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This is painfully true.

I know a couple from Afghanistan. Both have PhD-level education, but when they took refuge in the US they had to work as wait-staff.

At the risk of sounding dense (but with the comfort in knowing that I’m certainly not the only one to ask), is this is pop culture reference that I’m missing? Seems a little vague to be a statement about highly educated immigrants having to “settle” for unskilled jobs. I don’t get it

Edit to the above:

not to be interpreted as driving taxis after 10 years of med school is fair and just, or that immigrants should be happy to take any ol’ job they can get regardless of their extensive qualifications. That kinda came out wrong, I guess.

the point is, highly skilled people will come from other countries and work any job that pays as long as they can stay in the US… bigger goal being to have their family/children become part of america, etc

I definitely remember this line from a film. I wish I could remember which one!

I know 2 professionals, an attorney and an agronomist, who do entry level work-carry out boy and bus boy. They are Latinos who arrived with no English, thus can’t pass the boards to work in their fields. They both came for a better life for their families. They work like hell, the lawyer’s daughter attends private school, and they don’t complain. It’s amazing.

i’ve just read an article @bbc about how migration makes less-developed countries diminish their human capital. In some countries, qualified doctors are training as nurses… in order to go west looking for a job and send money to their families. de-qualify in order to migrate, a phenomenon well worth discussing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7774180.stm

…because the world is far more complex than the US…

…and moving further left on the scale: if the vehicle is telephone booth-sized, the chance of getting a Doctor is 100%. Makes sense to me.

In my country, I was engineer . . .
(puts mop in bucket)

Consider that most western nations have points systems for immigration, where you earn extra points for your profession, such as dentistry, or medicine. At the same time, professional establishments don’t accept diplomas not issued by other western nations. That’s how it is in Canada, at least. So a Nigerian doctor might find it easier to come to Canada with his diploma, but she will have a very hard time finding work in her field without redoing some, if not all, medical school in a western establishment.

Here’s a commercial that ran in Canada about foreign MBAs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP9cQelrmc0

“if their biggest goal is to be part of USA (america being the whole continent’s name), i would be suspicious of the level of their education.”

Some countries have quite bad conditions.
In the book “And Still We Rise” (nonfiction), Claudia’s mom had a PhD (I think) in teaching, in Guatemala. But she came to the USA to because she felt her future children would be better here. She worked in a sweatshop, and was working (during the book) as a maid. Why? As it turns out, in Guatemala she had a previous husband and two children. The children both died in infancy, and her husband later died.

So, is it hard to imagine why she gave up a skilled profession for a sweat shop in the USA?

In my country, I am the leading neurosurgeon.

No you’re not, I am!

Monkeydust rules.

rodcontr Says:

if their biggest goal is to be part of USA (america being the whole continent’s name), i would be suspicious of the level of their education.

If you aren’t in the US, great.
If you are, feel free to leave. Wouldn’t want to hold you against your will.

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