Merve Cura - 23

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of living and working in a foreign country.

The history of immigration to a foreign country for the purpose of getting an education, finding a job, or changing the standards of living starts with the migration of the first humans. Since this activity is likely encoded to our DNA, after thousands of years, we still immigrate. Apparently, the conditions are now different, and multi-dimensional. Before deciding to move from home country, it is important to check all the benefits and drawbacks of moving to another country.

One of the advantages of moving to a foreign country is leaving your comfort zone behind and creating a new one. When you move to another country, everything you know about your life starts to change. You leave all the people you know behind you and meet new ones. Building trust towards them widens your ability to develop social relationships. You improvise your food recipes since some of the ingredients are now hard to reach, and you become more familiar with and more open to new tastes. Another advantage is that if you move to a more developed country, it means that even though you find a job with a low income you still can provide yourself a better quality of life due to a low level of inflation which is quite an effective incentive. It is also possible to have a vacation in your native country, a vacation that you could not afford while actually living there. Moreover, living abroad can give you a chance to understand the culture of the target country, and you can have a new opportunity to see your own culture from a foreigner's eye.

On the other hand, it is vital not to forget the drawbacks of moving abroad. First of all, it is not an easy procedure to move. You need to have certain qualifications to get a working permit or residence permit from your target country. Even when you succeed to take these permits, they do not guarantee that you can actually find a job. A great competition exists among the ones who want to move to a fully developed country from a less developed one. In addition, when you move there, there is a possibility for you to be a victim of racism as a migrant. The citizens of developed countries tend to see the migrants as a burden, or as a barbarian who know nothing about the culture of the country. Besides all of the other disadvantages, the most essential drawback is homesickness. When you move from your home country you leave your loved ones behind you. It is not possible to underestimate the power of missing.

In conclusion, migration is a common activity trough history of humankind, and the number of people who decide to move to another country does not seem to reduce. Before deciding to perform this life-changing activity, one should consider all the aspects of migration with discretion.