dvd was not yet invented).

There was no cell phone except for the super rich.. so it was one less thing to worry about. AT&T was the only deal for phones, and they were quite liberal in assigning home land line phone lines as soon as you move in, and never a issue to get utility accounts set up, either.

Another point: no civilian GPS yet. So imagine how paper map was the king! Going to the local AAA office to get a “trip tik” map and getting some traveller's cheques were essential steps when you are driving somewhere far off like going out of state.

No ipass or easypass..every toll road needed coins.

Unlike now, there were very few ethnic Indian food store/grocery and you could expect Indian restaurants only in bigger cities. You could not image a hindi movie in any AMC or Star theaters!

Coming from India, our pet peeve was lack of custom tailored (affordable) shirts, trousers and suits. Getting even just a pair of good work shoes were tough. All you get in the mall for men's shoes were horribly tough leather sole (easy to slip and fall ) shoes with zero padding. General population too wore kind of super uncomfortable shoes you will now think fit for construction workers only. Else we had our 2nd choice of buying comfortable but real ugly white sneakers. Colored sneakers were rare.

We could try our luck on a few (and far off) Clark's or Bata shoe stores, but they would charge 3X price of others shops for their ‘civilized’ shoes. So I remember writing detailed notes to friends in India to bring enough decent woolen trousers and made to fit suits, plus enough work shoes, to survive here, and we used to do the same when returning on trips from south asia.

Positive side was easy acceptance of cheque payment everywhere, and being teated as equal at work. Even those days, most Indians we ever met were IT engineers (or college professors). Used to be a lot of nuclear scientists, but they all changed jobs by end of 70’s, or they went to Europe, thanks to Mr. Carter's inept messing up of Three Miles Island, and end of nuclear generator site constructions.

Truthfully, we hardly ever noticed any discrimination towards ‘Brown’ in 80s. Our seniors told us occassional horror stories of being forced out of white-only eatery or waiting rooms, but that was like 40 -50 years back. So long one stayed clear of certain southern states, we did not have to worry about color of skin. The ‘brown quota system’ (upper limit enforced thru alumni points) now you see in certain ivy league schools was unimaginable in 80s.

Getting into any domestic flight was easy… just like getting into (current) Megabus … little or no security hassle or wait. My wife once showed a citibank photo credit card as her Id and able to board a flight.

You could check two trunk size suitcases in any domestic or international flight, even in economy, and airlines rarely weighted your suitcases to enforce the 70 or 72 pounds limit PER BAG!

Best part: Nearly every airline seat was wide enough (I fondly recall flights in TWA and in Midwest Express ), and nearly every flight offered full and hearty meals.

Acela express was not yet there, but Metroliners were fast enough, and Amtrak first class was always like 4 star hotels-on-wheels. But no wifi!

Perhaps you have to go into Burmah (Myanmar) today if you want to see and feel how life was in usa in 80s without any wifi or cellphone

na old ofc lo oka ankul undevadu fall 1987 MS from OSU Stillwater, 89 lo h1 ochindi and 91 lo GC in 9 months

[tennisluvr]

Yes beautiful, ippudu veellantha scavengers on new H1Bs

[Quickgun_murugan]

1 minute ago, princeofheaven said:

na old ofc lo oka ankul undevadu fall 1987 MS from OSU Stillwater, 89 lo h1 ochindi and 91 lo GC in 9 months

Indian aa??

9 months ante super kada... ippudu 9 months lo labor kuda osthaledu chala mandiki

[Quickgun_murugan]

Just now, tennisluvr said:

Yes beautiful, ippudu veellantha scavengers on new H1Bs

true bro...

jobs businesses money GC annitlo ide situation ... last 10 years nundi

[princeofheaven]

Just now, Quickgun_murugan said:

Indian aa??

9 months ante super kada... ippudu 9 months lo labor kuda osthaledu chala mandiki

yup 485 kuda on the spot approval in INS office , 485 ivvangane passport lo temp gc stamp

[dakumangalsingh]

1 minute ago, tennisluvr said:

Yes beautiful, ippudu veellantha scavengers on new H1Bs

not all only after 2000's lo ochchina ankuls ee ekkuva anukuntaa

[Quickgun_murugan]

Just now, princeofheaven said:

yup 485 kuda on the spot approval in INS office , 485 ivvangane passport lo temp gc stamp

those were pioneers and lucky ppl in all aspects...

aa flight travel experience chadivithe anipinchindi.. world was a better place.. we fcuked it up ani..

[tennisluvr]

Veelle original langa batch, U.S. immigration system ni destroy chesina batch ee ankul gallandaru. 

Dalinder makade gallu

[princeofheaven]

2 minutes ago, dakumangalsingh said:

not all only after 2000's lo ochchina ankuls ee ekkuva anukuntaa

80s 90s lo ochina valllu ekkuva ms or academic side vallu late 90s and early 2000s bcom bsc etc chadivina chala mandi vuncles camed on H1 thanks to clinton thata 250k h1b quota. vallu taravatha mesthri shops petti kampu leparu

[tennisluvr]

Just now, princeofheaven said:

80s 90s lo ochina valllu ekkuva ms or academic side vallu late 90s and early 2000s bcom bsc etc chadivina chala mandi vuncles camed on H1 thanks to clinton thata 250k h1b quota. vallu taravatha mesthri shops petti kampu leparu

Corresht. Before Y2K boom konchem genuine candidates ocharu ochi chadivi settle ayyaru they are fine. 

Maa inti pakkintlo cable bill collect chesukunetodu fake Master's certificates petti(originally chadivinadi Bharat degree college lo BA) US ki ochi SAP meeda professional ani cheppukunnadu. Ippudu aadiki shopping mall undi Hyderabad lo, plus mestri dhandha in US. 

Potta podisthey foogram, flatform antadu aksharam mukka raadu.