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From Your Digest
Should Indians still consider getting settled in the USA?

Gauri Dani, Software Engineer

Updated Aug 20
I think scenarios have changed completely after recession. I am currently working in the USA and had
come here for masters. Prior to coming here, I was told by my seniors and faculty members that getting
masters there is worth and much better than here. Moreover I wasn’t satisfied with my course in
undergraduate and hence thought it was worth pursuing masters. I was satisfied with the Masters course
and did very well in the course, but getting a degree is a very small aspect in journey of life.

However, one should stop and evaluate what are the results of such individualistic pursuits and who
pays for it.

Its your family members who have to pay for your dreams. I belong to an upper middle class family and
was fortunate that I could get the loan approved. That was just the beginning of my understanding of
what it costs to get education and make a living in the USA. I found it hard to find a part-time job to
support myself and my loan amount was used fully in the beginning of third semester to pay my tution
fees. That means that my family was now responsible for my costs and it would have been financially
tough time for my father. To make things worse, I couldn’t get a summer internship in MS, even though
when pursuing B.Tech. in India I had two internship offers (I went to Brazil for internship eventually).
Life after masters went in searching jobs and then saving every bit to pay off the loan I took for
education. The situation has now worsened in the sense getting a job is a struggle and if you fail to get
one, you have to go back to India with all the loan (around INR 20 - 30 lakhs).

Having worked in start-ups, I can say that you are expected to work outside regular 9–5, weekends and
can get only 15 days of paid leave which Indians use for visiting home.

One is stuck in a cycle of buying things (car, rent, groceries and more if you want to travel or enjoy) and
then working to pay the bills. The cost of basic living is expensive near places where there are jobs (ex:
NYC, Boston, Seattle, California). Even if you are very stingy on spending, you are forced to spend for
basic necessities (rent, car, insurance, fees and all commodities bought on loan last for years to complete
especially if you buy house - the system is designed so that you spend money for everything). If that is
the life you plan to live, from paycheck to paycheck in insecurity of job and visa, then you can settle here.

Medical facilities are a nightmare. The treatments here are very ineffective and costly. When you have
the insurance, you actually pay for the entire cost of the treatment, believing that the insurance was a
savior. Common medical issues like a root canal treatment will drill a hole in your pocket. It's cheaper to
book a flight, go to India, get the treatment, and then take the flight back than to go to a US doctor. A
medical emergency is as much a health issue as it is a financial blow.

Until last year I wasn't serious about my decision of coming to USA but then one day I suddenly lost my
father. I had gone home and I realized what a waste my pursuit was when I couldn't even get to see him
or talk to him while I was busy working for hours and serving a company. If family matters to you, its
not worth coming here and spending time for those that are not important to you. I don’t have a life in
the USA outside work and I don’t want to spend the most productive years of my life sitting in front of a
computer and become a machine.

Thank you everyone for reading the answer. From the comments received I would like to mention that
my intent of writing the post is not to scare anyone from doing anything nor impose my failures. I have
written my analysis for everyone to evaluate and decide whats best for them. Everyone has the freedom
to act and chose a life they want.

My focus here is on questioning our fundamental beliefs. In my experience, since childhood I have been
told that your life will be great if you are topper, in college I heard life is good if you get Masters and that
belief that something outside is better resulted into my coming here. My answer was an outcome of my
beliefs being broken and challenged. We believe that our life will become better by topping our class,
getting the best institute and then getting “dream” job. Earning money isn't an issue even in India or in
USA. The issue is, simply sending money is enough for anyone? When you are born if you replace your
mother by money can the child grow? So how can one imagine that earning dollars is going to solve all
their issues. At the end of the day people are the ones who help you and not your bank balance. This is
not to reduce the value of money but to evaluate rightly what money can do vs who is actually doing
something.

This answer is purely based on my own experience (hence didn’t mention anything about raising
children yet) and observations (of the economic system) which were result of reflection during my
failures (no internship, financial pressure on my family.).

You can evaluate - why is there a provision in the first place - that we are allowed to pursue education in
the USA and there exists a H1B (temporary worker) visa where each year more applications are being
received than the quota? One simple answer is the lack of industrial skills, which Indians and people
from other countries fill. If they could fill this void by domestic crowd, there would be no H1B or F1.

One can easily see that this system is not designed for happiness and betterment of the people who leave
their homes and come here.

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Nitin Kumar
I'm living in Germany, came here for masters studies as the education costs were way lower than U...
2 more comments from Bharat Doshi, Utsav Goyal

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