I’m what’s considered 1.5 generation immigrant. My parents are first gen immigrants and while I wasn’t born in the west, I spent a considerable portion of my ch

I’m what’s considered 1.5 generation immigrant. My parents are first gen immigrants and while I wasn’t born in the west, I spent a considerable portion of my childhood here. My parents friends and their children are all in similar situation with children arriving at different ages. Anecdotally, all of the parents of this batch came poor, most of us were below poverty level because all of the parents came as older students (30s and some times 40s) doing their masters or PhD. None of their previous degrees or work experience counted so everyone started from scratch. Add to that the language and cultural barriers and it took everyone a while to get back on their feet. The children though had no barrier other than being in poor families. Education and hard work were very much valued. The family situation were stable and there was a lot of time investment from the parents in helping with homework etc. There was also a push towards professions fields. My parents half jokingly said to me I can pick any field of study as long as it’s medicine, law or engineering (ended up in engineering). So end result, all the children are doing well professionally and financially. Definitely in the top quartile, but not super wealthy. From my own and my parents social circles this seems to be a very common pattern.