Thinking of migrating? or already a migrant?

[onie]

Will be migrating soon, mixed emotions natutuwa at natatakot

I felt the same way when i left. Excited to finally see places that i can only dream of but also a bit nervous if i'll be able to assimilate. I was homesick the first few months (left behind a gf). Then life started getting really busy.

[Imau]

but my heart says otherwise pa din. i want to play along with what's happening here in country. there are different kinds of pinoys. some have low risk tolerance and can only be productive if there is an atmosphere of order and hope and so they venture in other developed countries. am just training myself on the opposite of that just like other pinoys who have had success here. maybe it's the key ...

ditto! I'm still hoping pa din na someday this country will be great again. I'm not earning that much but I'm currently happy with what I have right now. I still drive a beat up corolla and have a meager cash in the bank, but I don't care, as long as I'm happy and thankful for what I have. I guess it all boils down to contentment with what you have wherever you may be.

[onie]

Imau
Great attitude !

[miLes]

i guess the causing factor for migrating is the living condition here in the phil

[miLes]

kudos to you Imau and besides hirap din kumuha ng visa hehe

[Hayward]

To each his own.
Everyone has his / her own reasons for doing so. As parents, it is our basic obligation to provide for our children all the best that life has to offer. On a different perspective however, as a Filipino, I am more concerned on the long term effects of settling down in a foreign land. Will I be able to take for example the way my teens act the way teenagers do in western countries? Will I be put in a home for the elderly when I am old, etc..etc?
I might be wrong but then, it's what my thoughts are at this point in time.

[theveed]

imau: great post

kanya kanya lang yan talaga, sakin, kung san ok dun ako, lipat ulit if there are greener pastures... wala akong sense of home-sickness kasi as long as kasama ko asawa't anak ko...

sakin kasi it's silly to be loyal to something that you dont have confidence on... right now, it's this country/economy locally for me... too much bureucracy, too much ego, too shallow ang mga may power to make immediate change... but that's another story..

[KoKoNAT]

Some very interesting insights.

As for myself, I chose to migrate probably because of the same reasons as some of you had. Economic, social, political, or whatever else, I took my family and moved to Australia to start anew.

Why Australia? Several reasons actually: first, it was much easier to migrate to Australia than to Canada or the US. Besides, Canada or US or even Europe is much too far for my taste. Besides, I like Australia. Years before we migrated here, I was sent to work in Sydney for 3 months by the company I work for in Makati. I liked my experience here so much that we have decided to migrate here. Spent 3 years working in Singapore so we can pay for the cost of getting here and starting anew.

Sold everything we had in the Phils. (or else gave away to kamag-anaks) then packed our bags and flew to Sydney. Came here with only our clothes and a small amount of savings. We stayed at my wife's distant relatives for a while intending to stay only for a bit until we get settled in. Life was hard at first and there was a time that I had almost given up and considered going back, thank God we were able to make it through that period.

Almost 2 years on and now we're in Adelaide (much better than in Sydney, IMO ). Pretty much settled in now. Wife and I now have stable and decent jobs and my daughter is doing well in school. Though we are currently renting, we are now making plans of getting our own home within the year. So all in all, we doing pretty well now.

We'd plan on getting our Australian citizenships as soon as we passed 2 years. I figured that since I'm a contributing member of the society might as well have say in it. Conviniently for us, Australia recognises dual citizenship so we won't get into that quandary wherein we will have to choose between being a Filipino or being an Australian.

[CVT]

Passed on a chance to migrate to silicon valley 10 years ago, with my family.
Never regretted my decision.

A few 'what if' opportunities come in once in a while, because I have a few colleagues whom I still have contacts with and have somehow made a good impression on them earlier.

However, I still am telling my family that we should be ready on short notice to move to another country. Tough choice, but sometimes, someone's got to make it... especially if this country halts to present opportunities...

[EL Chicane]

I stayed in America for more than a year before (sent there by our company). Kung quality of life ang pag-uusapan, quality of life in America is way much better. Food is cheap, I can easily buy a decent car, lots of tourist places to go around, blonde chicks everywhere (although many of them are fat), and best of all, **** is legal and part of your rights.

Pero habang umaandar ang panahon, the need to socialize with family and friends became too great. This is because I am single, and I was staying in my apartment all by myself. There were times that I never spoke for an entire weekend kasi I have no one else to talk to. Pinoys are usually far, unlike in Pinas na pumunta ka lang sa tindahan and you can mingle with the tambays there. As a result, I spent close to $800 a month on long-distance calls to the Philippines to talk to my folks and barkadas (buti na lang my phone bills are charged to company expense )

In summary, it's hard to survive migrating to another foreign country if you are single. I guess social needs is a basic need of humans.