US Citizenship for Successful Return to India ?
Posted: Mon Feb 12, 2007 9:25 pm
This is an article I wrote in July 2005. I wish to add some updates to this article, so I am posting it here first w/o any modification. I will add my updates later in this thread.
Introduction
There are several threads discussing the advantages and disadvantages of going for US Citizenship.
This subject has been discussed from financial angle in the finance board too. Almost all the threads closed inconclusive. Every time when I meet any potential r2iers, this subject never fails to come up. I have expressed many times my opinions in this forum and also in the face to face meetings. But nevertheless like others myself I am not not very convinced the answer is easy or the issue is settled once for all.
It is very difficult to generalize whether US Citizenship brings a huge advantage or not for r2iers. That is because for permanent returnees the advantage of US Citizenship is marginal. Before I take up the subject of citizenship, I would like to explore the grounds of return and then review the benefits.
Motivation to Return:
There is a dramatic change in the objective of return today than it was 10 years ago.
We can divide the R2Iers into 2 groups.
Group-1) those returned/planned to return before year 2000 and
Group-2) those returned/planned to return after year 2000.
Offshore business and BPO picked up really well and very hot now than it ever was. We have also seen a dramatic salary increase in India and many of the NRI return to India to take advantage of these opportunities. I realize now these returnees are mostly motivated by the new opportunity of benefits rather than their love for their immediate family, friends, city or home land.
The people who returned before 2000, or those who dream about returning had different motivation. Generally they returned to enjoy their retirement or live a content life after living in abroad for few years and saved some money. There could be few exceptions to this rule. Why do I think so ? There was a huge difference between salary and benefits offered to an IT engineer or any other professional in India compared to some one abroad. Is that not the whole reason for our migration to abroad ? What incentive one had then to return ? Those who returned did so, for few reasons which are not monitory. They either had personal/family issues or they really felt home sick. There were some entrepreneurs too who returned. They are the only one who returned for financial/business reasons.
Compare that today. Read last 2 months threads in this board for sample. We can see many of us are motivated now by the same reasons for which we came here in the first place. Money and professional recognition ! Add Indian food and life style to that. What a mouth watering combo ? Earlier we had to sacrifice one for other. Now you get all combined and thrown in as one package deal.
Smart Returnee :
In financial world, there is a term called "smart money" ; money is never smart, but the term describes short term investment made by the investors and arbitrageurs who are constantly looking for new opportunity to get that extra return. They are not bound by any loyalty or not bothered by long term outlook. If they can make one dollar more today in this investment, that is where they invest for that day.
The returnees today are more like "smart money" - ( should we call them "smart returnees" ?). Yesterday they were in US, today in India, if Russia is good tomorrow, that is where you will see them.
In other words, I think the group-1 have more permanent returnees and group-2 has less permanent returnees. This is another reason we hear stories of R2A and why some could not make it in India even for 18 months. If money is there, we can adjust anywhere in the world. The influx of Indian migration to US or any other countries has not reduced a bit. Yes, more Indians are now finding an IT job in India itself, but that has not diminished the number of IT experts finding a job in US or the number of students who proceed to US to pursue Masters. If India is better than US today, why this has not stopped still ?
Return Challenges :
The group-2 folks are younger than group-1. This is another reason why their R2I fails. Infact, it was not R2I at all. May be we should not call that as failure. If you are younger, you have long way to go for retirement and require lot of money to be saved. Today people spend more money than earlier generations, the savings rate is lower than before. Now there are new expenses. The world is changing very quickly and we have to constantly upgrade ourselves and our electronic toys. All this new demand require money. Not to mention, women and kids are demanding than ever before and never seems to be happy or content. This all takes the toll on every family and have larger impact on returnees. It is because returnee has the potential to make a big earnings and they have to consiously settle for less. He knows that secret and his family too. Guess what ? The return to India becomes like a long vacation for him. Except it is not sweet vacation but 'sweat vacation' - have to fight many issues to settle for day to day Indian life - electricity, water, transportation, maid services etc.,
Also since group-2 is younger, they are ready to face the challenges and accept mistakes as mistakes and move on.
You will not expect that from older people who are longing for permanent retirement and return. For the younger generation it is easy to move to India and in the same stride, move back to US. Either way no big deal !
The increasing consumerism, globalization and westernization has a huge impact on Indians, Indian culture now. Our believes and values are ever changing. I am not getting into whether these changes are good or bad. It does not matter. If you don't perceive the changes happening around us and adjust our thoughts and plans, we will suffer - mentally and financially.
Change in the mind set:
There are few H1B holders who are home sick, wish to return and do return. They care less what others say. When you are home sick, your ears are closed and mind is occupied. You can also find very few green card holders who have the same sickness. Generally these people have not many reasons to return, they just want to return. It is easy to identify these folks.
They will say one of this:
1) why do I need a reason to go my home ?
2) My vacation is over, and it is time to return.
3) I came here for some savings, got it and going back.
4) What is more important than my father and mother ?
After 5-10 years in US, the US life style has a huge impact on you and in your considerations. If you are here for less than 3 years, you will not appreciate it very much. But most of the green card holders or USC holders, will do.
Once you get married and have kids, your values and believes changes. It actually does change constantly as we go older and wiser. But there is a dramatic shift after few years of marriage. If you are 35-45, you worry about kids education, retirement etc., Money and career plays very important role. Over 45, health and family takes precedence over other issues.
It is not right time to return when money and career are important in life. If you do, you are doing it for "smart" reasons. There are lot of possibilities that you will return again to US. At later stage in life, when family is important to you, you don?t want to leave your kids in US and return alone. After that age, you don?t have any motivation to return. You have social security and kids in US and nothing in India. India is just another third world country with bad roads, water problem, corruption and don?t forget mosquitoes.
US Citizenship Vs Indian Citizenship:
I have a page in my web site summarizing the benefits of USC and INC for r2iers. Check out the table here.
If you have noticed, there is an underlying assumption which is not explicitly stated. This table is meant for PERMANENT returnees -either to work (R2I-J) or retire (R2I-R). That is we assumed this population never comes back to US. And I would say still applicable for people in group-1, which is almost as rare as dinosaurs now.
After few years of learning R2I issues in this forum, I believe, R2I-J folks are not real permanent returnees, they are the 'smart returnees' who goes with the flow. And the other category R2I-R are 'semi permanent' returnees. By 'semi permanent', I mean they could not stay in India for ever. Even these R2I-R aspire to get their children to come back to US for education. Guess what ? The kids come here and go through the same dilemma we go through. But it is only easier for them to get adjust to US life style and is much easier than our generation for several reasons. They are mostly US citizens, we bring them up with 'phoren' stories so they never feel that they are in alien land and biggest advantage is when they like to stay in US for longer time, we would not see any problem in staying with them - specifically very big advantage we don?t have in our generation.
In all our comparison of USC and INC for PERMANENT returnees, the general feeling about financial benefit is mostly a wash. A portfolio can be rearranged to reduce taxes. Other than finance, most of the other benefits are good for INC.
Be a Roman in Rome ! If you are LIA candidate, you must go for US Citizenship. If you are permanent Indian resident, keep your Indian citizenship.
The key word is PERMANENT here. If not Permanent, this advice is not applicable.
But I strongly believe now there are very few returnees who qualify for PERMANENT word. Not all those who believe they are PERMANENT returnee are right. Some make mistake and identify themselves as PERMANENT returnee and time prove that otherwise. If you feel you are very strong permanent permanent R2Ier, I wish you luck and wish you are right. You keep your Indian passport safely.
For other 'smartees' and those in dilemma about their situation ( not dilemma about return, but dilemma about whether they are permanent candidate or not), go for US citizenship. With USC+OIC, you can postpone to make a decision later.
The US immigration laws are getting tougher and Indian immigration laws are getting easier. Indian citizenship is never lost. If you are green card holder and make a mistake to forego the opportunity to get US citizenship, return, and if you may later realize that you need to come back, you may have to start your immigration status from scratch. You may also have to forego few career opportunities for being stubborn. In my work I know few incidents where the visitor visa application was delayed for approval and had to cancel important vendor meetings. Think about the effect it has on the businesses.
There is also another psychological aspect to having US Citizenship.
When you stepped into US as fresh graduate or took the first job, you came here with nothing and built all this wealth yourself. We had so much confidence then. But now when we want to go back to our own home country, we have such a big dilemma. Because now we have so much to lose. Then we did not have anything to lose. The main reason for that confidence we had when we stepped in US is, if anything goes wrong, we can always go back. We always knew we had our family to support us. That feeling is lacking now, which makes us less confident about our return or future life in India. If you had US Citizenship, you would know you can return here any time you want. This is the same confidence you had earlier in your life. This confidence alone can be one very big factor for your R2I success.
Good Luck !
**RRK
Introduction
There are several threads discussing the advantages and disadvantages of going for US Citizenship.
This subject has been discussed from financial angle in the finance board too. Almost all the threads closed inconclusive. Every time when I meet any potential r2iers, this subject never fails to come up. I have expressed many times my opinions in this forum and also in the face to face meetings. But nevertheless like others myself I am not not very convinced the answer is easy or the issue is settled once for all.
It is very difficult to generalize whether US Citizenship brings a huge advantage or not for r2iers. That is because for permanent returnees the advantage of US Citizenship is marginal. Before I take up the subject of citizenship, I would like to explore the grounds of return and then review the benefits.
Motivation to Return:
There is a dramatic change in the objective of return today than it was 10 years ago.
We can divide the R2Iers into 2 groups.
Group-1) those returned/planned to return before year 2000 and
Group-2) those returned/planned to return after year 2000.
Offshore business and BPO picked up really well and very hot now than it ever was. We have also seen a dramatic salary increase in India and many of the NRI return to India to take advantage of these opportunities. I realize now these returnees are mostly motivated by the new opportunity of benefits rather than their love for their immediate family, friends, city or home land.
The people who returned before 2000, or those who dream about returning had different motivation. Generally they returned to enjoy their retirement or live a content life after living in abroad for few years and saved some money. There could be few exceptions to this rule. Why do I think so ? There was a huge difference between salary and benefits offered to an IT engineer or any other professional in India compared to some one abroad. Is that not the whole reason for our migration to abroad ? What incentive one had then to return ? Those who returned did so, for few reasons which are not monitory. They either had personal/family issues or they really felt home sick. There were some entrepreneurs too who returned. They are the only one who returned for financial/business reasons.
Compare that today. Read last 2 months threads in this board for sample. We can see many of us are motivated now by the same reasons for which we came here in the first place. Money and professional recognition ! Add Indian food and life style to that. What a mouth watering combo ? Earlier we had to sacrifice one for other. Now you get all combined and thrown in as one package deal.
Smart Returnee :
In financial world, there is a term called "smart money" ; money is never smart, but the term describes short term investment made by the investors and arbitrageurs who are constantly looking for new opportunity to get that extra return. They are not bound by any loyalty or not bothered by long term outlook. If they can make one dollar more today in this investment, that is where they invest for that day.
The returnees today are more like "smart money" - ( should we call them "smart returnees" ?). Yesterday they were in US, today in India, if Russia is good tomorrow, that is where you will see them.
In other words, I think the group-1 have more permanent returnees and group-2 has less permanent returnees. This is another reason we hear stories of R2A and why some could not make it in India even for 18 months. If money is there, we can adjust anywhere in the world. The influx of Indian migration to US or any other countries has not reduced a bit. Yes, more Indians are now finding an IT job in India itself, but that has not diminished the number of IT experts finding a job in US or the number of students who proceed to US to pursue Masters. If India is better than US today, why this has not stopped still ?
Return Challenges :
The group-2 folks are younger than group-1. This is another reason why their R2I fails. Infact, it was not R2I at all. May be we should not call that as failure. If you are younger, you have long way to go for retirement and require lot of money to be saved. Today people spend more money than earlier generations, the savings rate is lower than before. Now there are new expenses. The world is changing very quickly and we have to constantly upgrade ourselves and our electronic toys. All this new demand require money. Not to mention, women and kids are demanding than ever before and never seems to be happy or content. This all takes the toll on every family and have larger impact on returnees. It is because returnee has the potential to make a big earnings and they have to consiously settle for less. He knows that secret and his family too. Guess what ? The return to India becomes like a long vacation for him. Except it is not sweet vacation but 'sweat vacation' - have to fight many issues to settle for day to day Indian life - electricity, water, transportation, maid services etc.,
Also since group-2 is younger, they are ready to face the challenges and accept mistakes as mistakes and move on.
You will not expect that from older people who are longing for permanent retirement and return. For the younger generation it is easy to move to India and in the same stride, move back to US. Either way no big deal !
The increasing consumerism, globalization and westernization has a huge impact on Indians, Indian culture now. Our believes and values are ever changing. I am not getting into whether these changes are good or bad. It does not matter. If you don't perceive the changes happening around us and adjust our thoughts and plans, we will suffer - mentally and financially.
Change in the mind set:
There are few H1B holders who are home sick, wish to return and do return. They care less what others say. When you are home sick, your ears are closed and mind is occupied. You can also find very few green card holders who have the same sickness. Generally these people have not many reasons to return, they just want to return. It is easy to identify these folks.
They will say one of this:
1) why do I need a reason to go my home ?
2) My vacation is over, and it is time to return.
3) I came here for some savings, got it and going back.
4) What is more important than my father and mother ?
After 5-10 years in US, the US life style has a huge impact on you and in your considerations. If you are here for less than 3 years, you will not appreciate it very much. But most of the green card holders or USC holders, will do.
Once you get married and have kids, your values and believes changes. It actually does change constantly as we go older and wiser. But there is a dramatic shift after few years of marriage. If you are 35-45, you worry about kids education, retirement etc., Money and career plays very important role. Over 45, health and family takes precedence over other issues.
It is not right time to return when money and career are important in life. If you do, you are doing it for "smart" reasons. There are lot of possibilities that you will return again to US. At later stage in life, when family is important to you, you don?t want to leave your kids in US and return alone. After that age, you don?t have any motivation to return. You have social security and kids in US and nothing in India. India is just another third world country with bad roads, water problem, corruption and don?t forget mosquitoes.
US Citizenship Vs Indian Citizenship:
I have a page in my web site summarizing the benefits of USC and INC for r2iers. Check out the table here.
If you have noticed, there is an underlying assumption which is not explicitly stated. This table is meant for PERMANENT returnees -either to work (R2I-J) or retire (R2I-R). That is we assumed this population never comes back to US. And I would say still applicable for people in group-1, which is almost as rare as dinosaurs now.
After few years of learning R2I issues in this forum, I believe, R2I-J folks are not real permanent returnees, they are the 'smart returnees' who goes with the flow. And the other category R2I-R are 'semi permanent' returnees. By 'semi permanent', I mean they could not stay in India for ever. Even these R2I-R aspire to get their children to come back to US for education. Guess what ? The kids come here and go through the same dilemma we go through. But it is only easier for them to get adjust to US life style and is much easier than our generation for several reasons. They are mostly US citizens, we bring them up with 'phoren' stories so they never feel that they are in alien land and biggest advantage is when they like to stay in US for longer time, we would not see any problem in staying with them - specifically very big advantage we don?t have in our generation.
In all our comparison of USC and INC for PERMANENT returnees, the general feeling about financial benefit is mostly a wash. A portfolio can be rearranged to reduce taxes. Other than finance, most of the other benefits are good for INC.
Be a Roman in Rome ! If you are LIA candidate, you must go for US Citizenship. If you are permanent Indian resident, keep your Indian citizenship.
The key word is PERMANENT here. If not Permanent, this advice is not applicable.
But I strongly believe now there are very few returnees who qualify for PERMANENT word. Not all those who believe they are PERMANENT returnee are right. Some make mistake and identify themselves as PERMANENT returnee and time prove that otherwise. If you feel you are very strong permanent permanent R2Ier, I wish you luck and wish you are right. You keep your Indian passport safely.
For other 'smartees' and those in dilemma about their situation ( not dilemma about return, but dilemma about whether they are permanent candidate or not), go for US citizenship. With USC+OIC, you can postpone to make a decision later.
The US immigration laws are getting tougher and Indian immigration laws are getting easier. Indian citizenship is never lost. If you are green card holder and make a mistake to forego the opportunity to get US citizenship, return, and if you may later realize that you need to come back, you may have to start your immigration status from scratch. You may also have to forego few career opportunities for being stubborn. In my work I know few incidents where the visitor visa application was delayed for approval and had to cancel important vendor meetings. Think about the effect it has on the businesses.
There is also another psychological aspect to having US Citizenship.
When you stepped into US as fresh graduate or took the first job, you came here with nothing and built all this wealth yourself. We had so much confidence then. But now when we want to go back to our own home country, we have such a big dilemma. Because now we have so much to lose. Then we did not have anything to lose. The main reason for that confidence we had when we stepped in US is, if anything goes wrong, we can always go back. We always knew we had our family to support us. That feeling is lacking now, which makes us less confident about our return or future life in India. If you had US Citizenship, you would know you can return here any time you want. This is the same confidence you had earlier in your life. This confidence alone can be one very big factor for your R2I success.
Good Luck !
**RRK