Assimilation

Miguel's first job in America

The first time she came here, Miguel had a job opportunity and the company paid for everything for them, which set them apart from other immigrants. She had the same conditions as everyone who worked for Gillette.

Unanticipated challenge

In Boston...

An unexpected obstacle Monica and Miguel faced was not having credit history. When they first moved, they couldn't get credit cards which made it really hard to buy anything, especially a house or a car. Miguel asked American Express to issue him a card with his credit history from Mexico, and they did. Monica and Miguel were able to build up credit from that card. "We didn't know that we needed that."

In Mexico "you just use cash. We realized when we went to buy a car" because they were told they couldn't make the purchase without credit. They expected to pay for their car in cash because of the culture in Mexico. After six months they realized they needed the card and it took almost a year to have enough credit to make bigger purchases.