Imtiaz Ahmad Khan’s living room in Paramus, N.J., captures his life perfectly. On one side of the room, a collection of monuments from around the globe lines the shelves—a miniature Sydney Harbor Bridge, the memorable miniature of the World Trade Center, the ever-famous Statue of Liberty and pictures of Khan’s family and himself in international settings. In contrast, beautiful Quranic verses and shimmering Islamic paintings cover the other side of the room.
Khan’s life is a fascinating collage of Eastern and Western experiences. This universal man, my father, started his life in Pakistan. From here he moved to two Eastern countries, then two Western countries. Globalization, multinational corporations, work, family and identity have all played huge roles in his life—enabling him to settle anywhere and come out with perceptive ideas and thoughts learned only through migration.
For Khan, adaptation has been the most crucial component in enabling him to enjoy his transitions and make the most of his stay in any country.
From Pakistan to Kuwait
Mr. Imtiaz Ahmad Khan resides in New Jersey with his four kids and wife. He left his home, Karachi, Pakistan, where he had spent his childhood and adolescence, 22 years ago. During his final college year in engineering school in Pakistan, Mr. Khan received a job opportunity from the biggest engineering firm in Karachi, which gave him the opportunity to travel to Kuwait for further training in the field of electrical engineering. Mr. Khan accepted it and left Pakistan to go to Kuwait.
At age 22, I left Karachi and didn’t have fear of anything. I vividly remember landing in Kuwait at 9:00 p.m. and realizing that it was 37 degrees Celsius! It struck me hot it is here in comparison to Pakistan.
Wherever you go you have to adapt. I had to adapt to many many changes too as I was struggling to learn the basic language of Kuwait (Arabic) and also to the different people and environment. But it all seemed easy to me. In my engineering college, I stayed in the dorm. These were the most excellent five years of my life, as I learned a lot in those years—friendship, socialization, understanding people. But most important of all were adaptability and independence, as these two factors pushed me to move around a lot since I got used to being on my own and then adapt easily anywhere. Due to this I fit in very easily in Kuwait and found that generally Kuwaitis were welcoming, open-minded people.
Leaving Kuwait
Khan stayed in Kuwait for nine years with Asraff & Company. During this time he got married and moved his family with him to Kuwait from Pakistan. After nine years he decided to move out of Kuwait.
While in Kuwait I didn’t change jobs, not even one. It’s hard to believe but it’s true [laughs]. I could not have changed jobs there. Since in Kuwait you are given a visa, which is the legal documentation to stay in the country, by the company you work for. This is why before you enter you have to have a job like I had. But after you start your job, you cannot leave it, for then you won’t have the legal status anymore, and the government can kick you out anytime. I loved my job, but after a while it got monotonous and boring, and since I could not have switched to some other job, I decided to try for jobs in the neighboring country, United Arab Emirates [UAE].
Adapting in the UAE
UAE was a far more developed area and much better in terms of infrastructure than Kuwait mainly because UAE was a newer country and just starting to develop. Again adaptability learned in college made it easy for me to settle in UAE, and I enjoyed it. UAE was easier to settle in as there were many expatriates like myself (people who come from countries all over the world to work in UAE but are not given permanent legal status, which was the law of the country, just like Kuwait). In comparison to this, Kuwait had mostly Kuwaiti locals in it, which in some ways made it hard to completely blend in.
Comparison between UAE and Kuwait
To attract expatriates, the government of UAE had set up many external attractions as fancy restaurants, shopping mall, theaters, etc., to entice people to visit from other foreign countries and eventually settle in and get a job and support the growing economy of the country. These external attractions kept us outside in the summer so our family didn’t have many family. In Kuwait there were very few attractions so we had many more family friends—people of different demographic makeup, Indians, local Kuwaitis, Egyptians, etc., and many people who were not Pakistanis since there weren’t many expatriates as I mentioned before. We enjoyed a lot in UAE. But again even if you live for 22 years in UAE, just like Kuwait, you can’t be a permanent citizen. So I thought, what would be the outcome? And at that time my kids were growing up, and they had entered high school. When the kids went to college, we would have to move anyway since colleges in UAE were very expensive, and 70 percent of them were open only to locals. So the only choice we had was to move to Pakistan as that was the only country we had citizenship in. And I knew that it would be hard for kids growing up outside of Pakistan to settle there as environments are so different.
Adapting in Australia
A few years back in time we had applied to Australia, and my sister in New York had also sponsored us for U.S. citizenship. So luckily, we got opportunities for going to Australia and the United States at the same time. My family and I chose to go to Australia. Because my wife was separated from her family who were all in Australia, I gave her a chance to stay with her family. Again adaptability made it easy for me to settle, and I had many job trainings outside (in Western countries) so it wasn’t anything new for me. I got my first job in the field of product management in 10 weeks. This field was completely new for me as I had held jobs in both Kuwait and UAE only in the field of electrical engineering. I therefore struggled to cope with understanding the new job processes, challenges, etc., but I coped and adapted pretty well. My family was also happy as my kids united with their cousins and my wife with her family. My kids were doing well in school too.
Comparison between Western and Eastern countries
I found Australia different in comparison to Eastern countries. In Eastern countries you have to have a job before moving while in Australia for the first time I was free to hunt for any job. So even though this was my first experience of hunting jobs, I managed well. During 10 weeks of unemployment, we were financially supported by two sources. The first was the Australian social security system, set up by government to aid immigrants financially until they find jobs. Secondly—since in UAE we could not buy a house or land as everything is given by the company—we saved all that money, which came in handy at this time. Due to this we had money saved, even without a job, we fared pretty well. Actually we fared better without a job than with a job [laughs]. Because once you get a job in Australia, you have to pay every penny you received from the government in addition to a huge interest rate. Also the more you make, the more you paid in taxes due to the progressive tax system that Australia followed. So basically the social working system in Australia made you work hard and you got paid less. In comparison to this, a person not working at all or just two or three hours got the same amount of money from the government as someone like myself working for 14 hours daily. This really hurt and angered me as I always worked hard, but the Australian system didn’t support this. That is why as a family we decided to move to the United States since my kids also had better educational chances in the USA.
The American Dream and the move to the United States
For me, just like everyone else, the United States was a dream country. To me the American Dream was that you work hard, you earn your pay. I thought I could definitely do well in such a country. Also kids’ education was better here since America’s education is known worldwide. I moved to the United States at the age of 43. My responsibilities were greater, I was older with less motivation, and money, which was wasted in so many migrations, was less. However, finding jobs here was easier and faster than in Australia, and I got my first job in two weeks in the field of product management at IBM.
Job Hunting in Australia and the United States
I realized that applying to jobs, interviews, etc., was different here than in Australia. In Australia I had to mail a hundred resumes, the attachments, cover letters to many different companies, which was the traditional way of finding jobs even in Pakistan. But in comparison, here in United States, everything was through technology—I mean the computer. I was e-mailing and faxing resumes, which was so much quicker and better so I had an easier experience here in looking for jobs. It was also because the United States is such a big country with so many opportunities that I was able to find a job faster.
Adapting in the United States
The biggest difference I saw between Australia and the United States was in the lifestyle we all faced as a family. I felt life in United States was very fast-paced. In decision-making, finding jobs, this, that, everything—you had to be fast, and if you were not you had a problem. Quickly, everyone got busy; my kids worked hard at school as there was more competition; my wife was a busy homemaker. And since distances are so great between places, I traveled a lot to get from one client to the other. Eventually there was no time left to sit down as a family anymore. This was an unexpected negative outcome. I feel my family is very detached now. I am sure that any other place our family would be close, but the kids’ education and my career would not be so good. I believe that to gain something you have to lose something, and I feel our loss was big. This makes me scared for my kids’ future. But I also know that they will have a better life because, according to American system, both husband and wife work in a 50-50 partnership, and this gives them more time to have a family life.
Fulfillment of the American Dream
Have I achieved the American Dream? Hmmm. Still, I won’t say I have achieved the American dream. To me, after running around all day and achieving the material gains, the main thing is what we have at the end of the day. If you achieve success, money, fame but lose family ties, I don’t feel that’s the definition of the America dream.
Final Thoughts on Migration and Adaptation
Given a chance to do things differently as I have done in terms of migrations, I wouldn’t change a single thing. I feel that every country’s culture and experience added something valuable to my personality, and I wouldn’t want to lose that. In general, I enjoyed my migration as it brought a lot of quality and variety in my personality. It made me broad-minded and helped me to understand people better. However, I would say that the ability to adapt anywhere as I learned in college made migration so easy for me, which is why I enjoyed it so much. That’s why I feel that anyone migrating has to be adaptable. If adaptability is not part of an immigrant’s personality, he should not move, no matter what.
Hira Khan is an Honors College student at Rutgers-Newark.
