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No, you're the lucky one to be living here instead of the third world mess you came from ...
i won't deny that where i came from is definitely a mess--or i wouldn't have tried to come here. but as for being lucky to be here? certainly not. i made it through advance planning (i.e. taking up a profession that i know would be in demand in the US), hard work through college/getting US certifications/finding employers, and God's hand in all that. of course, the non-religious will take the latter part as luck
hi! folks this is juan from Argentina.
i am an electrical engineer and i am applying for job in usa to find a sponsor for the purpose of moving there to start a new life.
but the thing is if i find that job i would go there alone.
do you think its something that im doing well? of going alone? i have an advanced level of english, for instance i watch american news tv and i understand like 60-70% of what they say, but what about the daily life there especially that it will be a new world for me, a new culture
i hope to hear your advices
thanx
juan
You seem to have a good enough grasp of English to do well enough. Once you get here it will be easy to tune your speech for improvement.
Daily life will also come along as you spend more time speaking to and working with other native born English speakers. If you can understand most of what is being said in this website, then I wouldn't worry about the language if I were you; but if you don't, you can improve by reading more and interacting more with people on this Website. (Post a message saying how much you love or hate anything and you will get plenty of conversation).
However, there are not a lot of jobs in America at this time. Fortunately for you, most new jobs are going to foreigners and someone like you is just who corporations are seeking. I would advise you to research jobs and see if you can find leads before you make the trip.
i won't deny that where i came from is definitely a mess--or i wouldn't have tried to come here. but as for being lucky to be here? certainly not. i made it through advance planning (i.e. taking up a profession that i know would be in demand in the US), hard work through college/getting US certifications/finding employers, and God's hand in all that. of course, the non-religious will take the latter part as luck
Lots of American citizens have planned in advance, studied hard in college, worked hard over the years, found employers, etc. The difference is that they have been replaced by people like you who benefit from a H-1B program that should never have been created in the first place. Sure, some H-1Bs are smart, qualified and educated, but that does not mean an automatic pass to the U.S. where American citizens are out of work. My beef is not with you as I don't know you - my problem is with another government program based not on the needs of the citizens, but on corporate influence on American government. And a question for you ... how are countries like yours ever supposed to rid themselves of the squalor when most intelligent folk bail and go elsewhere ? I, as many others, will lobby to expose the fraud in the H-1B system and remove folks that don't belong here. Certainly, you would do the same in your country if you had seen what is slowly happening to the American workforce.
Lots of American citizens have planned in advance, studied hard in college, worked hard over the years, found employers, etc. The difference is that they have been replaced by people like you who benefit from a H-1B program that should never have been created in the first place. Sure, some H-1Bs are smart, qualified and educated, but that does not mean an automatic pass to the U.S. where American citizens are out of work. My beef is not with you as I don't know you - my problem is with another government program based not on the needs of the citizens, but on corporate influence on American government. And a question for you ... how are countries like yours ever supposed to rid themselves of the squalor when most intelligent folk bail and go elsewhere ? I, as many others, will lobby to expose the fraud in the H-1B system and remove folks that don't belong here. Certainly, you would do the same in your country if you had seen what is slowly happening to the American workforce.
i'm not discrediting my USC counterparts are doing to get jobs. i just expressed that part of my experience because you termed me as "lucky" as if i just got here without any credentialling and got to work alongside USC--and that i'm among those who just crossed the border and got "parolled" as "refugees" or "asylees".
of course, i'm here on H1b so i should be a fraud, right?
and since i'm here, i'm not helping out my own country. as it stands, i'm even earning more in a month than what my brothers could make in the engineering business back home at the same period of time, so i've been supporting the family business for much of the time i've been working here in the US. and that's how we, foreigners (at least from my country anyway), try to support our home countries by supporting the families we have left behind. the ones that couldn't come here with us since we don't have the eligibility to sponsor them. and if the people back home are being supported, then it goes forward there. if the family business is thriving with my help, then my family's employees are being helped in turn. then it goes to the employees' respective families.
on the other hand, i can see how the USC are feeling with regards to us foreign workers--especially when i see how certain countries abuse the H1b system (the ones that have oversubscribed the system for decades). especially in white collar sectors that are seen as glamorous since they pay highly, the jobs tend to be clean/office-oriented (not manual labor), and tend to be located in such glamorous places as the silicon valley. i would understand how the USC would resent foreigners taking on such jobs when they could've gotten in on such.
i do have to say that there was a time when the people of my profession could not enter the US because there weren't any job openings then. in fact, people were even laid off at that time due to massive changes in the healthcare system. i finished college in 1998--the very time that a lot of people (both USC and foreigners) in healthcare lost their jobs. so it wasnt til 2007 that i was able to enter US on work visa. that was when the healthcare system stabilized enough that there were openings and even shortages.
of course, all this won't sway you of your opinion that any of us foreigners are stealing jobs from the USC. i'm just offering up my experience as a foreign worker in the US.
of course, i'm here on H1b so i should be a fraud, right?
No one said you were a fraud or that your credentials are not up to snuff. But if there was even one capable American out of work when you entered the country and obtained your position, then you should not be here.
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and since i'm here, i'm not helping out my own country. as it stands, i'm even earning more in a month than what my brothers could make in the engineering business back home at the same period of time, so i've been supporting the family business for much of the time i've been working here in the US. and that's how we, foreigners (at least from my country anyway), try to support our home countries by supporting the families we have left behind. the ones that couldn't come here with us since we don't have the eligibility to sponsor them. and if the people back home are being supported, then it goes forward there. if the family business is thriving with my help, then my family's employees are being helped in turn. then it goes to the employees' respective families.
Good for you, but the U.S. is not the world's benefactor. I have personally witnessed H-1B professionals and their families crammed into a 3-bedroom apartment with other H-1B families to save a buck. Galls me to see these folks shipping as much cash as they can overseas and not spending it here where they made it. If you "temporary" foreigner workers want to support your home countries, go home, unravel the corruption, rebuild the infrastructure, and make your country a better place to live. If the program is here to stay, I'd love to see some qualification testing put in place to ensure the H-1B applicant is indeed qualified to work in their chosen profession. I'd be willing to be 75% of the H-1B visa holders would be sent packing.
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on the other hand, i can see how the USC are feeling with regards to us foreign workers--especially when i see how certain countries abuse the H1b system (the ones that have oversubscribed the system for decades). especially in white collar sectors that are seen as glamorous since they pay highly, the jobs tend to be clean/office-oriented (not manual labor), and tend to be located in such glamorous places as the silicon valley. i would understand how the USC would resent foreigners taking on such jobs when they could've gotten in on such.
Don't know what country you come from, but at least you see the H-1B corruption is rampant. Not only have American citizens been displaced, H-1B billing rates have driven all billing rates down.
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of course, all this won't sway you of your opinion that any of us foreigners are stealing jobs from the USC. i'm just offering up my experience as a foreign worker in the US.
And like many things, all we're left with is writing letters to our reps in Congress outlining what we see as the solution to the problem. You may have read that Canada is reducing the size of it's temporary work program and it is my hope that the U.S. will follow suit.
Last edited by Soup Not See; 09-07-2014 at 06:46 PM..
just FYI, when i worked in a very popular city here in US, my employer could not go forward with my GC process since there were so many responses from USC to the job postings. i had to relocate to a small city where the job responses to postings were much fewer. i've been working in my current location to know enough that it's been difficult for the facility to staff it sufficiently the past 3 years. most of the US candidates preferred to work elsewhere. what USC would like to work in a small town when they could find similar jobs in much more glamorous places?
and like i said, we could not even come in to work for a period of time from late 90s to mid 2000s because of lack of openings. it's not like we still pushed for coming over here when there werent even any jobs for us here. we were only able to come in when there were sufficient openings and shortages.
and as with dealing with government and corruption-- if you don't have leverage, how are you supposed to force changes? for an impoverished country, you can only have as much leverage as with the amount of money you have.
and not spending money here? where did you get that from? we pay our taxes and can't get any government benefits until we get our GCs. it's not like we're earning money and hiding it from the IRS.
just FYI, when i worked in a very popular city here in US, my employer could not go forward with my GC process since there were so many responses from USC to the job postings. i had to relocate to a small city where the job responses to postings were much fewer. i've been working in my current location to know enough that it's been difficult for the facility to staff it sufficiently the past 3 years. most of the US candidates preferred to work elsewhere. what USC would like to work in a small town when they could find similar jobs in much more glamorous places?
and like i said, we could not even come in to work for a period of time from late 90s to mid 2000s because of lack of openings. it's not like we still pushed for coming over here when there werent even any jobs for us here. we were only able to come in when there were sufficient openings and shortages.
and as with dealing with government and corruption-- if you don't have leverage, how are you supposed to force changes? for an impoverished country, you can only have as much leverage as with the amount of money you have.
and not spending money here? where did you get that from? we pay our taxes and can't get any government benefits until we get our GCs. it's not like we're earning money and hiding it from the IRS.
Gimme a break - you trying to tell me that ALL U.S. citizens eligible for your job wanted to work in "glamourous" places like San Fran, Boston, Atlanta, Seattle, NYC, etc. I call BS on that one ...
Most of the sufficient openings were artificially created by the Y2K rework that was done. Once the foreign staffing firms got their foot in the door, it was easy to provide financial incentives to the government to keep the H-1B program afloat and even expand it.
How does anybody fight corruption in a country ? By banding together and creating change hopefully by non-violent protest ... there are ways - go back in history if you need examples.
Sure, the H-1B holders are paying taxes, but what the h*ll are you spending your disposable income on ?
And what government benefits would you expect if you're working ?
Gimme a break - you trying to tell me that ALL U.S. citizens eligible for your job wanted to work in "glamourous" places like San Fran, Boston, Atlanta, Seattle, NYC, etc. I call BS on that one ...
Most of the sufficient openings were artificially created by the Y2K rework that was done. Once the foreign staffing firms got their foot in the door, it was easy to provide financial incentives to the government to keep the H-1B program afloat and even expand it.
How does anybody fight corruption in a country ? By banding together and creating change hopefully by non-violent protest ... there are ways - go back in history if you need examples.
Sure, the H-1B holders are paying taxes, but what the h*ll are you spending your disposable income on ?
And what government benefits would you expect if you're working ?
oh of course, how would you know about where the USC want to work in, if you haven't been in the trenches yourself? i've seen it happen in all the facilities i've worked, and from the experiences of my foreign colleagues who have worked in really remote, small places. you only see your side of the recruitment/employment process, so of course it's bullcr*p to you.
and where THE HECK we spend our income on? after paying taxes, do you think we're sending it all back home? how are we supposed to pay for our rent/utilities/groceries/insurance/loans/kids' tuition (if we have kids)? we're all paying them here in the US. don't ever say that those never benefitted the USC at all. it's not like we're free loaders here on welfare by the US gov't. as you seem to say
of course, even if we paid our taxes while working, if we are let go by our employers, we won't have access to welfare or any gov't assistance. we're immediately out of status in the US--unless we find another employer quickly.
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