Posted on 01/27/2007 12:46:57 PM PST by lizol
Polish Immigrants Leave America for Europe
Nowy Dziennik, Posted: Jan 26, 2007
NEW YORK – A surprising number of Polish immigrants are packing up, closing their bank accounts, and leaving the United States, reports Polish Daily Nowy Dziennik. Banks such as Pekao U.S. Money Express in New York City are seeing a growing trend of Poles withdrawing hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings to take with them as they look for opportunity elsewhere. Reasons for the departure include frustrations with the process to become legal immigrants, disillusionment with American materialism and a lack of promising employment or financial prospects. However, they are not necessarily returning to Poland, but seeking work in other European countries like Ireland, the United Kingdom, or Sweden. According to the report, the destination of these Polish immigrants indicates a delayed demographic impact of Poland’s admission into the European Union.
What a shame! The one culture that truly thinks in line with middle America and they're abandoning us.
100?
1,000?
That makes no sense in the same sentence.
Well--somehow, according to the article, they were able to amass "thousands" of dollars while here.
""..disillusionment with American materialism and a lack of promising employment or financial prospects.."
That makes no sense in the same sentence."
Not really. Take a drive through American suburbia. I could plop you down in any modern suburb like this in America, and you couldn't tell me where the heck you were. Not even a guess. They all look exactly the same. Just massive lots filled wit the same glowing signs. Six lanes of traffic. Don't dream of walking anywhere.
It's almost embarrassing.
You can't expect them to compete, or even want to compete with a bunch of free labor flooding in from Mexico. There are no opportunities, no programs to make the education they have recognized or at least count towards re-certifying themselves in their professions.
Yes, it is a shame we are losing the immigrants most likely to PAY taxes, not be freeloaders off the taxes we pay.
Excuse me. If you say you are disillusioned with American Materialism and at the same time want better personal financial prospects in America, it is a contradictory statement.
Abandoning us? I would wager that most of these immigrants are those who came here legally, are trying to work hard, live the American dream, and achieve the goal of American citizenship. And these goals and dreams are being thrown back into their faces. For all their hard work and effort to do things according to our laws, they are learning that it really doesn't take much of anything more than a physical presence and a lawyer to be here and live off the taxpayer's dollar.
Add the fact that our government is progressing at light speed down the path of Marxism, this place becomes a lot less attractive than it was just a few decades ago.
We've abandoned them in favor of the socialism they tried to escape, and the millions who have come illegally across the Rio Grande.
You don't think they brought any with them when they sold their homes and assets to move to the "land of opportunity"? Or worked some crappy job long enough to save a few $$ so they could get out?
I have no idea what they did. Actually, the article said "hundreds of thousands of dollars." If their crappy jobs paid so poorly, how were they able to not touch the stash they brought with them?
Exactly. This article provides no rational proof for its assertion.
That said, I can understand why this might be the case. It's very difficult to advance financially without citizenship anywhere. And our country does make it very difficult to acquire citizenship, partially as a consequence of our open door policy.
It's especially unfortunate when you're talking about people who could actually be doing a great deal of advancing.
To give you an example, I have a Serbian friend (and lets pretend Serbia is part of the EU for the moment) who is waiting to get his green card. He has an MD, has taken his board exams, and is working at a lab for peanuts until he can get his greencard and begin residency.
So he's pulling down 25-30k or so per year. He's going to FINALLY his residency and be making 40k or so. And then he'll hit bank.
But he has to wait. Had he immigrated to Europe (pretending again that Serbia was part of the EU), he could have jumped into residency much earlier and then began earninga a nice salary much earlier...
Instead, he's working for a less-than-pleasent lab director and biding his time.
Not necessarily. American materialism is also a cultural ideal. You have the big house with the big yard in the nice neighborhood full of homes very similar to your own. You drive a big car. Maybe several big cars.
That culture has created a place where you can't really get around by foot. Where you don't necessarily have a tight-knit community with stores just a step down the block.
There are good and bad things about it, no doubt.
But I could see how someone would dislike it.
I was just in Romania, for instance. I could get up in the monring, walk a few doors down, and pick up freshly baked pastries from the local bakery, if I wanted. Take them back to my friend's place. It took all of 4-miinutes. You can't do that here.
There's a lot that we can do that they can't, of course, too.
Anyway, the article doesn't define what it means by materialism, so it's no use scrapping over it, really.
Finacial prospects does not mean you must go out and spend it on the latest junk coming off the assembly lines, or buying row housing in a new 'development where the only difference between every third house is the color the trim is painted.
Materialism in America is get out of school and get straight into debt for the rest of their lives, because we have to have the latest "things" now. having things is THE most important aspect of your lives.
There is no American 'apple pie' culture anymore, community life and values have dissapeared almost completely.
What is there to look forward to? Unless you can afford to move to a small rural town where there is still a glimmer of a community, it doesn't exist. To a Polish immigrant, comming from a culture where everyone is part of the community, it's a boring place with nothing to look forward to. You are lucky if you even know your nieghbors names.
Exactly. That's what I'm talking about.
"What a shame! The one culture that truly thinks in line with middle America and they're abandoning us."
Actually, no. They are not abandoning us, & it's not a "shame." They came here for the opportunities, when things weren't so good there. Now that there ARE opportunities in their homeland, they are going back. This is a good thing for Poland, good for us too. They go back to Poland but most have good feelings about the US and will communicate those feelings to their friends & family -- that's GOOD! (Not all of them will stay in Poland btw; some will, but some will go to work in other EU countries; right now Poles are working throughout the EU.)
The same thing started happening some years ago with the Irish immigrants, when the "Celtic Tiger" started roaring. I used to be asked frequently to sponsor Irish relatives for US visas; only occasionally am I asked to do that these days. And a lot of the Irish who did immigrate have gone back in the last few years. It is not that they've abandoned us, they're doing what they would have preferred to do all along -- what most people prefer to do -- live in their own culture, near their families, with their familiar ways, raise their kids in that culture, etc.
People I know who work in the technical field say they are seeing the same thing with a lot of Indian immigrants who are going "home" now that India offers more opportunities. (The pay may still be lower than what they get here, but the cultural & family compensations make up for that.)
I think that a lot of the Mexican immigrants would probably stay home too, if that were a real option fof them. Those who have never lived in a foreign country tend to under-estimate how hard it really is to make the transition, even on a temporary basis -- let alone face the anxieties of an immigration you think is going to be permanent.
Only people with a tremendous amount of gumption -- resilience and determination -- and/or people who perceive their circumstances as desperate -- make the choice of immigration.
Easy. When you come from a place where you learn at a very young age to save your hard earned money, it's not hard at all. They know how to cook, not order out. A Polish immigrant can show you 100 ways to cook a potato. And it doesn't say they had "crappy jobs", just jobs outside of their qualifications.
Wouldn't that make them emigrants?
I think lot of illegals are feeling pressure and leaving. I don't assume that unemployed Poles are either legal or desirable. I agree 100% that living in another country is hard and the best we can hope for from our foreign policies is the repatriation of refugees.
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