The American Dream has turned into a rat race
I just moved back from the United States two months ago, after failing to secure a job. The transition of settling back in Southeast Asia has not been easy and I’m still trying to find my bearings. The struggle sometimes makes me feel like I’m a stranger in my own hometown.
Having lived in America for four years, I thought I would have a better shot at succeeding in life. After all, earning a degree from an accredited college in overseas is still considered a privilege. The common advice given by all the international college counselors I’ve met was this: As long as I continue to work hard and obey the law like any good citizen, I won’t have any problems in living out my dreams.
But little did I know that in order to completely live out my dreams, I also had to risk my time, finances, mental health, and career opportunities.
“The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.
It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”
― James Truslow Adams, The Epic of America
America has always been portrayed as the land of opportunity. In today’s world, however, it is a lot more complicated. Aside from high level of unemployment and income inequality, America has been facing immigration crisis due to high numbers of undocumented immigrants from Central America. Congress could not come to a consensus over immigration reform. And it’s no surprise when people say that the immigration system is broken and dysfunctional.
Following the events of 9/11 and the economic crisis in 2008, the US government also tightened its immigration requirements for visa applications, especially F-1 Student Visas. An acceptance letter from an American university is only a small step. Applying for a student visa is another uphill task since the applicant needs to fill up an application form online and prepare several types of documentations before appearing for an interview at the American embassy. Some people would research online and sometimes, reach out to their friends or education counselors for advice on dealing with specific questions that would be asked during a screening interview for their visa applications. From where I came from, this is the most common question that would be asked at the consulate:
“Are you planning to live in the US after graduation?”
How you answer this question will determine if your visa will be approved. The obvious answer will be to say “No” and then explain what your plans are when you leave the US. Believe it or not, that answer is a lot more acceptable. If the visa applicant says “Yes”, that person is allowing himself to be a target of heavy scrutiny, which most likely cause his visa to be rejected.
The ordeal continues even if the visa has been approved. Upon arrival at American airports, we all need to deal with the long lines at the immigration and custom checkpoints. Generally, if a student has a valid visa issued in his passport, shows his immigration papers (also called the I-20) from the university and answers a few questions pertaining to immigration, he is able to pass through the checkpoints. However, there are some travelers who will be lead to the Homeland Security’s room - normally located near the baggage claim - where the officers will conduct further inquiries. The reasons could be due to lack of paperwork or the records are not appearing in the terminal systems. The other possible reason that’s truly appalling is if a non-immigrant or visitor has a Muslim name. I’ve heard stories like this happening to some of my friends even though they come from one of the safest countries in the world and their pure intention is to earn a quality education. My personal experience of getting vetted was during my senior year while returning from my winter vacation. My records were not showing properly in the system. Being called out was both stressful and embarrassing because I could sense the cold stares from other travelers even though I did not make any mistakes. This process took another 30 minutes and I nearly missed my connecting flight. While waiting for my records to be processed, I was confronted with another set of questions by the attending officer:
“Have you ever been barred from entering a country?”
“Are you bringing any food or money into this country?”
While it’s part of the protocol for immigration officers to ask such questions, this particular conversation eventually turned awkward.
“So are you getting good grades in school? What’s your GPA?”
When I told him my academic standing and showed him proof of my academic transcript, this was his response:
“That’s a pretty good GPA. I only got a 2.8 GPA. Does that mean I’m not as bright as you?”
During times like this, it’s difficult to tell if the officer was trying to be friendly or sarcastic. Conversing with an immigration officer was akin to having a battle of wits. I had to constantly keep a poker face and force my brain to be awake regardless how tired I was.
When it comes to employment, international students are only allowed to work on campus for 20 hours a week. The only times when students can work beyond 20 hours is during the school break, mostly in the summer. They have no authorization to seek full-time employment outside the campus except in these situations:
- If the student found an internship or co-op program that can be used as a credit requirement for graduation. Some colleges require their students to take one to two internships as part of their degree programs. Each internship generally lasts for approximately 600 working hours in one semester, whether it’s paid or unpaid. In this case, the student will need to provide a letter of acceptance from the company that provides the internship. The school advisers will then inform the Department of Homeland Security and issue a new I-20 to the student as a proof that he or she is participating in Curriculum Practical Training. The CPT, however, is just a temporary employment since it is still considered an academic requirement towards graduation.
- If the student intends to participate in a work extension program after completing his/her undergraduate program. This is called Optional Practical Training. Students are allowed to seek a professional employment under their F-1 Student Visa for 12 months. The OPT program requires every student to pay $380 out of his/her own pocket and each application takes three months to be processed.
While each of these programs provide great avenues in building work experience, many students still find themselves in a limbo as they struggle to maintain their legal status in the country. For students who choose to take the OPT program, they cannot be unemployed beyond 90 days throughout the whole 12 months. OPT only gives students more time to get as much work experiences as they can get, but it doesn’t guarantee them a work visa. If the student chooses to continue his stay in America, he must be employed in a company that’s enrolled in E-Verify so that the latter can sponsor a H-1B work visa. Should he fail to do so, he would have to leave the country within 60 days after his OPT ends.
When my OPT started, it took me 60 days until I found a remote internship from another city. Through this experience, I also came to learn that when it comes to getting cheap or free labor, many employers like to take advantage of international students. The OPT program requires students to work in areas related to their majors and skills, regardless if it is a paid or unpaid job. So when students run out of options, they end up accepting an unpaid internship or volunteer jobs so that they can continue to live in the country. In the case of students who graduated from the STEM fields, they are normally eligible to extend their OPT for another 17 months.
Three months ago, a petition was created to get the government to review and implement new regulations on the OPT extension for STEM fields. Critics of the OPT programs have long argued that it becomes a backdoor to H-1B work visas. But many people fail to realize that many international students are already at a greater disadvantage. If these students manage to get a paid job during their OPT, many of them still earn lesser salary (and sometimes nothing) unlike their American peers. We are also required to set up our social security numbers and pay our taxes to the federal and state governments. I remembered when I got my first job on campus, I had to run around several campus departments just to get my employment paperwork sorted out. This doesn’t even include a long trip to the Social Security office where I also had to endure some amount of verbal abuse by disgruntled officers. The other issue is figuring out an accommodation. This isn’t so much of a problem until students graduate from college. While waiting on the status of my employment, I frantically struggled in finding a new place to live. Unless one signs a lease, most landlords or house owners refuse to let students extend their stay even for a few months; regardless the time spent living in the property, how punctual they paid their rents and whether they made contributions in ensuring the cleanliness of the house. When I moved to a new place, I was very fortunate to have a landlord who was very understanding of my situation . He was also gracious enough to let me use a spare room so that I could live in his house for the next one year.
So what makes it so difficult for international students to be hired for long-term employment, or let alone be sponsored for a H-1B work visa? For a start, the government only issues a cap limit of 85,000 H-1B visas annually. The idea of a H-1B visa system is to allow American companies to retain the best talents by hiring foreigners with exceptional skills to work in the country. In the last several years, however, many corporations have been abusing the system by hiring lower-skilled workers from third world countries, such as India, for the sake of cheaper labor. Such practice has also resulted in many Americans to lose their jobs. This is evident in Walt Disney and Toys “R” Us where the local employees were forced to train new temporary workers, even after receiving the pink slips.
The season for companies to apply for H-1B work visas normally begins during the first week of April and it takes about six months for all the applications to be processed. The New York Times also reported that over one-third of the H-1B visa applications were dominated by foreign outsourcing firms in 2014. The remaining percentage of applications would then be thrown into a lottery system. As a result of the legal costs and challenges, many companies have now become wary towards the idea of sponsoring H-1B visas.
As Bruno Rigonetti mentioned in his article:
“Meanwhile, people who have lived in America, studied in America, made friends in America, paid taxes in America and loved in America are thrown into an obscure application process that can last months; in recent years, it has even become common for rejection notices to come only after the expiration of your work extension, which effectively throws you into an ambiguous legal void where you can continue working until the day that dreaded USCIS email pops up on your inbox.”
Despite entering the country through legal means and making financial contributions, I have experienced what it feels like to be mistreated as illegal aliens. It’s really disheartening whenever I witness some of the biased and racist remarks made by anti-immigrant supporters; even now when the world is dealing with the Syrian refugees. When I lost my opportunity, I became mentally drained out and have exhausted all my tears, time, effort and finances. Eventually, I had to make plans to pack my things and make arrangements to spend time with my friends and loved ones for as long as I could. Trying to turn the tide has not been easy and I’m still taking things in stride. Needless to say, I’m fortunate that my family and close friends have been considerate of my situation. For better or worse, living in America has not only made me to be independent and expanded my worldview. I have met many wonderful people, learned new skills, became involved in causes that I care about, and came to appreciate the optimism & dedication displayed in America’s work culture.
As I conclude this piece, I hope that more people will open their minds and not blindly play the blame game on immigrants. What happened in Walt Disney and Toys “R” Us was totally unacceptable. I do believe that the government should still have a moral responsibility in taking care of its own people. On the other hand, the abuse of work visas by corporations is one of the things beyond my control or anyone. As far as I am aware, we don’t have the privilege to reach out to a state representative or a senator to advocate for our cause. Things can only change if politicians put their differences and personal interests aside, and work together to implement a commonsense immigration reform.
This piece was written as part of My Time in Line project, showcasing the lives and experiences faced by immigrants as they seek to earn and/or maintain a legal status in America. Interested in learning more about immigration or sharing your story? Join in the conversation!
