For those who don't already know, I finally received my work permit. That alone is enough to keep me in good spirit for quite some time irregardless of how much i dislike America.
It isn't just a card that has my name and photo on it that say Employment Authorisation Document, it is a lot more to it than just that. I mean, of course it allows me to work here...and that means a lot of things financially. It means I will be able to spare my parents money when they are in need. Or even my friends who mostly have about 26 ringgit to spend everyday after paying their monthly commitment. It means I don't have to settle for earning 700USD a month because that is simply the going rate for someone of my experience in Malaysia. It means I will be able to afford backpacking trips without saving for a whole year. It means I'm able to earn US dollars.
Those are the obvious things that everyone would be excited about. As for me, I feel like I've won, at least the first leg of my life's journey. To those people back home, who thought I was crazy out of my mind to just pack my bags, leave my job and venture out to the unknown, can you now see the smug glow of self-congratulation on my face? Their voices once echoed in my head; the snickering of the cynic and envious. Someone even said that I should be careful about running off into the sunset with some random guy as I might 'get sold into prostitution'. I wonder what kind of income I would generate as an Asian escort in New York City. I can tell you they're in high demand. Hubba hubba.
I'm really not one to pat myself on the back...it is just that this time, I feel like my perseverance really has paid off. I know that I am nowhere near the highest mountain yet; for my age and where I'm at there are still too many to climb but at the same time I feel that I've proven that determination, faith and risk-taking can bring you to places you never thought you'd reach.
I guess the work permit arrived at just the right time - a time when I really need some sort of reassurance that I'm here for a reason. Sometimes waiting for things to materialise has a tendency to thin one's spirit and that was what I felt was slowly happening to me.
I was slowly developing a very negative attitude towards America, not that getting a work permit changes that; I didn't like the fact that it fakes it's multiculturalism and how your average American knows so little about any other culture besides their own. I didn't like how the minority races or immigrants are not integrated enough into society. I feel that America is a place where they are very protective of their Anglo-Saxon heritage and would do anything to maintain the superiority of that, pushing some people to just settle into their nooks and cut themselves off from the mianstream society while others completely abandon their heritage in order to be accepted as American.
I think the race relations here are so complicated that I find it hard to even begin to really describe what it is like. Let's just put it this way, if I ever adopt a baby that is not white, there is no way I'd ever bring it up in America. They almost always grow up a little jaded; with a chip on their shoulder and being Asian I can see why. People just treat you a little different here if you're not white; I pick up vibes easily and it is something that I've never experienced whilst living in Australia, or even during my short visit to Canada.
Anyway, I went off-tangent again I know. What I was really going to write about was my experience for the past year; the whole rigmarole of applying for my visa and work permit. During the past year, both of us googled other couple's experiences on E3 excessively and incessantly, particularly those who aren't married. We didn't find any similar cases. For those who are clueless at this point, the E3 visa is a visa that works pretty much the same way a H1B visa does but is only for Australians. Now that we've gone through the experience and came out on the winning end, I'd like to share any information or advise that could be of any help to other cohabiting couples out there. So keep an eye out for my upcoming entry on E3 Visa for Cohabiting Partners/Common Law Marriages.
0 comments:
Post a Comment