16.Maypeculiarly pinoy?
I find it odd, sometimes disturbing, when people congratulate others when being granted Visa’s. Back in the days when people pay professional-queuers to stand in line in front of the US Embassy, you get strangers wishing you luck, giving you tips, grilling you after the interview, and commiserating or congratulating you when you get the result.
I wonder if it’s the same across the globe for all “third-world” citizens. Are we all so eager to enter a “first world” country we have to celebrate or despair depending on the pendulum’s swing?
Sometimes it’s sickening esp when you see Pinoys literally begging the consul, or you overhear stories of mad attempts to bulk up their “show money”. It angers me a little but then with poverty everywhere & hopelessness in their lives, you can’t really blame them.
When will it happen that we’ll get these westerners beg us to let them in? Actually can we even impose a required visa for Americans instead of giving them this universal passport to our country? You know, just to balance it out a little.
Forgive my mumblings I stumbled on a blog with each & every comment congratulating the blogger on her US visa approval.
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For the record, I also hate the Third World – First World labels!
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 16th, 2007 at 4:26 pm and is filed under napansin. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
auee, it’s the irony of life. how come nobody congratulated me when i got my resident visa here in nigeria(it took 2 years to get it approved). hehe… all friends and family whom i speak with is asking when i will come home for good.
but it’s true, how come we in the “3rd world” find it so hard to even just get visas as tourist?
oo, bad label nga to call us a third world country.
hi sheilamarie… most pinoys probably think less of Nigeria because it’s an African country & it’s an “unusual” destination for most OFW di ba? The west keeps coming up with stupid labels.
“When will it happen that we’ll get these westerners beg us to let them in”…. that will be the day!
On US visa… well, it’s the “ultimate dream” especially with Pinoys, innit?
How I’d love to visit SanFran, kaya lang can’t afford at the moment… maraming gastusin, he he…
Both ma and pa’s relatives are coaxing us to go to US or Canada or Australia. They all said that with our degrees and work experience, we won’t have a hard time getting a job there. The thing is we’re happy here and we’re earning enough, well not a lot, like what they said we’d earn overseas. All of us want a good life, heck, a great life, but as my brother said, why leave when you have all the great things going for you here? I once told my a friend of my ma that I wanted apply at UNDP and go to Cambodia, sabi ba naman,”Eh hindi naman mayaman yung bansang yun, di ba?”
It’s a choice everyone has to make. I respect that. I just wish other people would stop telling us which choice is better.
Ate Donna punta kami Pagudpud!
- osang
hi auee, thanks for the visit sa site ko ah…
re US visa, how timely it is, kze today my cousin is scheduled for her interview @ the US embassy, for weeks she can’t sleep and all she think of is her interview, she really needs to be approve kze if not, she’ll never be able to work in a cruise line base in the US. sometimes, i feel so sad with the idea that Pinoy’s make a big deal out of it just to have their Visa’s. how sickening kze our country na,that it cannot give a descent work for every filipino. whew.
bdw,i’ll link u up ha!
–kathy
I agree with Pining…being granted a US VISA is like having all your prayers answered. I’ve seen friends who were devastated like it’s the end of the world because they got denied.
It’s a sad thing, yes. I agree with you about westerners not undergoing the same thing when they enter our country or other countries like the PI. It’s unfair but then again who’s fault is it?
Thanks Auee for dropping by my site
Appreciate it 
i have a friend, a cum laude in ChemEng from UP. He recently got a PhD scholarship in the US. He already got his visa and all. I was congratulating him for his achievement, about to tell him to make the filipino people proud, only to hear him say “sana makapangasawa ako ng american citizen, yan ang goal ko.”
i was like, “oh, ok. good luck, then.”
Can’t wait for this: “When will it happen that we’ll get these westerners beg us to let them in”
Pilipino, taas noo! Cheers! Luv this post.
I hate applying for a US visa. When hubby asked me to follow him to the US years ago I was denied a US visa. The stupid immigration fellow asked me”Why didnt you apply the same time as your husband” Gusto ko sanang sagutin” Its none of your business and ano ang pakialam mo”
A US or a visa to anywhere in the world is not really a cause for celebration for some who dont have plans of finding work or settling there.
before, they even featured boyet de leon on the front page of inquirer as he rejoiced getting his US immigrant status approved.
anyway… i never really had problems with getting visas. but I do hate the process of having to get one and the long lines, etc. whenever I get one, I just say to myself “thank god, that is over!”
hi pining… you’re spot for most Pinoys moving abroad means going to the US. Hubby hasn’t been & we’ve been wanting to visit some friends in SanFran & Cali but like you, daming gastos so saka na lang hehe
hi osang! Pagudpud? Waah sama ko.
hi kathy, thanks for dropping-by. I need to update my links, too. Yeah walang tulak-kabigin sa desperation ng Pinoy. For most if they stay in Pinas, gutom ang labas.
hi verna, thanks for dropping-by. Link kita ha. Takot Pinas maghigpit sa mga foreigners. Kung pwede lang siguro free-for-all na yan gagawin ng gobyerno natin.
hi mommyness, thanks for visiting. Nakakalaglag panga yang ChemEng na yan ha. Parang tita nung lesbian friend ko, she told her niece (who was just visiting) to marry a brit para daw dito na lang sya. The tita won’t accept that her niece has a good life back home, paano daw?
hi betty, thanks for dropping-by. Acckkk if I have a list of people I love to hate, american consuls will be on top 5, nope top 3!
hi melissa… ngek another reason for me to not like Boyet. I hate queueing for visa’s too! The first time I had to line up was for a schengen visa to France, susme isang araw yata akong nakatayo at usad pagong.
Hay, visas – pasakit talaga yan. Sa SEA nations lang tayo merong visa-free privilege. For the rest of the world, we always have to subject ourselves to endless scrutiny and tedious processes just to be allowed to visit. It doesn’t seem fair, but it’s just the way things are. If and when we finally rule the world, maybe things would change, eh?
Thanks for the visit and leaving your comment – mind exchanging links?
hi kathy! Thanks for dropping-by.
Naku sabi ni Jessica Zafra malapit na tayong maging Masters of the world due to our domestic helpers across the globe di ba? So it’s only a matter of time
:-)
I’ve already got your site in my link. I liked your site so much, I bookmarked it straightaway so I won’t lose it! Salamat.
Auee, if you haven’t yet, read Kiran Desai’s “Inheritance Of Loss”. I was amazed of the similarities the bombays’ (aka continental indians) attitude are on US visas and life as TNTs with Pinoys. Mas malala pa yata sila.
What I can’t stand are TNTs bragging about their life in the US and even recruiting pinoys who are living a fairly comfortable life in Pinas by planting in them seeds of discontent. Sa totoo lang, there are many challenges too when living in a rich country – just because one gets a visa doesn’t mean he’s got his life made already.
hi geri… we also have some pinoys here who just aren’t convinced some people can have a good life back in Pinas & try to get those content people to come over.