The
F1 visa-holding students are seriously disturbed by the existence of the
H1b holders and vice-
versa.
The former class thinks that the H1b visa holders are living a privileged life as they are getting paid higher salaries for working in multi-national firms without 'much serious' effort. The H1b holders on the other hand have the perception that the F1 crowd is the snooty intelligentsia who just likes to study and have fun filled sorority/ fraternity bashes (lot of booze and chicks-American Pie). Well both of the facts are half truths.
F1 students do have to work very hard to support themselves; with the small grants and scholarships its very difficult for them to live the American dream...and study and score
near-perfect GPAs at the same time. They are under constant pressure to match up to the other foreign students as well as American students and
ABCDs; also the mental pressure of being an immigrant is always on them...no wonder they yearn to complete their degrees and earn the coveted H1b status. They feel the pinch of money throughout their course time (if they are not sponsored by their wealthy uncles and relatives) so for them getting a H1b is almost the first step to the American dream.
On the other side, the H1b guys have a different plethora of problems; but somewhere the crisis of both these communities match. Most H1
Bs make a decent salary from the corporations they are working with. However the identity issue (or the lack of it), the constant pressure to prove yourself and grow vertically up the corporate food chain, the desire to live the American dream are all the same. The hard work that they put in to the job to prove their mettle and excellence is seriously commendable.
So personally I believe, in general, F1 guys get to experience different sort of hardships than H1b holders. However, it is not right to discard the H1b holders as being privileged. What matters at the end of the day is how an individual can handle her own finances, control her support systems, adjust and adapt to friends and colleagues and peers in a foreign country...totally alone and away from the motherland and parents. And this has nothing to do with the visa types but more with the nature of independence of the person involved and her past experience of living and making it alone in this busy bad world.
Do you agree??
