Moving abroad – What’s the big deal?

[An_igma]

Every so often, someone from within the family or friend's circle comes up with an advice to go abroad by hook or by crook. I always have this extremely upsetting feeling whenever someone expresses eagerness to go abroad. For example, one of my friends who has hardly passed simple B.A and still he has landed a pretty secure job that pays him more than 20K, still he’s desperate to go abroad (20K might not sound good enough to some of you guys, but knowing his background and the “excellent” academic record he posses it’s pretty good). What’s more? He’s looking to apply for study visa whereas he absolutely hates studying in his own words. So, he’s running around all the time, trying to get hold of UK student visa, Sweden study Visa, this visa, that visa, and the rest. Then there’s another friend, with an MSC degree and a reasonable job in hand and he’s getting ready to move to Sweden on study visa, which baffles me (especially when a mutual friend who went there after his graduation, literally cried over phone when talking to his family, telling how he’s not able to get even a third class job, and how he has to spend one night in a phone booth because it was so cold outside and he had no place to go).

Yet another friend, who got married, moved to Kuwait, came back recently and he was like … man there’s nothing like living with your family and how he missed his daughter when he was abroad, and how he missed his mother’s cooking when he has to eat the junk or frozen food all the time. Still, after just four months, he has started to collect information regarding Canadian immigration Now, I m in no mood of giving a speech on patriotism but I feel like an alien when people all around me talks of going abroad as the answer to all miseries, i can't absorb this logic at all, especially in current scenario when economies are crippling everywhere and jobs are scarce all over the globe. They talk of all those countries like some heavenly places with zero crime rate, plenty of top notch jobs and basic necessities for free. They’re ready to leave their parents, children, wife, family, friends, everyone … and for what? Sirf bahir janay k liye? Have posted here to know exactly what’s the big deal about going abroad?

[Cateye]

Originally Posted by An_igma

Have posted here to know exactly what’s the big deal about going abroad?

Conversion Rate which again now a days not so much keeping in mind expenses abroad but still if you manage to save some it will help you in future.

[imadsani]

for some its a chase after the never attainable unicorn ..

i mean .. ive seen people here fresh off the boat who look at dubai like some haven with girls throwing themselves at them, sheikhs throwing money and jobs at them as soon as they step out of the airport .. misconception and hype ..

these are the same people who then call home crying .. be it dubai or anywhere else .. people dont read the fine print ..

im in the market for jobs .. and im expecting 5k dirhams .. which comes out to be arnd 110,000 rupees .. this may seem a pretty decent salary considering its my first job n all .. but this is nothing .. i would hardly get by at such a salary, reason... expenses.

my point is people are sick and tired of all the bullshit being thrown at them everyday of their lives in Pakistan .. dont get me wrong .. i love my country .. but a person who's field is connected to the power grid like a bee to honey .. i picture extreme pain trying to settle down in Pakistan ..

you asked whats the big deal of going abroad? in a nutshell, better life style, better quality of living, lower crime rates... getting some work done without having to bribe some one

and on the point of having to leave the family .. to go study abroad.. the best decision my mom and I could have ever made...

i cannot stress the point enough as to how important it is to let the children ago arnd the age of 18 for higher studies, be it abroad or dorm living in Pakistan .. theres nothing better for an individual than that ..

everyone gets home sick .. its all about how well the person can adapt to surroundings .. i remember my first day .. was home sick for 4 hours.. so much so that i wanted to fly back on the next flight .. but i managed .. i had good people around me who helped me through that all ..

[MummyDaddy]

Living abroad isn't as easy as you might think. No matter what you do or who you are, you sometimes can't shake the feeling that you will always be a second-class citizen.

Being outside Pakistan does have its advantages, though, as imadsani has pointed out. What many people don't realise is that nothing comes easy or for free. You have to work very hard. You don't just step off a plane and in to paradise. And more often than not, people looking to go abroad think that it's the easy way out without considering how they could potentially make it big back home by working just as hard.

That doesn't mean that life in Pakistan is great. It isn't. But it's not eactly rainbows and butterflies everywhere else. If you're not willing to work, you're not going to do well no matter where you go. Getting a study visa and applying to a third-rate university only to end up jobless with a worthless degree is a reality that too many immigrants face abroad. Instead of washing dishes at a restaurant, why not stay home and do the best you can there?

One more thing: We love to talk about how bad Pakistan is without realising that unless people like us try to change things, the country will always be like this. You don't have the right to complain about the country if you're not willing to make the sacrifices required to try and set things right. I believe that people should stay at home... not because life is good, but because they can help build a better system. It is often necessary to go abroad to study or even work but that should be a means to an end, rather than an end in itself.

MD

[An_igma]

you asked whats the big deal of going abroad? in a nutshell, better life style, better quality of living, lower crime rates... getting some work done without having to bribe some one

Lower crime rate is nothing more than a myth; you’ve got burglary, murders, street snatching, rapes, gang wars going on everywhere. Pakistan will not even be in the Top 50’s list of countries with highest crime rate. A friend who recently purchased an apartment at some locality in US was talking about how the crime rate is so high in her area that every other day they hear of a murder at some nearby place. She was like seriously asking her friends to stay in touch and inform her family if they’re not able to contact her for some extended period.

Better lifestyle? for a moment ignore the electricity failures because this "going abroad craze" was very much there when there was no load shedding, so apart from this what kind of better lifestyle are we talking about? It’s not like they hand you a car and bungalow the moment you step in those countries … you’ve to work extremely hard for it … right? There’s no free cake and there’s no easy money. You must pay the price in terms of hard work, it’s just that we are not ready to pay any price whatsoever, over here. Another guy I know, who use to roam around 24/7 on streets of lahore, riding a bike provided by his parents, worked at a number of places halfheartedly and then resigned or was sacked, only to end up going to UK and the last time I heard, he was doing a 9 to 9 job as a waiter in a restaurant, 5 days a week? And what’s more? Along with that job he happens to study as well.

Bribe culture is also our own fault… I’ve had all sorts of work done without having the need to pay anyone, it’s just that people prefer (in fact they feel proud) to pay the lowest ranking staff and get their work done instantly instead of calling the helpline a couple of times and then going personally to the higher ups and registering a complain with sufficient proofs. People prefer to bribe the traffic warden when they’ve violated some traffic law instead of filling the Challan form. It’s just that we stubbornly refuse to mend, except for when we’re not in Pakistan.

i cannot stress the point enough as to how important it is to let the children ago arnd the age of 18 for higher studies, be it abroad or dorm living in Pakistan .. theres nothing better for an individual than that

Going anywhere for higher studies that you cannot acquire in Pakistan is praiseworthy, but very, very few people go abroad solely to acquire knowledge. When the youngsters are ready to move out from the country in airtight containers and in motorboats with a sizeable risk of losing their lives, there is something extremely wrong with the mindset. They’re not even ready to listen; yesterday a friend who’s trying to go abroad was saying, once he moves out by hook or by crook, he’ll marry an African woman if he had to, but won’t come back. Better lifestyle? yeah sure ?

One more thing: We love to talk about how bad Pakistan is without realising that unless people like us try to change things, the country will always be like this. You don't have the right to complain about the country if you're not willing to make the sacrifices required to try and set things right. I believe that people should stay at home... not because life is good, but because they can help build a better system. It is often necessary to go abroad to study or even work but that should be a means to an end, rather than an end in itself.

Exactly … let’s face it … Pakistan is nowhere on our priorities list, most of the citizens just hate this country. Nationalism is seen only at 3 instances, first when we are abroad, second when our cricket team lose a match and third when there’s some kind of tussle going on between India and Pakistan.

[imadsani]

Originally Posted by An_igma

Lower crime rate is nothing more than a myth; you’ve got burglary, murders, street snatching, rapes, gang wars going on everywhere. Pakistan will not even be in the Top 50’s list of countries with highest crime rate. A friend who recently purchased an apartment at some locality in US was talking about how the crime rate is so high in her area that every other day they hear of a murder at some nearby place. She was like seriously asking her friends to stay in touch and inform her family if they’re not able to contact her for some extended period.

when i mentioned lower crime rates i was talking abt places where the crime rate is actually really low, (Switzerland, sweden, UAE etc)...

ive walked around with thousands on me at the oddest times without a worry in the world of being robbed .. i can carry my cell phone around without having to check over my shoulder or the person walking towards me to make sure they arent trying to rob me ..

Better lifestyle? for a moment ignore the electricity failures because this "going abroad craze" was very much there when there was no load shedding, so apart from this what kind of better lifestyle are we talking about? It’s not like they hand you a car and bungalow the moment you step in those countries … you’ve to work extremely hard for it … right? There’s no free cake and there’s no easy money. You must pay the price in terms of hard work, it’s just that we are not ready to pay any price whatsoever, over here. Another guy I know, who use to roam around 24/7 on streets of lahore, riding a bike provided by his parents, worked at a number of places halfheartedly and then resigned or was sacked, only to end up going to UK and the last time I heard, he was doing a 9 to 9 job as a waiter in a restaurant, 5 days a week? And what’s more? Along with that job he happens to study as well.

yes. . i mean a better standard of life and quality ..

MD said it pretty clearly ... without hardwork you get shit .. im not even debating that point .. go over my post again .. i clearly pointed it out in the first one ..

let me give you an example ... for 20k .. i can buy a car, pay for registration and insurance .. be it a 96-99 accord.. but under 20k aed i can do that... and this goes for the rest of the world as well .. whereas clunkers like the mehran/cultus/alto/santro go for above a half a mill .... thats insane .. how does increased taxes on these cars help the general population?

[PunK]

Well, The only thing bad about Pakistan the dual mentality of our people. That includes me and you. We all are Munafiq.

we talk a lot about US. We do large gatherings to protest aginst them. I bet if an annoucement is done that who ever reached Embassy first among the crowd will get American Visa, people would start killing each other to reach first. We have to realize what we want from our life. If people move abroad for a better living , its great. Nothing bad about it. We are not some scientist , neither revolutionist. We are just ordinary people who are struggling to live our life with dignity and help our families in doing so too. If I am serving @ petrol pump abroad, it is quiet possibility I might own one after few years If I work hard. Chances are here too but its more of a CHANCE rather than hard work.
We have to realize the realities of real life. Using a dad given Mac and sitting in a nice room with a full belly with no worries will show you a beautiful world. Things are not same for every one. The difference between luxury and necessity is different for every one.If some one wants to live his life the other, lets help me in doing it. Since we are in favour of demoCRAZY, lets other decide what they want for them self.Atleast if a guy is running Taxi in dubai, he would be able to give quality living and education to his family in PK. Pk Is full of opportunites, but its a hard task. We are mostly camoflauged by the unnecessary obstacles in our way which are highly unlikely in the countries they move to.
I Wish if we can bring a change. I recall a joke my childhood where scene of 2020 was mentioned where Americans and Europians were standing in ques to get Visas for Pakistan to secure their future. Lets do some thing , which changes that joke into reality.

Pakistan Zindabaad

[agent47]

no wahala brothers.

well quite a reasonable thing to discuss here.

I must say having read everyones opinion, i believe imadsani mentioned something very very important in my opinion.

he said about children (of our nation) who are 18+ should have "some exposure" of the outside world, living in dorms and managing their lives on their own (n stuff) for some part of their teenage and adult hood.

I believe this to be very important thing keeping in mind the age we are living in.

I also believe this is a positive move as these kids get to see how the world is progressing. come across various opportunities. they also learn by observing and mold themselves accordingly. NOW here some people learn positive things some learn negative and do actions accordingly. thus some people use the opportunity to progress and some miss out on them it.

First, I always insist that we all should be Realistic. If something is not right! Accept it! If something is right! there is no harm in appreciating it.

Now talk about Pakistan, (not getting in to too much detail) thinking realistically...the negatives out weigh the positives. (IMO)(its a long debate as it depends on my knowledge,awareness and judgment of good and bad! so lets not get into it)

Second What I would like to emphasize here is we should be seeking opportunities, (of the some that are left available to us) use them for our benefits. (And pray we learn positively from it.)

And the third most important thing we have to pay attention is to "Thinking about our Careers". Our careers are our representative of how much aware we are about whats going on globally in our respective fields. once we focus on it we will learn the importance of opportunities and thus eventually the importance of Hard Work to achieve. what ever we want. be it a good career.

At this point I want to mention that we should always keep in mind what our leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah stressed. Unity, Faith and Discipline. (dunno i felt kinda patriotic so thot of throwing it in as it means a lot for me..but i think lack of these things in our nation today is whats caused a lot of bad things IMO)

p.s: imadsani you wont mind me contact you directly as i wanted to discuss some career opportunities and was hoping we could share some experience.

[AhmedKhan]

There is a rule of thumb. Those who are not willing to work hard will not get anything regardless of where they are in the world.

Having said this, to be honest, I have no sympathy or respect for a guy who misses his "mother's cooking". Seriously!? When does he plan on cutting the cord (umblical that is)?

It's not about finding job or not and so on. It's about life. What kind of life can you provide for yourself and more importantly for your children. Any individual who is willing to work hard and willing to deal with "missing his mother's cooking" has a significantly high probability of providing a better life, life in general, for himself and more so for his kids. Better education. Better healthcare. Better facilities. Better lifestyle. Better living standard. All this would result in that child having a better opportunities in life and having a better outlook of world in general. I am not saying there is nothing wrong with all this but you wanted to know why. Well, this is why.

In general, I don't think it's a good idea of splitting family. By family, I mean the core. I mean a guy shouldn't have to live without his wife and children. I don't mean living without parents and sibling.

There is a lot more to it. Now those who have all these ideas in their head are obviously wrong as has already been mentioned. They hear sucess story of their neirghbour's kid or distant cousin or a friend and they think, all they have to do is just get to another country and that should do. It does NOT. It requires a lot of hardwork and a LOT of giving up on "mom's cooking". If a person is willing to do that, there are better chances for that person abroad that in Pakistan.

Main problem with Pakistan is that EVEN IF you are willing to workhard and give everything you have, it doesn't gurantee you anything.

[An_igma]

If I am serving @ petrol pump abroad, it is quiet possibility I might own one after few years if I work hard.

That’s quite an amplification, I must say. I’d like to know how many of those who work at petrol pumps actually manage to own one in their whole life, let alone owning one after few years. Those who start from petrol pumps and manage to thrive later, are those who ultimately realize the importance of education and get themselves to study, got out of their comfort modes and realized that there’s no shorter or easier route to success, something that they refuse to acknowledge all the time while in Pakistan. It’s not that hard work doesn’t pay off in Pakistan, it’s just that we don’t work hard enough. Those who are seen grumbling about lack of equal opportunities in Pakistan are more than happy to work on discriminatory terms in other countries.

[960bhp]

this might enlighten us a bit...

Live with Talat – 2 February 2010 | Pakistan Politics

[Nee]

Originally Posted by 960bhp

this might enlighten us a bit...

Live with Talat – 2 February 2010 | Pakistan Politics

A friend shared this on facebook and I'm currently watching part 2. It is definitely an eye-opener. There have been similar cases in Canada not just with Pakistanis. These people would be better off paying $3000 and getting a fake degree and if you are lucky you might just make it to law school using it and even land a job. Happened for real at osgoode law school, the person made it to law school graduated and got a job only in Canada .

It's definitely no heaven and yes you do get robbed (got robbed once) and there are several other issues.They give hard time to internationally trained professionals and Canada is worse in this matter they don't accept anything. They want you to start from scratch, maybe someone who is 27-30 might be able to that but too that is hard if one has a family to feed. But someone who is 45-50 you can't expect them to start all over again, It's ridiculous. The government funded programs are SHIT. The ESL classes are a joke all they ever do is give you some crappy sheets to do and free cookie and tea. Jobs are hard to come by because they are always asking for Canadian experience. It's a nightmare.

[PsychedelicBreakfast]

Considering this is the Age of information, its kinda mind-boggling they didn't actually properly research. It doesn't take much to know which is a good place, and which isn't.