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Entry 6: Conclusion
I asked Igor about what makes America so special and he said, “In this country, you can do whatever you want with what skills you have. You can do anything and you are going to be fine.” America is the ideal destination for immigrants because of the possibilities available. Because of this, Ukraine has recently had an overwhelming amount of immigrants coming the past two decades, and the rest of Eastern Europe has had the same change. With the countries being more independent since the collapse of the Soviet Union, people are finally able to immigrate to find jobs. Those who are able to make it to America and are dedicated to obtaining a better lifestyle will work with whatever situation they are put in. If it means that they need to learn English or work multiple jobs, they will do it. But just like Igor said, even though he is a hard worker, he got lucky with his opportunity to come to America. In the end, the American Dream is available to Eastern European immigrants and Ukrainian immigrants. They just have to continue dreaming and be lucky.
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Entry 5: How do they fare?
For this entry and I want to go a little bit in depth into how Eastern European immigrants adapt to the new environment of the United States. Now there are two big concepts when these immigrants dive head first into a new culture: Learning the language and finding a job. Now statistically, a majority of Eastern Europeans do well with their English proficiency. In an article about post 1991 immigrants from the area, it states “75% of the respondents reported speaking English well or very well… and 3% did not speak English at all.” I don’t know about you, but to me, that is an incredible amount of success in learning the new environment. However, a problem arises for many immigrants as well. Skills and knowledge obtained from their education abroad is not used as much as one would hope. In the same article they find, “post-1991 Eastern European immigrants tend to be highly educated and professional, but their educational and occupational attainment does not translate into a high income for these immigrants. Sixty-nine percent of new Eastern Europeans had at least some college, including 22 % with an advanced degree beyond college…” In a similar way, this happened to Igor when he went to college to become an accountant, but had no success in the United States to continue that. This does not stop immigrants from obtaining a different job with the remaining skills they have, even though their education does not help some of them. Even though their education and skills may be undervalued, they still find a way to make things work.
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Entry 4: Where are they going?
Eastern European immigrants are just trying to leave, and they have plenty of places they would rather be. Depending on what resources one may have limits the amount of choices they have in immigrating. An article about the characteristics of Eastern European immigrants says, “In research done on Mexican immigrants Portes, and Rumbaut (1990) indicate that those who lack the resources to cover their costs of transportation and the other expenses are not able to emigrate. A similar process is occurring for people from Eastern Europe. Those who have more resources (human, social, economic capital) are trying to come to the US. Those who have fewer resources are trying and are able to migrate to closer geographical destinations such as Western Europe. For example, many manual labor and agricultural workers are going to Germany, Italy, or Spain.” Not only does moving to America require resources, but it also requires plenty of luck. The process of obtaining a green card is a long and stressful period of time. In the end you may have gotten over every hurdle in attempting to get a green card, but in the end only a certain amount are given each year. Every year in the Green Card Lottery, fifty-five thousand people are selected. You could do everything right and still not get in. This does not only make it difficult for Eastern European immigrants, but for every immigrant that dreams to live in the United States. But this does not prevent the American Dream from being alive, as the dream of living in America gives them hope for the future.
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Image taken of the celebration of Ukrainians after they declared independence
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Entry 3: Why are they leaving?
Eastern Europe, and especially Ukraine, have been in decline since the collapse of the Soviet Union. With communist countries having state-owned jobs for their people, there was a secure lifestyle for everyone that lived there. In Ukraine for example, there were two large pieces to the Soviet Union. Western Ukraine was agricultural, and was often referred to as the “Bread Basket” of the Soviet Union, while Eastern Ukraine was industrialized. When Ukraine became independent from the Soviet Union, they became a free market. Without their support, the economy tanked and became corrupt because of desire to control the industries. In an article about the economic failure of Ukraine, the owner of a retail store in Ukraine was interviewed about the subject: "Over the last year or two we have really lost confidence in tomorrow," he said. "There is no confidence because small business is being robbed by the state."A huge number of laws are passed that contradict one another but under which it is possible to assess fines, to close businesses, and to prevent us from working. I might just close my business and go work for a pittance at some large enterprise." Ukraine was ready to take control of their economy once they had separated from the Soviet Union. And because of this, the door was open for Ukrainians to choose what they wanted to do.
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Entry 2: Interview
There was one person in my mind that I knew I would interview, and that was Igor. The most caring, helpful and trusting guy I have ever met, besides my dad, was Igor. Igor Matvychok is a friend and coworker of my mom for the past several years as they build houses together like Batman and Robin fight crime. Igor is from Ukraine. He grew up in Ukraine, and received an education there. He studied to become an accountant and was able to have a job at the IRS for some time. However, he did not make enough money to be able to live a stable life in Ukraine. Because of this, he and his wife moved to Portugal in October, 2000. In Portugal, he worked in construction to make some more money. During his time in Portugal, he got in contact with a Jewish family that lived in his city in Ukraine. The family was able to immigrate to the United States, and they met Igor and decided to help him apply for a green card. Though Igor already applied for one years before, the help from his old friends made them his sponsor. This is often referred to as an “affidavit of support”, where someone sponsors a person to come to the United States and is responsible for them until they become a U.S. citizen. After waiting many years, his newfound support helped him and his wife make it to the United States.
When Igor first came to the United States, he said the first thing he had to do was to find some work. He stayed with his friends that helped him come to the United States for a while, but eventually wanted to go out on his own. However, he did not know English, so he found communities of people that had come from Eastern Europe, and spoke Polish or Russian. He stayed around these communities for a while, finding jobs in construction and more. After a while, he decided to take English classes to learn the language. As he continued to work and his English improved, he was able to go outside of his comfort zone and find more jobs. He was able to communicate with people and find jobs with much more ease, and he was able to become a painter’s assistant. Igor’s dream was coming true when he came to America.
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Entry 1: American Dream
Some people dream about being a singer, an astronaut or even the president. We all have our goals in life, and sometimes they seem out of reach. But what we don’t realize is that what we have, is what others dream for. Not for our fancy shoes or our jewelry, but simply where we live, in the United States. To many, the feeling of being able to go to the United States is the same feeling people would have of winning the Super Bowl. So I decided to research a group of people, who dream about this same idea. I chose to learn about Eastern European immigrants, and especially Ukrainian immigrants and how their American Dream stands. I interviewed a close friend and coworker of my mom, who is an immigrant from Ukraine.Currently, they have had much more success in achieving their dream than before in most of the twentieth century. The status of the Eastern Europeans’ American dreams is very successful.
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Works Cited
Barkar, Dmytro. Ukraine’s Economic Rankings Mired in Decline Despite Attempts at Reform. Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc, Lanham, 2012, Research Library Prep, https://glencoelibrary.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.glencoelibrary.idm.oclc.org/docview/916237773?accountid=6170.
Michalikova, Nina, and Philip Q. Yang. “Socioeconomic Adaptation of Post-1991 Eastern European Immigrants in the USA.” Journal of International Migration and Integration, vol. 17, no. 1, 2016, pp. 1-34, Research Library Prep, https://glencoelibrary.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.glencoelibrary.idm.oclc.org/docview/1760244876?accountid=6170, doi:http://dx.doi.org.glencoelibrary.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s12134-014-0381-1.
Robila, Mihaela. “Characteristics of Eastern European Immigration in the United States.” Journal of Comparative Family Studies, vol. 39, no. 4, 2008, pp. 545-XI, Research Library Prep, https://glencoelibrary.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.glencoelibrary.idm.oclc.org/docview/232579742?accountid=6170
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