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i got no idea where am staying man :/
only 1 month left
Well, you won't be allowed to sleep in Penn Station and you don't want to live on the streets. You'll need to find a job and apartment real fast!
NYC is the place to be. Best of luck to you!!
I was wondering if there was any update on this situation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chemi
i got no idea where am staying man :/
only 1 month left
Have you checked out any hostels like I recommended awhile back?
Again, I STRONGLY recommend finding a place to stay at least for the first week you are in town. It's easy to be gung-ho about it when you're not living the situation, but getting off of a plane halfway around the world in New York City, exhausted, with no sense of direction and no clue where to go, is extremely unwise and will be incredibly overwhelming. It's too much. Give yourself at least a few days in a hostel or hotel to get well-rested from your flight, situated and get the general layout of NYC straight.
Another thing that you may have to think about considering your willingness to be homeless is the fact that this is New York, not Australia, and in New York, it starts to get COLD in the coming months; the type of cold that Australia never gets anywhere near. Sleeping on the streets becomes not just dangerous from a safety point of view, but also from a health standpoint.
Keep us posted on this. I'm interested in seeing how this whole thing turns out.
I was wondering if there was any update on this situation.
Have you checked out any hostels like I recommended awhile back?
Again, I STRONGLY recommend finding a place to stay at least for the first week you are in town. It's easy to be gung-ho about it when you're not living the situation, but getting off of a plane halfway around the world in New York City, exhausted, with no sense of direction and no clue where to go, is extremely unwise and will be incredibly overwhelming. It's too much. Give yourself at least a few days in a hostel or hotel to get well-rested from your flight, situated and get the general layout of NYC straight.
Another thing that you may have to think about considering your willingness to be homeless is the fact that this is New York, not Australia, and in New York, it starts to get COLD in the coming months; the type of cold that Australia never gets anywhere near. Sleeping on the streets becomes not just dangerous from a safety point of view, but also from a health standpoint.
Keep us posted on this. I'm interested in seeing how this whole thing turns out.
yeah i know what you mean
i did check out some hostels but i am running out of cash since my parents are unable to support me man. still i will try my best to squeeze the money i got and save as much as i can
im looking for about 4 days in a hostel so yeah should be hard
by the way, how hard it is to get a job in IT & communications in NY? i got a certificate in that which should help me find a job
any ideas?
Quote:
Originally Posted by williamter
One of the most amazing dialogues I have read in sometime.
yeah i know what you mean
i did check out some hostels but i am running out of cash since my parents are unable to support me man. still i will try my best to squeeze the money i got and save as much as i can
im looking for about 4 days in a hostel so yeah should be hard
How much money are you coming over here with? I ask because hostels are only some $25 a night on average (maybe they're more in NYC, I'm not sure because I've never stayed in one there), so I hope that you don't have so little money that after those four nights, you'll be bankrupt. I hope you have at the very least a few hundred bucks that will be left over after four days in a hostel. Remember man, you have to eat. Not to mention, generally any job you'll find in the U.S. will not pay you until you've worked for them for some two weeks or so; so you should have enough money to survive for that time period. Ideally, you should have enough to last for several months, but at the absolute least, I hope you'll have enough for at least two weeks.
One thing you may want to do, is send emails to every single hostel in New York City and ask if they need any sort of help. Some hostels willingly employ kids from other countries, even those who are not legally permitted to work in the country. Oftentimes, they will not pay you, but will actually allow you to stay in the hostel for free if you work for them. If you can find a hostel willing to do that, it will enable you to save some bucks, have a roof over your head, and then you can use your "off" time to look for or work a second job that will actually pay you.
Quote:
by the way, how hard it is to get a job in IT & communications in NY? i got a certificate in that which should help me find a job
any ideas?
It depends. If you don't have the proper identification papers to work legally in the United States, it will be very difficult to find any sort of employment, particularly any sort of white-collar employment as most jobs that hire people without proper work visas tend to be low-paying menial labor jobs (i.e. construction worker, busboy, housekeeper, maintenance man, etc.). I'd hate to be the bearer of bad news, but in order to find a job in the IT industry in this country, you have several strikes against you. Even if you're an American, you really need to have a college degree to obtain employment in the IT industry which I'm assuming since you're 18, that you don't have. It would be very difficult to find any sort of white collar employment, even at an entry level if you lack the proper papers. There are some people who do manage to obtain these jobs but their situations are largely different from yours in that many of them were educated at American universities and had student or work visas at one point, and simply overstayed them..
You may want to look into Australian-run businesses in New York as they would be more likely to feel sympathy and hire and fellow Aussie. Many people who immigrate to this country without proper papers find work within their ethnic community (Chinese, Korean, Mexican, Dominican, Brazilian, etc.). Unfortunately, there isn't really a massive Aussie population in New York. It's not like other ethnic groups where there's a part of the city known as "Little Sydney" as there are for most other groups.
I'm not trying to be negative or anything, but I just want to give you a realistic idea of what you're going to be up against if you do choose to come to New York because it seems like there are a lot of things that haven't researched or thought about.
**** these are some nice ideas dullnborin
ill be looking around the dominican/puerto rican community to see if i can find a job. if not that africans should help me :P
i already sent around 4 emails to differnt hostles and ill see what they say, i doubt they'll asnwer man but hey, ill wait and see.
i currently have around 700 $ that is NOT the tickets price, so the 700 is just pocket money which should get me in a hostel + food so ill end up with around 500 by 1 week .
Need_affordable_home, i already have a job but its hard to manage between saving the money, paying bills, shopping and other things...
Well actually, generally when immigrants come to New York or other cities and band together to form large social networks through which they help "their own", they do so based largely for linguistic reasons as opposed to ethnic reasons. In other words, Colombians coming to New York who don't speak English have to rely on the already large Colombian community in New York for help with services and finding jobs and apartments, and likewise for Chinese, Koreans, etc. It's more about helping your fellow "countrymen" as opposed to helping someone who is the same skin color as you. As such, since you are an Australian who doesn't speak Spanish, it's unlikely that you'll be able to tap into this network. Just like a person of Chinese descent who grows up in the United States and doesn't speak any Chinese, will not have much luck being accepted and finding any sort of employment or social network in a Chinatown community which will largely be made up on recent immigrants confined to the area due to language barriers. As far as Africans, well while there are plenty of Africans in New York, their numbers are small compared to other groups and there is no area really where there is massive concentration of them as there are for Indians, Dominicans, Jamaicans and such, with the possible exception of a stretch of Harlem that has a large Senegalese population (and they speak French or Wolof). There are very few Arabic-speaking Somalis in New York. The majority of black people in New York are African-American or from the Caribbean (largely Jamaica and Haiti).
Since you'll be somewhat strapped for cash, this may go without saying, but I'd recommend buying food at delis and grocery stores and such rather than eating out at restaurants because that can really chip away at money fast. Also, walk. Cabs get expensive. If a place is too far to walk, take the subway or the bus. And of course, if the hostel thing works out, that will help a lot to defray the cost of living. When I moved out to Los Angeles, I was in a somewhat similar situation and wound up staying for one month in a hostel for free in exchange for work.
Have you spoken with any Aussies in the U.S.? I went back and read through this thread and you mentioned that you're coming over with a buddy. Is that still the plan? Are you basically willing to work anywhere doing anything or do you have a set idea as to what you want to do? I would recommend finding a job pretty soon after landing. Give yourself a day or two to rest, maybe go sightseeing a bit, but then find a job. Any job. Go to little restaurants and ask if they're hiring. You should be able to find a job a the very least as a dishwasher or a busboy in a restaurant. As menial and awful as the job may be, at least it's something and you can look for something else during your off hours, but I just think it's important to pretty much always be working doing something, especially if you have so little money on you. The restaurant industry is probably your best bet to find employment because they generally don't check for work papers when they hire people for the dirty jobs and then most likely, you'd quickly be placed in more visible (and therefore higher-paying) positions as a waiter or cashier or something due to your fluency in English.
I guess you've already gotten your plane ticket, but I hope that it was a round-trip ticket just because it's better to be safe than sorry, and also because oftentimes, round-trip tickets are roughly the same price (sometimes even cheaper) than one-way tickets so it can't hurt to have one.
**** these are some nice ideas dullnborin
ill be looking around the dominican/puerto rican community to see if i can find a job. if not that africans should help me :P
i already sent around 4 emails to differnt hostles and ill see what they say, i doubt they'll asnwer man but hey, ill wait and see.
i currently have around 700 $ that is NOT the tickets price, so the 700 is just pocket money which should get me in a hostel + food so ill end up with around 500 by 1 week .
Need_affordable_home, i already have a job but its hard to manage between saving the money, paying bills, shopping and other things...
I've gotta say, your planning is pretty lame considering that you have only one month left before your trip to NYC. People here are being very nice - too nice - about your prospects, considering. Make sure you have solid, practical plans for every aspect. This means, for starters:
1. Have your papers together. Go to the US Embassy this week with your completed application for the non-immigrant visa. Do you have a passport? If you don't have one and you're flying over, you may not even make it past the airport.
2. An address, phone number and bus/subway directions for the hostel you will stay at when you land. Have another hostel's info ready as well, in case the first one does not work out.
3. A list of people and places to call for jobs, as well as ideas for where to look. Looking in restaurants is standard for immigrants with no papers, but you can come ahead of time with better, well-thought out ideas since you speak english and arabic. Check newyork.craigslist.com for their jobs and gigs sections, email people and have some phone numbers to call when you get here.
4. A packet of information containing the name and address of the Australian embassy or consulate, address/phone for alternative hostels or places to stay, salvation army, YMCA, churches, and other organizations who could help you with places to stay and the job hunt.
5. Consider packing dry food you don't need to cook (nutrition bars, etc) that can make it through US customs. This is a good use of your baggage, and you'll be eternally grateful for that when you land. Buying food in NYC is expensive and you'll burn through your money even if you just eat at deli's, etc as suggested. Just check US customs site to find out what they won't allow you to bring (fresh fruit and produce are not allowed, for example).
Having a place to stay when you land and job hunt should be top priority. Next in priority is finding a permanent place to stay. You should do as much research and make as many contacts as possible before you leave. Looking for a job is huge as your survival depends on it. It is much better to imagine the worst than hope for the best when you are coming out to a city like New York, because you really cannot imagine the difficulties that will be thrown at someone as vulnerable as you, without papers upon landing, and young besides. There are people who live to prey upon people in your situation in NYC so be extremely well-prepared.
You may think you're tough. You may be, but more likely it sounds like you're living in a fantasy, if you're still living with your family at home. It's better to be aware that you are naive, and keep seeking help, then to think you know a lot, assume many things, then get caught by surprise. I don't want to come back to this thread to see that you've been eaten up and spit out by the city. Be careful - and lots of luck to you.
Ok, ok, ok.
I feel compelled to give you some advice, New York style.
1. Keep in mind that even though you'll do anything as a job that no one will rent you an apartment (well, almost no one) unless you and your roommate make at least 2 or 3 times the rent. Unless you're a manager or something, a simple retail job (even if you're making $12.00 an hour) will not give you enough money to rent an apartment that costs $800 a month and cover your living expenses at the same time. Plus, there are Metro passes so you can get to work, the high cost of food, etc.
2. Did you consider getting a job BEFORE moving? This would be advantageous.
3. I don't know immigration law very well...but, you need a bachelors degree in order to get a work visa in America, don't you?
4. Honey! Stay away from African American/Latin American areas!! I know everyone has been kind of tip-toeing around the subject, but I'm going to come right out and say it. They are usually VERY dangerous! I'm not saying bad things about said people, and I'm definitely not saying don't move to a place if there are said people there...it's just that when you say that, I think of Williamsburg and Spanish Harlem, which are places you do NOT want to be, especially if you're a young girl and you don't know the city very well. You'll need an oozie to get to the freaking subway!
5. I think it's a horrible, poorly-thought-out, doom-encrusted idea to just go to New York with only $700 in your pocket and the idea of staying in a hostel. Think about it; you're barely an adult, you have no idea where you're going, you have no job aligned for you, and let's face it: $700 isn't much. I mean, you'll already be out by $40 or $50 if you fall for the gypsy-cabs in front of the airport when you get there.
This is a bad decision. Very, very BAD.
If you want to come here, you should get a job aligned before you come, talk to someone about visas (and by that, I don't mean off of a message board), and then try to find a place to stay long-term. Also, keep in mind, you usually need first and last month's rent plus a security deposit. I can tell you -- just like all of the other New Yorkers can -- what places are safe, but you really need a better plan.
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