Hello all,

I've hit a wall with my fiance. He's getting cold feet about coming to the US. He came here on a tourist visa and worked for about 5 months. During that time he worked in restaurant kitchens and a small market in NYC. He felt alienated by the US culture. His main issue at the moment is that he doesn't speak English really well and he feels that the only jobs he will get here for several years is poorly paid manual labor. He has a degree in Econ from the best university in Peru and worked there for the equivalent of the IRS for 3 years. I keep telling him he'd have more opportunities, but am I just blowing smoke trying to alleviate his fears? I really don't know, but I don't have the same pessimistic attitude that he has. I know he'd have to spend awhile getting his English up to speed, but after that....? Does anyone have stories of recent loved ones who are non-native English speakers getting decent jobs? Thanks!

it's not gonna be that hard as long as he speeds up his english skills. also it depends on the area where you live, I live in a poor county in NE North Carolina, where your degree doesn't really matter a lot, and after 3 years of living here (my wife's scholarship required her to work 5 years in a high school inside NC, and she was pretty happy here), I found a really good job in Charlotte, NC. the main problem for any foreigner is that US employers can't check the work references from other countries, specially where english is not the native language.. pero los latinos estamos aqui para quedarnos!!

just learn english, and, work hard.. that's all I can say, sooner or later, an opportunity will show.. also, try whatever gives you an advantage or more money, I have a degree in marketing, and for the first time after 3 years I'm gonna use my degree lol, I've been a retail asst manager, a quality inspector, a mcddonalds griller, a box stacker in a chicken plant, and at last, a decent job..

saludos

Thanks for your response. That's the thing...my fiance has his own business in Peru and he's doing fairly well. He gets to set his own schedule, etc. He's afraid of starting all over again here, which I completely understand. I've tried to get him to see benefits of living here. I've got less opportunities in Peru than he would have here...at least that's what I tell him!

If he has his own business, work for him. Working for yourself is better than working for someone else, so I understand his hesitancy. Give Peru a chance.


By the way, that's illegal. It's against Terms of Service here on Visajourney.com to condone illegal conduct like that, so I am obligated to point that out. Displays lack of ethics and poor judgment.

Greetings form Peru. I am engaged to a Peruvian and am spending the summer in Peru. I am working at a school (K-12) teaching basketball and helping the students with english. I am just a volunteer (didn´t ask for money) but you could find a job teaching english. True you would not make as much money as you do in the US but you could find a job doing something. Most all the schools teach english.

Until he learns english it will be difficult for him in the US. Maybe he could get a job teaching spanish. Or you could move to Miami. But then you will have to learn english. hehe

Teaching english is a pretty good job in Peru. A friend of mine went out and taught there for a year with 2 of her best friends she loved it. As far as the Latino thing goes it will never go away... I've had a Costa Rican professor make that clear to me... He has a post doctorate in environmental economics and speaks perfect english. But still had issues finding a job and teaching in his field in the states but it does get better. In the business field though being bilingual is a huge advantage, but the operative word is bilingual, it will be hard for him to excel without english... He can start up a business here in an area of upwardly mobile spanish speakers and do well if he carves out a niche for himself but he'll still needs to learn english.
My husband is in a similar position. His whole family is self employed farmers in Peru and they make good money at it... He sends money to help his mom fund planting and sharesin the profit but he still gets a depressed when he learns of his uncles buying new cars, trucks, land and houses in cash. (the trucks they use run about 40G in US$).
We'll be starting a business when I'm done with college.

Carissa

Hello,

My husband went thru some trials and tribulations with the job search here. He's from Panama and has been here a year and a half. He took about 9 months and used the "Ingles Sin Barreras" program, got some good grammar books that explained in Spanish the mechanics of pronunciation and grammar, and those things helped him immensely. His English is decent now, but we were running into problems here in Texas for him to find a decent job. Because of all the illegal immigrant stuff, he was being looked at as not good for anything but low paying jobs pretty much because he had still a heavy accent and didnt type 65 words a minute. We decided to move to Miami. There are lots of jobs for bilingual PROFESSIONALS there. You don't even have to speak perfect English, accents are fine..everyone is accustomed to it. After searching for a job there for 3 weeks, my husband landed a great job. I don't think he had 3 interviews in the 4 months he searched hard here in Dallas. I got a job in Ft. Lauderdale, and we are both very exited to be starting a new adventure together.

The only thing that would concern me here is that moving to south Florida is going to make it easier for him to not improve his English, if you get my drift...since many parts of Florida are non-English speaking. I would be concerned that his development in English would come to a standstill and never improve.

I'm peruvian too, I 've been here in the States for almost 2 years, left a great job in Peru as a tour guide, I used to be a free lance (make my own schedule, good money) and honestly I understand how your fiance feels. I'm trying to convince my hubby to move back to Peru with me. We live in NYC, I'm working for the same company for 1 year and half, good pay, good friends but I'm not complety happy with it.
I find out that is very easy to find jobs here, specially here in NYC, but you can make more money if you (your fiance) speak english. We have plenty of peope that speak spanish-spanglish but not all of them can write and read it.

Good Luck with it, and give a chance to Peru!!
Vi

I agree that the language will be a problem, however, I’ve seen people here in Pittsburgh working in good companies, whose English is not so good (Indian, Latinos, etc.), with VERY thick accents. I agree with Pedroh that the place you live in makes a difference, if you’re moving to the boondocks you’re not going to have many opportunities.

However, I have to disagree with employers here not being able to confirm your references, because I had a background check when I accepted my actual position, and they were able to confirm my previous work history as well as education (with a little glitch with my university for lack of English speaking people). In my own experience, I have to say that I have not had any difficulty finding jobs in the US, but then again, I don’t have problems with the language.

I know a guy here in Pittsburgh, who before starting to work too ESL classes, and then started working, he is now working for a really big company and making tons of money. It’s true, you might have to take something just below your previous position, but I think it’s not so bad at all, since you could use the experience to get your feet wet, and then opt for better positions. For argument’s sake, it is REALLY tough to start over again (I had to do it), but at the same time (in my case), even taking a position below my previous one, allowed me to be able to buy a house (and get a mortgage) and buy a car (and get car payments), that back home it would’ve been pretty difficult for me to do both at the same time.

On the other hand, if he has his own business in Peru, and it’s going well for him, why not give it a try??

If he makes good money in Peru, chances are you wouldn't have to work. Well, eventually anyway. Neither of my married sisters in law work, but I guess it depends on what your definition of 'fairly well' is. Personally, I'd have a hard time not working or doing something, but some people are okay with that.

Peru is a beautiful country and if it weren't for my parents and issues with my father-in-laws death that need to be pursued, I'd so move there.

Agreed.

We live in an area of Florida where you need to speak English...I do know some people who've been here for 20 or so years who don't speak English, but they either work in crap jobs or don't work at all. In some areas of South Florida you can go days without having to speak English, and I know that would not have been beneficial to my husband (just us personally) as we'd like to move North when our education is finished. If one plans on living in Hialeah for the rest of their life...well, then it may not matter so much.

I feel for your fiance. I know how hard it is. I used to work as accountant back home but when I applied for work here, I couldn't get the same job or at least as an accounting clerk. I work now as a cashier in a big store here and I still feel alienated at work too. I know it may take a while, but I'm hoping to be accepted and get the same job here.

Speaking good English is a must for landing a decent job. If your husband doesn't want to become a janitor, he needs to speak well.

I'm not sure if my husband's story is totally out of the norm, but here goes. He arrived here from Spain this past Sunday. On craigslist.org for our area I always do a job search with the word Spanish...that's it. Well, on Monday, there was a listing for a need for someone with Spanish abilities. Monday night we translated his resume and sent it over. Tuesday he had two phone interviews. Thursday he started work at Yahoo, as in the search engine! This really is the land of opportunity for him!!!

He feels a little overwhelmed because his English isnt' the greatest, but it's a great opportunity!!! He really has been blessed throughout this journey!

My husband is from Peru. When he came here in 2002 he left behind a good job with responsibilities and a good salary. He gave up a lot of other things too. Since then he has learned English, completed a masters degree, and held two different professional positions in his field. Being in graduate school gave him time to network and master English. At the same time, we both talk a lot about going back to Peru, fantasizing about getting some source of income that would allow us to live in two countries all year round (and never deal with MN winters nor Lima winters!). We plan to retire in Peru.

We are not going to be moving to the predominantly hispanic areas, he would rather be in the burbs, and I don't think he will be hindered in any way because of where we'll be living. The job he got was for bilingual...he'll be speaking English and Spanish, the biggest difference was that he wasn't denied a job because of his accent. I guess some of the places he will be visiting, the managers and people using the software/systems will need assistance, some in English some in Spanish. It's all over the tri-county area so he'll be meeting lots of people. He was exited to be able to be using his English face to face with people while making field calls and getting the chance to improve, while using his Spanish also. He's also exited because there are some very good classes in Miami in technical writing in English for Spanish speakers..business conversation, stuff like that. A lot of business people come up from South America to better their English so they take these courses. He plans to get involved in those come September. He'll be making enough money where he can get into the classes and it won't put a dent at all into our financials. The biggest plus is that he will feel good about what he is doing.

My husband tells me Lima winters are not all that cold O.o

Wow!!! you guys are so lucky I am jealous!!! I remember the one question interview and now this. Great news!!! I am happy for you both!!!!

Talking about getting jobs in USA . Does anybody knows how a bachelor degree in Business Administration that is from a latin university could be useful there??

I am not sure I understand your question, are you asking if your degree is valid here? or how can you use your degree? if it's the first, your degree is as good here as it is in Bolivia, and if it is the second one, then you can use your degree to do the same thing you were doing in back home too...

Usually what happens when you apply for a job, is that they run a background check on you, and it may take a little bit longer to confirm your work and education history because you're coming from a different country, however it's not impossible. They will call your old jobs and call your university to confirm that you worked/studied there and then they will give you the posititon. In the case that your university does not have an English speaking person working in the admin offices, then you can offer your transcripts (notas certificadas) and your diploma (titulo de licenciado) if you brought them with you (I brought my transcrips and diploma, legalized by the different Ministeries in Venezuela and legalized - apostille - and then translated to english).

Good luck with your journey!!

Ana

PS: Before coming to the US (during our K1 visa process) I posted my resume at monster.com and applied to a couple of jobs, just to get a feel of what types of jobs were offered, and to check if my resume was OK by US standards. Granted that I do have a very specific job title/position (Im an internal auditor), but give it a try and try your area for jobs that might interest you.

You have to get your foreign credentials evaluated...I've heard of people being told their degree is NOT valid here because it's not equal to what they'd get from a US accredited university.

It would depend on the credentials, if it's a lawyer or a doctor, and even an engineer; they might need their credentials validated, but not for business majors or accounting majors.

O.o

Maybe business and accounting majors from South America are special...I didn't know that. All I know is we even had to get my husband's high school diploma evaluated and I heard of a guy from Egypt or somewhere in that area of the world who was forced to get his business credentials evaluated and they were deemed "not equivalent".

I'd do it to be on the safe side, regardless. I'd rather be safe than be told, "Sorry, we don't know if the credentials are valid here, so it's a no go."

I never said that credentials from S.A. were special. I just expressed my experience so far, I got my transcripts legalized by the different Ministeries in Venezuela, got everything Apostilled and then translated (including the Apostille that makes the document valid anywhere in the world).

Frankly, since I've had my background checks performed without problems (they have been able to confirm my education and my working references), I havent had to show my translated transcripts to any employer, and I have never been asked to get my degree validated.

Then again, Accounting Principles in Venezuela are based in Mexican accounting principles, and Mexican are based in Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in the US, the only variations are specific laws to each country. I dont know about Egypt or any other areas in the world.

The only thing that required me to validate my degree (diploma), was when I tried to get a Certification as a Fraud Examiner, it seemed like it would be a really expensive process and it seems that it would required someone from the US to validate the documentation, I dont think it can be done in your home country (but then again, I might be wrong).

Highschool diplomas and college diplomas are also required to be evaluated when you are trying to go back to school (to get a bachelor's or master's degree).

I don't think it is only South America - my experience is the same. I think it also depends on the employer & the type of job. My current employer is the one who employed me as temp before. They have seen me performed the job, so I guess that is the reason they did not need a verification (not even reference check).

On the other hand, I applied to another company. They did reference check (my ex co-workers got emails), but they never asked for certificate/diploma for my degrees. I am in finance/accounting, same as rob&ana.

But, different employer, type of job, might have different experience.

Thank you soooooooooo much to everybody for the info
It was very helpful!!!

This is true.
From what I have so far experienced, I cannot simply sell myself using my degree and work experiences without the US accreditation.
Take for example one job position I want to apply in the near future, clinical lab scientist. Most clinical lab scientists job openings I want to get in require a CA clinical lab scientists license, AND the foreign credentials like transcript of records evaluated by a designated committee in the US. The CA license application form even desires the application be made by only the American Association of Collegiate Registrars & Admissions Officers (AACRAO).I'm glad I did (I did not know the impact until later).

It depends on what field you are applying in, what type of job and what type of US company you are eyeing and what type of pay/salary grade you are most happy with. Just to avoid undesired rejections & incompetency, having the foreign credentials evaluated in the US by a recognized board is not wasteful at all.