In 2008, Zuyi’s dad lost his job in Chicago. The company laid him off along with many other workers as a part of the 2008 financial crisis.
A mechanical engineer, his work had taken him 450 km (280 miles) away from his family back in Windsor, Ontario. Back in Windsor, Zuyi’s mom was a doctoral candidate at the University of Windsor. But after Zuyi’s dad was laid off, she left her studies in search of a job to support the family as well.
Gone were the days when auto factories in Detroit aggressively hired Canadians, and Zuyi’s dad could live with his family in Windsor while crossing the border to build car seats in Detroit. In search of work during the Great Recession, the family was migrating south.
In this blogpost, we share the story of Zuyi’s family as they migrate 3 generations across 3 countries in search of work and stability.
Zuyi shares his story to raise awareness about the issues that im/migrants and international students face in tech. In his story, it is hard to separate the issues of labor from the issues of immigration.
His family experiences fall-out from the 2008 speculation bubble, green card backlog, and an immigration system eager to import their labor, but not their well-being. The privileges and stability of citizenship are not inherited from parent to child. In the face of these challenges, Zuyi’s family develops im/migrant wisdom and multi-generational support. Zuyi also bonds with other international students and speaks up for their concerns. Finally, we hear from Zuyi himself on building solidarity with im/migrants in tech.
Zuyi’s family story - continued
Eventually, Zuyi’s dad found a job as a project manager at an air mattress company in Chicago. His wife also found a position as a thermodynamic engineer in the same area. However, it would take 2 more years for the family to reunite as the complex US immigration system and expensive legal fees prevented the couple from bringing their children and parents to the US.
In the meantime, Zuyi lived with his baby brother and his grandparents in Windsor, Ontario. He watched tv shows like Spongebob and The Fairly Oddparents, and learned English. As his English improved, he felt less and less like a Chinese immigrant to Canada and more like a Canadian. A naturalized Canadian citizen, he said, “I just felt Canadian, I didn’t feel Chinese Canadian”.
Eventually, Zuyi’s family reunited and settled in a suburb of Chicago, where Zuyi went to high school. In those years, he read a lot of fantasy novels and enjoyed watching anime. As the time passed, his memories of Canada also faded. He felt more like a Chinese immigrant to the US than a Canadian one, because Americans he met couldn’t understand that he was Canadian as well.
As Canadians, Zuyi’s parents worked in the US on the TN visa, a 3-year visa for Canadians and Mexicans to work in the US. The TN visa could be renewed indefinitely and does not require an employer sponsor, which helped them greatly in finding jobs. However, it’s not an immigrant visa–you can’t get a green card and settle long term in the US while on TN. So, Zuyi’s parents switched from TN to H-1B.
By the time Zuyi went to college, his parents were still waiting for their green cards. Although his parents had already worked in the US for 8 years, it would be 5 more years before they got their green cards. In the meantime, Zuyi went to the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign as an international student on H4 status (dependent of H-1B).
As an H4 student, Zuyi couldn’t get paid. Getting work experience from internships or research positions was impossible–unless it was for unpaid labor. He ended up finding a 2-month summer position at a contracting company. The company employed contractors in China to write software to process payments for clients like Gogo Air. Over the summer, Zuyi wrote unit tests and learned about how enterprise software was produced. Their processes were ad-hoc because clients only contracted out work that they wanted done a tight budget. Zuyi also struggled to connect with his mentors because of time zone differences–they were in China and he was in the US–as well as language differences–he had lost some of his Chinese language skills while acquiring fluent English.
In college, Zuyi made friends with American students, but didn’t feel understood among them. He described the disconnect: “People knew I was an international, but because of the way I act–not having an accent, having grown up in the US for so long, I felt like they just didn’t understand what it actually meant.” He was also tired from explaining his situation to those with citizenship privilege who couldn’t or wouldn’t do anything about it. He said, “At the end of the day, there’s only so much I could convey, and it was unnecessarily burdensome [for them]. I didn’t feel it was actually necessary for me to explain some of these situations out… Too much explanation only for people to come back with ‘oh, I’m so sorry’. And you’re like ‘I appreciate it, but it doesn’t change anything’.”
Instead, Zuyi made friends with South Asian international students. They bonded over anime and Asian culture, and understood each other’s visa-related challenges. They coached each other through interviews and watched out for one another. They shared knowledge when companies refused to hire them for internships. Over the years, Zuyi saw fewer and fewer companies willing to sponsor visas or hire international students at career fairs.
Zuyi decided to major in computer science for the stability. He had always loved history and dreamed of becoming a history teacher, but his family had moved around a lot, so he wanted a path with more financial stability. The university he attended had a strong computer science program and good connections with potential employers.
His search for a software engineering job was straightforward because he could hide his status as an international student. He speaks Midwestern-style English, which is accent-less to the American ear. When job fair reps, HR professionals and hiring managers heard no accent in his voice, they were more open to discussing his skills and qualifications, rather than questions about his country of origin or suspicions about his nationality.
Zuyi also followed his dad’s example and acquired wisdom not to tell employers that he would need sponsorship. Unlike most international students, Zuyi could follow his father’s path of working on TN without an employer sponsor. But he knew that, like his dad, he would also eventually need employer sponsorship if he wanted to stay in the US long term. If he wanted the stability that he imagined working as a software engineer would bring.
Zuyi has been working as a software engineer for a couple of years now. When asked if there was anything he would want other tech workers to understand about being an im/migrant tech worker, he had a lot to say.
Q&A with Zuyi
Question: What would you want other tech workers to understand about being an im/migrant tech worker?
[In Zuyi’s own words - transcription of an interview with him]
There is a good thing about a H-1B ‘cause they’re so dependent on the company and their employment. I feel like, from a business point of view, why wouldn’t you want an H-1B worker, right? You know you can definitely pressure them more, strong arm them. It’s just my experience and from my friends–you can do like a bunch of unethical slash sometimes borderline illegal stuff, and there’s just no repercussions. You fire them–an H-1B worker has 60 days to remain in the country and find another job. So you know, who can, even if you did have something bad happen to you, are you really going to find a lawyer in 60 days just to sue the company? From the business perspective, the H-1B is safe, can’t complain, don’t really sue.
I wish [other tech workers] would understand it’s stressful. There’s an added layer of stress because you’re on H-1B. You not only have to deal with everything at work and personal and all of that, but then you also get the immigration. Especially with the current [Trump] administration. You like you reeaaaaaallly can’t lose your job. I know everyone’s like “I can’t lose my job, I’ll go broke”, and that’s true, but if you’re on H-1B and you lost your job, then you would not get unemployment. Because you can only stay in the country for 2 months, right? So you actually don’t have a safety net. And you have to pack up and go. If you own a house like–how could you even own a house?? Because at any moment, you get 2 months to sell your house. You can’t come back.
It’s like, your life has no fundamental stability. And so, for lack of a better word, losing your job means a lot more. I wish I could think well of people, and that if you’re in management that you would understand that and that you’d have sympathy, but I know that’s not how a business works. I wish that management understood and was sympathetic and that this issue was talked about more. Because I feel like, for lack of a better word, this is like indentured servitude, to some extent, if [the company] wanted it to be. And everyone is just okay with it. Everyone is okay with it because you get so many business benefits at the cost of the individuals.
I don’t know. I don’t know. I wish they knew and I wish they cared. I think they know. That’s actually the worst part is that I think they do understand this. And they just choose to exploit it. Ahw man. This is like a really cynical view.
Question: But what if we stand together?
It’s kinda hard… I don’t even really know how to explain it. Like, do you really want your co-workers to stand up for you? What are the repercussions? You know, you can’t sue. You can’t sue. I feel like that’s the thing. You just want to stay as quiet as possible. You don’t wanna attract attention to yourself. Because any attention irks some people, you know. And I’ve seen that just everywhere.
If one of your coworkers is like “Hey, that’s not right” and they say something about it, your manager could just very well be like “Okay, sup? So what?”. And you’re like “Oh man, before I was able to deal with it, but now the manager is probably gonna get more pressure. How are they gonna treat me? Are they gonna find an excuse to fire me? Then I’m really done.” It’s just [based on] everyone’s experiences, you just want to stay as quiet as possible, hopefully grind yourself out until your green card, and then you just have more options.
There’s no recourse. If you get fired, there’s nothing you can do. Nothing nothing nothing you can do. You can sue, but in 2 months, you need to either find a new job or be in another country. And even if you did start a lawsuit, how would you do that in another country? Or even if you did find a job, it’s just like the price isn’t worth it. What are you getting? Some justice?
But it’s like the system. You know, the system’s been this way for a long time. They say the system was to bring good people here into the US and have them integrate in to society and have them be American, but the reality is they’re just cheap, disposable labor. I would say H-1B is just like higher tier contractors. That’s how I think about it: I’m like a contractor, just a little higher tier.
I was never a contractor, but I do wonder about their experience. I feel like they do not get treated well either. And I really wish it would change, but I think it’s just an industry problem. Like why would you treat well people you’re just going to throw away? You know, disposable people.
Coda
Despite the risks of speaking up, Zuyi is open about his experiences as an international student and an im/migrant tech worker. I’m very appreciative that he shared his story with us on this blog. As a person with citizenship privilege, I can be blind to the pressures that im/migrants experience. However, the concerns of im/migrant tech workers are the concerns of all tech workers. I want to build solidarity and organize with im/migrants. Feel free to reach out if you would like to join up efforts.