Questions to Ask an Immigrant for a Project
Interview questions to ask an immigrant for a school assignment, an oral history or a documentary, whether the person is a relative, a neighbor or someone you are meeting for the first time. The 56 questions run in the order of a real interview: getting started and permission, life before the move, arriving, work and language, family and home, then reflecting and closing. Legal status is left out on purpose, because it is not a safe subject for a student project.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Getting started
Before we begin, can I tell you what this project is and who will see it?
Why ask it
Name the class, the teacher or the place it will be shown, and say whether it ends up online. People answer more freely once they know if the audience is one teacher or anyone with a link.
Is it all right if I record this, or would you rather I take notes?
Why ask it
Offer both as equal choices so that notes do not sound like the lesser option. If they pick recording, say where the file will be kept and when you will delete it.
How do you say and spell your name, and what do you like to be called?
Why ask it
Getting a name right is the first sign that you will get the rest right. Have them write it down, accents and all, so your title slide does not carry a guess.
How would you like to be named in the project: full name, first name only, or not at all?
Why ask it
Asked now and not afterward, it lets them decide how openly to speak. Put the answer at the top of your notes and check it again when you finish, in case something they said changed their mind.
Is there anything you would rather I not ask about?
Why ask it
Take whatever they rule out off your list without asking why. You never have to bring up legal status yourself; the question gives them a way to close any door they want closed.
Which language would you be most comfortable answering in?
Why ask it
Someone working in a second language tends to give shorter, safer answers. If you share their first language, use it and translate later; if not, tell them to take their time and to switch languages for a word whenever it helps.
How long have you lived here, and how old were you when you came?
Why ask it
Two easy facts that shape the whole interview. A person who came at eight needs questions about what they remember and were told, while one who came at thirty can speak to the decision itself.
Life before
Where did you grow up, and how would you describe it to someone who has never been there?
Why ask it
Starting before the move treats them as a whole person and not only as an arrival story. Ask what you would see from the front door, so your project can describe the town or neighborhood and not just name it.
What did an ordinary day look like for you there?
Why ask it
Ask them to take one day from waking up to going to bed. Routine details, such as how they got to school or work and who cooked, give your reader somewhere to stand before the move begins.
What were you studying or working at before you left?
Why ask it
Get the job title or the course and what it involved day to day. You will need it later, when you ask what work they found here, and the contrast between the two can carry a whole section of your project.
Who were the people you saw every day back then?
Why ask it
Family, neighbors, classmates and coworkers arrive as a cast you can ask about later. Note the names, since 'my aunt' in minute five may turn out to be the person who paid for the ticket.
When did you first start thinking seriously about leaving?
Why ask it
Ask for a year or an age, then what was going on around them at the time. A date gives your timeline its first fixed point, and it shows whether the move was planned over years or decided in a hurry.
Whose decision was it to move, and who had a say in it?
Why ask it
Children, spouses and aging parents are often moved by a choice somebody else made. The answer tells you which later questions fit, because a person who had no vote can describe how the move felt but not why it was made.
How did you decide on this country in particular?
Why ask it
The reason is often practical: a relative already living here, a job offer, a place at a school. A plain answer like that is worth quoting as it stands, because readers tend to assume the choice was about ideals.
What had you heard about this country before you came, and where did you hear it?
Why ask it
Films, letters from relatives and school lessons each paint a different picture. Write the answer down carefully, so you can set it against what they found when you reach the questions about arriving.
What was the hardest thing to leave behind?
Why ask it
Some people name a person, some a house or a job, and some a version of themselves. Let them choose the scale, and if the answer is a person, ask one gentle question about them and then go on.
How did you say goodbye, and who was there?
Why ask it
A last meal, a ride to the airport or a farewell skipped to avoid tears is a scene, and scenes are what a presentation or a film is built from. A departure that was rushed or frightening may get a brief answer, and brief is enough.
Arriving
How did you travel here, and what do you remember about the trip?
Why ask it
Ask about the trip as they lived it: the airport, the bus, what they carried, who met them. Stay with what they choose to describe, and do not ask how they crossed a border or what documents they had.
What did you bring with you, and do you still have any of it?
Why ask it
An object makes a strong photograph for a poster or a slide, so ask if you may take a picture of it. What went into the suitcase also shows what they thought the new life would demand.
What do you remember about your first week here?
Why ask it
A narrow window brings back what the senses kept: the weather, the food, a first phone call home. If the answer stays general, ask what they ate that week or what the street sounded like at night.
Where did you live first, and who lived there with you?
Why ask it
First addresses are often a relative's spare room or a shared apartment, and the arrangement shows who stood behind the move. It also hands you a concrete place to describe in your write-up.
Who helped you when you arrived, and how did you find them?
Why ask it
The answer turns an account of individual struggle into a description of a network: relatives, a congregation, an employer, or a stranger. It also shows which institutions were absent.
Who was the first friend you made here, and how did you meet?
Why ask it
Friendship is a different thing from help, and it often starts somewhere unplanned, like a shared shift, a class or a bus stop. Ask whether they still know each other, since a friend who has lasted since the first months is a thread you can follow through the rest of the story.
What surprised you most in the first year?
Why ask it
Surprises reveal the gap between what they were told about this country and what they found. The answer is often something small, such as how people greet each other or how quiet residential streets are.
What was hardest to get done: paperwork, housing, work, or something else?
Why ask it
Offering categories makes an otherwise broad question easy to answer, and the one they pick usually opens onto the most concrete story of the interview. If they choose paperwork, let them describe the queues and the waiting, and do not ask which documents were involved.
What did you have to learn that nobody warned you about?
Why ask it
Here you get the unwritten knowledge, such as how to see a doctor, how to open a bank account, or how to read a lease. If your project is meant to help newcomers, these are the answers to print in full.
Was there a moment early on when you wanted to go back?
Why ask it
A low point, told plainly, makes the rest of the account believable. Follow it by asking what kept them here, which may be a person, a promise or simply having nowhere to return to.
When did daily life here start to feel normal?
Why ask it
Look for a small marker: the first joke understood, a bus route known by heart, a shopkeeper who remembered them. It gives your project a turning point between arriving and settling.
Work and language
What work or school did you start with here, and how did that come about?
Why ask it
First jobs tend to come through a cousin, a neighbor or a notice in a shop window, so the answer maps the community they landed in. For someone who arrived as a child, ask about the first day at school instead.
Did the training or experience you already had count here?
Why ask it
Whether a degree, a licence or years in a trade carry over depends on the country and the profession, so ask how it went for them and not how it works in general. Set the answer beside the job they described from before the move.
How did you learn the language, and what was the hardest part?
Why ask it
Classes, television, a child's homework and coworkers all turn up as teachers, so ask for one word or phrase that tripped them up. If they already spoke the language when they came, ask what was different about the way it is used here.
Which language do you use at home, and which do you think in?
Why ask it
The first half is practical and the second is interior, and the second often gets an answer they have never been asked for. It can also change over the course of a life.
Is there a word or idea from your first language that does not translate?
Why ask it
Have them say it aloud and explain it; if you are recording, the sound of the word belongs in the project. The word they choose often carries a value, such as hospitality or duty, that explains other answers.
How do people react when they hear your name or your accent?
Why ask it
They can answer at whatever depth they choose, from a name that keeps being mispronounced to open hostility. Take what they offer and do not ask for a worse story than the one they told.
What does a normal weekday look like for you now?
Why ask it
Set this beside the ordinary day they described from before the move, and you have a before and after in their own words. That pairing does more in a report than a summary you write yourself.
What is something you are good at now that you could not do when you arrived?
Why ask it
It moves the conversation from what was lost to what was gained by effort: driving, filling in forms, arguing with a landlord. Pride tends to show in this answer, and how they said it is worth a line in your write-up.
Family and home
How often are you in touch with people back home, and what do you tell them?
Why ask it
What is edited out of those calls is often the honest measure of how the move is going. Expect answers about not wanting to worry family.
Which habits or traditions from home have you kept going here?
Why ask it
Music, holidays, a faith or a sport all count, so offer a couple of examples if they hesitate. Ask who they do it with, because a tradition kept alone and one kept with fifty other families are different stories.
Is there a dish you make that tastes like home, and where do you find the ingredients?
Why ask it
Food is easy to talk about and easy to illustrate: a recipe card or a photo of the dish works on any poster. The hunt for ingredients tells you how large the community from their country is where they live now.
Do you have a photograph from before the move that I could include in the project?
Why ask it
Ask who is in it and where it was taken, and write the caption down in their words. Photograph it with your phone instead of borrowing the original, and check that the other people shown would be comfortable in front of your class.
Have you been back to visit, and how did it feel?
Why ask it
People who return often find that the place has changed, or that they have. Some have not been able to go back, for reasons of money, safety or paperwork, so if the answer is no, do not ask why unless they offer it.
When someone asks where you are from, what do you say?
Why ask it
The short answer given to strangers and the longer one given to friends are often different, and the gap between them is about belonging. It is a gentler way into identity than asking which country they feel loyal to.
How has the move affected the people in your family differently?
Why ask it
Parents, children and grandparents rarely adjust at the same speed, and the gaps show up in language, food and the rules at home. When the person is your own relative, this is where your family's story enters the project.
What do you want the younger people in your family to know about where you come from?
Why ask it
It works whether or not they have children, since nieces, nephews and younger cousins count. Expect a story, a language or a way of treating guests, any of which makes a fitting last quote for a family history project.
Reflecting and closing
What do people here get wrong about where you come from?
Why ask it
Here they get to correct a stereotype in their own words, which is sometimes the reason a person agreed to the interview at all. Quote the correction exactly and do not paraphrase it.
What do you wish people understood about moving to a new country?
Why ask it
This is the question for a project whose subject is immigration itself and not one life. Ask for an example from their own experience, so the answer stays theirs and does not become a speech on behalf of everyone who has moved.
What would have made your first year easier?
Why ask it
The answer points at something a school, a workplace or a neighbor could have done. That gives a project about immigration a practical finding to end on as well as a story.
Has anything about you changed in a way that surprised you?
Why ask it
Save it until the easier ground is covered, because it asks them to look at themselves and not at events. If they hesitate, offer an opening such as how they talk to strangers, how they spend money, or what they worry about.
What has been better than you expected?
Why ask it
Projects on immigration often collect only hardship, which flattens the account. This question restores the other half without prompting anyone to be grateful.
What are you proudest of since you came?
Why ask it
People who are asked mostly about difficulty rarely get to say this. Whatever they name, ask how long it took, because the years behind it are the part a reader will not guess.
Do you think of this place as home now?
Why ask it
Expect a yes with conditions, a no, or a long pause, and write down the pause as well as the words. Do not help them toward a tidy answer, because 'both' and 'neither' are answers too.
If you could go back to the day you left, would you do anything differently?
Why ask it
Regret and pride tend to arrive together here. Ask it only if the interview has been warm so far, and take 'I do not know' as a complete answer.
What would you tell someone about to make the same move?
Why ask it
Here they stop being a subject and become an authority, which is a good place to be near the end of an interview. Ask what they would pack, learn or save up for first, so the advice comes out as something a reader could use.
What do you hope the next few years look like?
Why ask it
Ending in the future keeps the project from reading as a story that is already over. A house, a course or a trip home are the kind of plans people mention, and any of them gives your conclusion something to point toward.
Is there anything you would want included that I have not asked about?
Why ask it
It catches the thing they came to say and that your list missed. Leave a real pause after it, and if they add a story, note which of your questions should have brought it out.
Would you like to check your quotes before I hand the project in?
Why ask it
Offer a date and a way to reach you, then keep to both. Letting the person see their own words catches mistranslations and wrong place names, and it shows them the interview was a conversation and not a collection.
Interviewing Well for This Kind of Project
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Planning the Interview Around Your Project
Pick Your Questions Before You Meet
No single sitting should cover the whole list. For thirty to forty minutes of talk, take the Getting started group and add twelve to fifteen others, with at least two from each later group, and mark the five you most need in case time runs short. You may be meeting this person for the first time, so keep the reflective questions for the end and finish with the two that hand control back: what you did not ask, and whether they want to check their quotes.
Match the Questions to What You Hand In
A written report needs facts and a clear timeline, so lean on Life before and Arriving. A poster or slideshow needs things you can show: the object they brought, an old photograph, a dish, a word in their first language. A video or audio piece needs scenes, so favor questions that begin 'what do you remember' over ones that ask for an opinion.
When the Assignment Is About Immigration Itself
If your teacher set an interview about immigration and not a life story, the good questions to ask are the ones that tie one person's experience to the wider subject: who helped, what was hardest to get done, whether their training was recognized, what would have made the first year easier. Report those answers as one person's account, and say so in your write-up.
Interviewing Someone in Your Own Family
A relative will assume you already know the story and skip the parts you most need. Say at the start that you are asking as if you had never heard any of it, and have them name people and places in full. Before you finish, agree on what stays in the family and what can go in front of your class.
When the Person Came Here as a Child
Leave out the questions about deciding to move and about work before it. Ask what they remember, what they were told later and which parts of the story belong to their parents, and label secondhand memories as secondhand in your project.
Before and During the Interview
Be Clear What the Project Is For
Say at the start where this will appear, who will see it, whether it will be recorded, and whether their full name will be used. Ask your teacher whether the school, or the archive for an oral history, has its own permission form, because that differs from place to place. Get a clear yes to the recording itself even for a small assignment.
Leave Legal Status Alone
Do not ask about visas, status, or how anyone entered the country. The information can expose people to real risk, it is rarely necessary for a project, and asking damages the trust that carries the rest of the interview.
Offer Anonymity Before They Have to Ask
Say early that you can use a first name only, change identifying details, or leave out an employer or town. Some people turn down an interview they would have given if that offer had come first.
Ask About Their Own Life, Not Their Nationality
One person cannot speak for a country or a diaspora. Keep questions anchored in what they did, saw, and decided, and let any wider pattern come from having more than one interview.
Sort Out Language in Advance
Ask which language they would rather use. If it is not one you share, arrange an interpreter who is not their son or daughter: a child may soften the answers, and a parent may hold things back in front of them.
Handling the Recording and the Write-Up
- Record only with explicit permission, and say when you have stopped recording.
- Agree a phrase that means off the record, and honor it even when the material is good.
- Read direct quotes back before publishing, especially any translated from another language.
- Check the spelling of names and places rather than guessing from the audio.
- Send them the finished piece before anyone else sees it, and give them a way to correct a factual error.
- Store recordings and notes somewhere private, and delete them when the project is finished if you promised to.
Common Pitfalls
Opening With the Hardest Question
Starting with trauma, discrimination, or family separation usually produces a short, guarded answer and sets the tone for everything after it. Earn the harder ground with fifteen minutes of ordinary questions first.
Collecting Only Hardship
An interview made entirely of difficulty is not a more honest account, just a narrower one. Ask about work they are proud of, friendships, and what improved.
Filling Silence
People composing an answer in a second language often pause longer than you expect. Interrupting to rephrase loses the answer they were assembling.
Rewriting Their English
Tidying grammar in quotes can change meaning and can read as condescending. Quote accurately, and if a sentence needs clarifying, ask them to say it again rather than editing it yourself.