Part of this is because for someone in the process of obtaining citizenship in the US it’s actually much easier to legally start a business than it is to legally get a job. And with the decade or so that it can take to become a fully naturalized citizen in the US, folks have to make ends meet somehow so they’ll naturally start a business since that’s the one way they can legally make money until they get a work permit.
This is part of why there’s such a thriving restaurant scene for foreign foods across the entire US, a family will come and pool their time and money to open a small restaurant, and that will be how they survive until everyone gets work permits and eventually naturalized. There’s even a sub-industry of immigrants teaching other immigrants how to start a successful restaurant and what recipes work well for the American pallete. This is where some of the staples of Americanized Mexican and Chinese menus come from for example.
Part of this is because for someone in the process of obtaining citizenship in the US it’s actually much easier to legally start a business than it is to legally get a job. And with the decade or so that it can take to become a fully naturalized citizen in the US, folks have to make ends meet somehow so they’ll naturally start a business since that’s the one way they can legally make money until they get a work permit.
This is part of why there’s such a thriving restaurant scene for foreign foods across the entire US, a family will come and pool their time and money to open a small restaurant, and that will be how they survive until everyone gets work permits and eventually naturalized. There’s even a sub-industry of immigrants teaching other immigrants how to start a successful restaurant and what recipes work well for the American pallete. This is where some of the staples of Americanized Mexican and Chinese menus come from for example.