Once an American met an African, and was
surprised that he had a house back in Africa.
“I thought all Africans lived in the wild,”
said the American, “I am sorry.”
“Don’t be,” said the African. “Before I
came to America, I used to think streets in America were paved with gold.”
Although this story is a bit too extreme, it does establish
the kind of ideas we have about America. Most of us tend to take the adage
“land of opportunities” a little too literally, and believe a life in America is a
bed of roses. Diversity Visa is the easiest way to enter and settle in the US, but
how “golden” is the life of DV holders?
When Saru Khatiwada first landed in the US two
years ago, she kept looking for ways to validate her education. She had a
Master’s degree in Nepali. She enquired with friends and universities if her
degree gave her enough credits for further study. It was a long time before she
resigned herself to the fact that her higher education was pretty much useless.
Saru’s story is quite representative of how little DV
holders are prepared for viable education and job opportunities. Most expect
miracles, but cracks soon appear in the image of a dreamland when they start
looking for jobs.
After two months of trying unsuccessfully for white collar
jobs, Uttam Adhikari, an engineer and lecturer back in Nepal, was
running out of money that he had brought with him when he came to the US. With no
option in sight, he joined a clothing store in 2007, but realized that this was
just the beginning of his ordeal.
Major Challenges
Communication is one issue that affects most DV holders’ dreams
in a major way. Whenever Uttam had gone to job interviews, interviewers had
congratulated him on his good English. But they never called him back.
“You might believe you speak good English, but when you try
to talk to people, you find out how inadequate your communication skills actually
are,” says Uttam. Customers complained to the management about his enunciation,
and that was when he realized it was not enough to know correct English. He
needed to understand people’s tones and accents, and respond competently in order to survive.
Most people are also unprepared for the backbreaking
physical labor in their initial jobs, since without communication skills or an
American degree, white-collar jobs are simply not available to newcomers.
Birochan Nepal advises
that you need to be prepared for every kind of work and not pine after your
chosen field, at least in the early phases. Many, like Uttam and Harimaya
Khatiwada, shared how being on their feet for nine to ten hours at a stretch
exhausted them mentally and physically in the first few months.
Financial stability is another factor that is drastically
different from Nepal. Having
to live on weekly checks, as is the custom in the US for
most blue-collar jobs, is initially shocking to some.
Harimaya who recently gave birth to a baby is not working
right now. Her family is supported solely by her husband’s income. Although DV
holders get financial help to take care of their babies, Harimaya sometimes
panics when she thinks about how to manage if her husband is out of work for a prolonged
period of time.
Those who have been around for longer have figured out ways
to support themselves in case of such emergencies; to make the best use of facilities
like unemployment benefits. But the early years, when you are just trying to
make sense of the system around you, can be incapacitating.
“Everything is new,” says Ramchandra KC, “from how you rent
an apartment to how you take trains and buses, how you do medical insurance, even
how you order coffee.” Most migrants agree that it takes at least a year or so
to just learn these basics.
Without proper guidance about these basics, a person can spend
years taking detours into jobs they do not want, just because they have no idea
how to proceed. Uttam equates this time to being a “crow lost in fog”. Forget unknown
facilities, sometimes they cannot even make the best of simple job
opportunities they have.
Harimaya decided to quit her first job because it was too
strenuous. And then 16 checks her employer gave her bounced, one after another.
Thankfully, Harimaya and her husband had the presence of mind to warn their
employer about legal repercussions of his actions, and demand due payment. But those
without basic communication skills and network have no option but to continue
with such low-paying or deceptive employers, and may fall into dire financial
straits.
Prospects
available
Though their life is full of struggles, for many it’s worth
it. Women, especially, have found prospects not available to them in Nepal. They
are free of the familial and social burdens they faced in Nepal, and use
the opportunity to explore educational and professional interests.
“Even simple things like driving, learning to deal with
people, are achievements,” says Sunita Tiwari.
The important question, in the midst of all these opened doors,
is how to continue the careers they had in Nepal. With
the pressures of a job, and sometimes the responsibilities of family, people
get busy in fulfilling their basic needs. Even with facilities like loans and
grants for school, it is a veritable struggle to focus on a chosen career path.
Most Nepalis do not have degrees from accredited
universities, and end up redoing credits which puts them behind by a few years.
Very often it comes down to a technical versus non-technical career: people
with education in technical fields have better chances of progressing in their
chosen career path.
Ramchandra KC, who was an editor in Nepal, is soon going to
enroll in a university for a master’s degree in editing and publishing, and
those from IT or engineering fields find technical jobs with a little bit of
initial struggle. But Harimaya, a singer, is still struggling to find adequate
professional forums to teach singing while she strives for financial security
through other jobs. Birochan Nepal, who
was a lawyer in Nepal, has
put legal career on hold to focus on his American life.
Birochan still keeps up with the developments in his field
in Nepal. Even though
he may have fallen behind his contemporaries, Birochan feels he can catch up
when he returns to Nepal. Over
the years Birochan has been adding to his property in Nepal, with
the ultimate aim of coming back. Again, this is very reflective of the general
sentiment of DV holders who plan to return to Nepal in future.
Most take their stay in the US as an
opportunity that will ultimately benefit them as well as Nepal.
Changing
Diaspora
With time, the experiences of DV holders have changed. These
days most people who go to the US have
someone or the other who knows their way around and are ready to offer
guidance. This makes a lot of difference, cutting newcomers’ time of being
“lost like a crow in fog” very short.
The growing network of Nepalis has other benefits. Lack of
social support was keenly felt by the first generation. Isolation coupled with
unexpectedly strenuous jobs had driven many to frustration and depression.
But today, many cities have communities of Nepalis that
celebrate regular get-togethers. These meetings provide forums to learn and
share feelings for newcomers, and fulfill the important function of alleviating
homesickness.
And then, credit with banks is very important in the US, since
most financial transactions are carried out through credit cards and not cash.
Banks often do not trust newcomers with loans or big purchases, and require
co-signatories who can guarantee payment on credit. With the help of
financially established Nepalis, newcomers can easily take these steps.
Such conveniences were not available to the first generation
of DV holders, who had to navigate these steps by themselves. They perhaps bore
more than their fair share of psychological and financial burdens of migration.
Successive generations, with their assistance, have found it much easier to
start a new life.
Our attraction to DV is neither new nor unexpected.
Migration for work and educational opportunities is an age-old process. DV,
though more dramatic than other migrations, is just the latest link in the
chain. It will continue to be attractive to Nepalis until the living standards
of Nepal are at
par with the West.
Today, with better flow of information about the good, bad,
and ugly of life in the US, those who apply for the DV are much better prepared
than earlier generations. Unlike Uttam who felt like a newborn baby when he
first landed up in the US, DV
holders today have a much more realistic idea of the struggles they have to
face. The rewards they work toward in
the land of opportunities keep them motivated during their struggles.
Side Story:
Brisk
business—DV consultancies
Those who enter the US through student or dependant visas
often struggle to acquire basic legal and financial standing in the country,
and this impedes their journey towards the American dream of a prosperous life.
Since DV provides many of these facilities, it eliminates many steps of this
struggle. No wonder, it is viewed as the easiest way to get a foothold in the
American society.
More than eight million people apply for the DV worldwide,
of which 300,000 or more are from Nepal alone. 6,028 Nepalis won the DV lottery
in 2014, which is significantly higher than the 4,370 who won the lottery in
2013.
This craze has created a niche for services that facilitate
the process of acquiring a DV. Even though the US Embassy recommends that you
fill the DV form yourself, or with the help of trusted family members, many
people do not feel confident about navigating the instructions of the US
Embassy on their own. Enter “consultancies”, which, with their official
demeanor and seemingly know-it-all approach, can walk you through all the
alien-looking forms with ease.
“We cater to about 5000 to 6000 clients during the DV
season,” says Surendra Shrestha, managing director at Atlink Consultancy in New
Road. Jyotsna Rajbhandari, program and training coordinator at E-spot Nepal, a
popular consultancy in the heart of New Road, also offered a similar number. But
Sumitra Pokhrel at E-zone says that even that number is just a rough estimate.
“The numbers easily cross 7000 to 8000,” she said.
DV season, or the time duration when you can fill DV forms,
lasts only a month. And in that short duration, these consultancies make a
killing. At Rs 100-200, or sometimes even more for every form they fill, these
consultancies do brisk business for one month. E-spot and E-zone both employ
seasonal staff to cater to the overwhelming rush of people during the DV
filling season.
Not only consultancies but also photo studios and stationary
shops do good business during the DV season. Every photo studio and cyber center
on the roadside will be buzzing with activity. Signs like “Fill the DV form
here, with guarantee” are commonly seen in many of these outlets. Since they
charge money for a service that people can fill for free if they want, it is no
wonder they want to net every client they can.
However, most of these mushrooming businesses will disappear
right after the DV season, and they have no compunctions advertizing their
infallibility. Professional DV consultancies are more cautious. “On average,
about 1-1.5 percent of applicants get the first letter,” says Surendra.
During the rest of the year, the permanent staffs are busy
helping clients with DV processing, procuring and lining up documents. Their
services include walking their clients through preparations of documents
required for visas, as well as translating documents and providing counseling.
For a small fee, most will provide any kinds of reference letters, whether or
not the referee exists.
Even at a cursory glance, it is easy to see how our craze for
the land of opportunities has generated a booming and thriving business. They
say necessity is the mother of invention, and our need for a utopia seems to be
a great one indeed, if just the desire to set foot in America can create and
sustain a mini-industry.
Published in Republica on March 14, page 7
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