The Visa Dilemma

 

For our final field trip of the semester we traveled to the FunAsia Theater located in Richardson, Texas. This was an extremely unique experience and was made even better by the theater ambiance. It was not like your normal American theater with lights everywhere, instead it was located in the back of a huge parking lot. Inside it was laid out very cleanly with each theater having a name such as Akbar rather than a number. As we entered the theater I was not sure what the movie was about, but was soon delightfully surprised. The English Bollywood movie “For Here or To Go?” tells the story the protagonist, Vivek Pandit, who is working in Silicon Valley as tech analyst from India. Vivek is given a very appealing opportunity with a start up healthcare company in the area, however when they find out about his expiring visa they give him the unfortunate news that they will not be able to keep their word and hire him. This puts Vivek in an extremely tough situation as his work visa is running out and very few employers are willing to pay the thousands of dollars it takes to extend a work visa.

 

This movie demonstrates the large sacrifices that immigrants endure for a chance at a better life. As someone who has never had to deal with or see these struggles on a personal basis, this film was extremely eye opening for me. Vivek is trying to be the best citizen he can be and all he wants to do is work for a better life. Unfortunately, the U.S government makes it very difficult for this to be possible for Vivek and many other immigrants just like him. Throughout the film Vivek keep overcoming obstacles just to run in to another right after. Even when he acts as an ideal citizen he gets blamed and put on a watch list for an illegal immigrant who stayed in his home without his permission. This portion of the movie showed the true bureaucratic nightmare that is the U.S., and how as a foreigner you are treated with so little respect.

 

This film is meant to demonstrate how America is not always a land of opportunity. Through the use of Shweta’s father, we are able to see the Indian nationalist feeling that says Indians should stay in their home country and create jobs there. In this film we see Vivek going back and forth on this debate as he deals with his immigration issues. In a review I read about the film they discuss how, “14 of the 87 Billion Dollar Startup Club founders in America are from India.” This goes to show that these people have the capability to start and grow huge companies, however they are just not doing so at home. At the end of the movie we are shown Vivek at an interview back in India. We quickly learn that he decided to move back home and founded his own company that has grown to great size, demonstrating that the dream can happen at home for Indians.

 

This film did not have the best acting; however the message and story it showed was extremely intriguing. No many how many obstacles Vivek encountered he kept pushing. This film has definitely changed my thoughts on the immigration problem and how the U.S. treats immigrants. Ultimately this was an eye opening film and one that I would recommend anyone sees.

 

Bhattacharya, Ananya. “An Indian Tech Worker’s movie shows the anxiety of being an H-1B immigrant in Silicon Valley.” (March 28th, 2017): n. pag. Quartz India. Web. 3 May 2017.