Coming to America

Coming to America for Work is a challenging, joyful and the eventful experience. I am sharing my experiences & observations through a series of posts, with the focus on the typical experiences encountered by people who come from India to USA on long term / near-long term work permit (read H1-B or L1). Coming to America is all about the first time traveler's experience in making the trip, this involves typically three phases;

1. Before Travel
2. During Travel, Arrival in USA
3. Initial Days

Before Travel: No doubt, the first step is filing for H1 petition followed by subsequent steps of interview and stamping. Since part of the resource pool is always "visa" ready, the real travel plans take some shape upon finalization of a customer project. Some projects or opportunities show up overnight. Sometimes an unplanned customer interview or skill matching exercise will lead to immediate travel. Most of the companies conduct regular travel briefings to provide travel / visa / other information related to international travel. This overfeed sometimes boosts the confidence of the traveller or makes him or her completely confused. The travel schedule is then broadcast to near & dear ones. Before the travel, some employers provide adequate briefing & training regarding traveling, living & working in the US to their employees. At this time, our first time traveler starts gathering information on his US destination from known sources and internet. The person will be deluged with lots of solicited / unsolicited advices regarding what to carry, how much to carry, how to tackle the typical travel hassels, etc. Planning & Shopping continue till leaving up to boarding the aircraft. It is a common sight in bangalore airport to catch young folks pick up their fav coffee from the coffee day outlet..

During Travel,Arrival in USA; .. The journey kicks off after bidding good bye to the near & dear ones in the airport. The travel briefing details are very much in memory and our first time traveller goes through the formalities as though following a written script. At each checkpoint, care is taken to follow / over follow all the rules. Guys generally look forward to talk to some fellow passengers travelling to the US .In the flight, vegans think they are going through a difficult phase of their life as they suspect every meal to contain chicken, fish or meat. Some how almost all the meals and snacks are consumed. The immigration interview at the US port of entry is taken very seriously and our traveller would have all (additional) the information required to enter the country. Some companies care to provide initial hotel stay, food and conveyance. Later on, peers and internet sources are handy in finding a suitable accommodation. Fighting jet lag and adapting to new work culture, people are a challenge for the first few days or weeks after which things start falling in place.

Still to come: First few months in US, Settle down and Enjoy Life.