'Brain Waste' Thwarts Immigrants' Career Dreams

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

NEW YORK -- After finishing medical school in Bogota, Colombia, Maria Anjelica Montenegro did it all – obstetrics, pediatrics, emergency medicine, even surgery. By her estimate, she worked with thousands of patients.

None of that prepared her for the jobs she's had since she moved to the United States: Sales clerk. Babysitter. Medical assistant.

That last one definitely rubbed raw at times.

"I know I was working in my field," the 34-year-old New York resident said. "But that is medical assistant. I'm a doctor."

Montenegro is hardly unique, given the high U.S. unemployment rate these days. Her situation reflects a trend that some researchers call "brain waste" – a term applied to immigrants who were skilled professionals in their home countries, yet are stymied in their efforts to find work in the U.S. that makes full use of their education or training.

Most of these immigrants wind up underemployed because of barriers like language, lack of access to job networks, or credentialing requirements that are different from those in other countries. Some are held back even further because they're also in the U.S. illegally.

An analysis by researchers at the Migration Policy Institute, an immigration think tank, estimated that 1.2 million college-educated immigrants in the United States were underemployed, out of a population of 6.7 million. About another 350,000 were unemployed. The analysis, based on data from the Census Bureau's 2009 American Community Survey, did not differentiate between legal and illegal immigrants.

Brain waste has consequences for immigrants as well as American employers and the larger economy, said Jeanne Batalova, policy analyst at the institute and co-author of a study on the issue.

For immigrants, it means bringing home less money than they have the potential to earn. For employers, it means fewer skilled applicants in their hiring pools. For the country overall, it means a missed opportunity to leverage already trained professionals in areas where there may be a desperate need for them.

There's a "loss when human talent and potential is not maximized in the fullest," Batalova said.

Mohan Singh, 55, thought moving to the United States would be a smooth transition. Born and raised in India, he left his home country for Kuwait, where he worked in air conditioning and elevator maintenance. He lived in Kuwait for 25 years, started his own company and was successful enough to send his daughter and son to college in the United States.

At their urging, Singh came to the U.S. in 2000. He said he thought "that I'll be getting the same job, I'll be getting into a good field, make a good life."

It took seven years to complete the paperwork that allowed Singh to work here legally. When he applied for jobs, would-be employers focused on the fact that Singh had not worked in his field in the United States.

"They cancel all my experience," he said.

He now spends 12 hours a day, seven days a week, behind the wheel of a taxicab. It's a far cry from the work he's done for much of his life, Singh said, and the wages are much lower than those he once brought home. The whole experience has soured him on the idea of staying in America. He plans to move back to India in a couple of years, when his son is done with his post-graduate work.

"I used to have money, I used to have good life," Singh said. "Over here, I'm hand to mouth."

Nikki Cicerani, executive director of Upwardly Global, a nonprofit organization that helps legal immigrants find work in their chosen professions, said typically, immigrants come from environments where job-seeking is done differently. They may not know how to navigate the system, whether it's building a network to learn about job openings or having a resume formatted in a way that is familiar to American employers.

Interviewing can be especially tricky. "In many other countries, the resume and the educational experience is the clincher," Cicerani said, "whereas in the United States, the interview is make it or break it."

American employers can also have difficulty figuring out if an immigrant would be the kind of employee they are seeking, absent a ready way of understanding how foreign educational or professional expertise translates in the U.S. job market, Cicerani said.

"They're not really clear how to evaluate a foreign degree against a U.S.-educated candidate," she said.

Montenegro came to the United States in 2004 to care for her mother, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She stayed after marrying a man she met here, and became an American citizen. She now lives in the New York borough of Queens with her husband and two children.

Language was the first barrier that Montenegro encountered. She needed to improve her English, but she also needed to work. She took a job as a sales clerk in a local mall, and even though it felt strange to be a medical professional working in retail, she said, the position at least helped her polish her language skills.

Then came larger hurdles that no amount of perfect English could surmount. There's a series of exams, the first of which cost $1,000 alone, Montenegro said. She also has to complete a residency, a requirement for all graduates of American medical schools. There are a limited number of residency slots overall which makes it a very competitive process for everyone, but even more so for foreign medical school graduates.

Montenegro has one more exam to pass before she can apply for a residency, a process that will take at least a year or two. There's no guarantee that she'll be accepted for a residency; At times, she fears she may never work as a doctor here.

"So many times I want to get my things and my passport and go back to my country," Montenegro said. Over the years, she heard stories about the lifestyles her doctor friends in Colombia were able to afford as she worked at various low-wage jobs.

While Montenegro agrees that her credentials and her ability to provide good health care should be vetted before she's allowed to work in this country, she thinks having to train as a general practitioner all over again when she already has experience is a waste – especially for the U.S., she said, because she speaks fluent Spanish and could be an asset in any Spanish-speaking community in need of a doctor.

"I'm ready to do that and help people," she said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/26/brain-waste-thwarts-immig_n_841016.html

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I know of several foreign doctors that are living in the US trying to qualify to practice medicine, and several who are already qualified to practice. The process is lengthy, for good reason. What qualifies someone to practice medicine in another country does not qualify them to practice here. Further, many foreign doctors take positions here below their education, for instance as nurses and technicians, then hope to practice as doctors. That creates several problems, the least of which is violating the contracts under which they were originally hired in order to enter the US in the first place.

Edited March 27, 2011 by Some Old Guy

[Danno 1,228]

An analysis by researchers at the Migration Policy Institute, an immigration think tank, estimated that 1.2 million college-educated immigrants in the United States were underemployed, out of a population of 6.7 million. About another 350,000 were unemployed. The analysis, based on data from the Census Bureau's 2009 American Community Survey, did not differentiate between legal and illegal immigrants.

Another indicator we are immigrating too many people......and the wrong ones.

[james&olya 1,121]

Licensing standards in the medical field are much higher here in the US than many foreign countries. The pass/fail rate for the standard medical exams (national board exams) is very high for graduates of US medical schools (over 90% I believe) and very low for foreign medical graduates (10-15% years ago, I don't know the latest numbers)!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

An analysis by researchers at the Migration Policy Institute, an immigration think tank, estimated that 1.2 million college-educated immigrants in the United States were underemployed, out of a population of 6.7 million. About another 350,000 were unemployed. The analysis, based on data from the Census Bureau's 2009 American Community Survey, did not differentiate between legal and illegal immigrants.

Another indicator we are immigrating too many people......and the wrong ones.

For some countries, what are "college educated" immigrants are barely on par with high school graduates in this country. In many third world countries, you go to college first, then on to university to get a degree. From there, they have an examination process so that only the cream of the crop actually get the job they went to school for. Even those "successful" graduates when they immigrant here often end up washing cars and sweeping floors. There is an old saying among the Filipino immigrants here, that a PhD qualifies you to pick apples.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Question. Why wouldn't a doctor stay (or go back to) a wonderful nationalized health care system? Does Micheal Moore know about this? Maybe she should move to Canada.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Actually, US trained doctors are not allowed to practice in many provinces in Canada either, unless they go through the Canadian medical re-training qualifications in the various provinces - the same complaints foreign trained doctors have about the US.

Canada has a doctor shortage because there is a cap on how many students the Medical Associations will allow to enter medical school each year - as well as a cap on how many foreign trained doctors are allowed to obtain Canadian qualifications - as a way to 'protect' their supply and demand. Having fewer doctors means the opportunity for them to make more money. That is what has caused the biggest problems with the Canadian health care system. Many Canadian trained doctors then chose to come to the US as they see the opportunity to earn bigger money sooner as the health care system is profit driven and they can charge as much as the market will bear. What is now happening, however, is that quite a number of Canadian trained doctors are returning to Canada to practice medicine because they have experienced the reality of the US health care profit system and the prodigious paperwork load involved dealing with the many different insurance plans, and the incredibly large overhead that the system requires. One returning Canadian doctor said recently that instead of having to pay 12 office staff to deal with all of the insurance paperwork, she now employs 1 so her overhead is much less and she is actually able to make a better living in Canada than in the US. The illusions of the US health system do eventually fall.

Edited March 27, 2011 by Kathryn41

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Actually, US trained doctors are not allowed to practice in many provinces in Canada either, unless they go through the Canadian medical re-training qualifications in the various provinces - the same complaints foreign trained doctors have about the US.

Canada has a doctor shortage because there is a cap on how many students the Medical Associations will allow to enter medical school each year - as well as a cap on how many foreign trained doctors are allowed to obtain Canadian qualifications - as a way to 'protect' their supply and demand. Having fewer doctors means the opportunity for them to make more money. That is what has caused the biggest problems with the Canadian health care system. Many Canadian trained doctors then chose to come to the US as they see the opportunity to earn bigger money sooner as the health care system is profit driven and they can charge as much as the market will bear. What is now happening, however, is that quite a number of Canadian trained doctors are returning to Canada to practice medicine because they have experienced the reality of the US health care profit system and the prodigious paperwork load involved dealing with the many different insurance plans, and the incredibly large overhead that the system requires. One returning Canadian doctor said recently that instead of having to pay 12 office staff to deal with all of the insurance paperwork, she now employs 1 so her overhead is much less and she is actually able to make a better living in Canada than in the US. The illusions of the US health system do eventually fall.

The best news of all is that 90% of Canadians live within a short drive of the border with the US and are welcome to come and go as they please and to utilize our healthcare system to subsidize theirs.

Seriously, Vermont will be the first state in the country with a single payer system later this year (fine with me, we can handle it, the Feds cannot) but one of the serious stumbling blocks (I am sure they will resolve) is NOT to lock out Canadians who make up 40% of our healthcare clients. Without Canadians seeking refuge from their system there is no way the small population of Vermont could support the healthcare facilities we have. Having 2 million + needy people just a few miles away makes it possible for us to have such wonderful facilities. Our medical facilities are filled with cars with Quebec license plates. And a few with that little crown in the middle, mostly from the Ottawa area. Our good Governor recently met with the Premier of Quebec to discuss the concerns Quebec has about it. How will Quebec handle the healthcare load if their people cannot escape to Vermont for healthcare? Y'know, doctor shortage and all. Good thing is that we have a mutually beneficial relationship. we love Canadians supporting our system so I don;t have to go to Boston for bypass surgery, and they need a place to get MRIs and buy stuff without the 15% sales tax.

Je me Souviens!

Edited March 27, 2011 by Gary and Alla

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Actually, US trained doctors are not allowed to practice in many provinces in Canada either, unless they go through the Canadian medical re-training qualifications in the various provinces - the same complaints foreign trained doctors have about the US.

Canada has a doctor shortage because there is a cap on how many students the Medical Associations will allow to enter medical school each year - as well as a cap on how many foreign trained doctors are allowed to obtain Canadian qualifications - as a way to 'protect' their supply and demand. Having fewer doctors means the opportunity for them to make more money. That is what has caused the biggest problems with the Canadian health care system. Many Canadian trained doctors then chose to come to the US as they see the opportunity to earn bigger money sooner as the health care system is profit driven and they can charge as much as the market will bear. What is now happening, however, is that quite a number of Canadian trained doctors are returning to Canada to practice medicine because they have experienced the reality of the US health care profit system and the prodigious paperwork load involved dealing with the many different insurance plans, and the incredibly large overhead that the system requires. One returning Canadian doctor said recently that instead of having to pay 12 office staff to deal with all of the insurance paperwork, she now employs 1 so her overhead is much less and she is actually able to make a better living in Canada than in the US. The illusions of the US health system do eventually fall.

Oh, and the Green Mountian Boys will continue flying their patrol about 15 seconds flying time from Montreal so the Canadians do not need to buy F-16s and can buy medical care instead. Bienvenue.

[Pooky 3,807]

Oh, and the Green Mountian Boys will continue flying their patrol about 15 seconds flying time from Montreal so the Canadians do not need to buy F-16s and can buy medical care instead. Bienvenue.

The Canadians already have F/A-18s and are going to buy F-35s, so that bit's out the window. Au revoir.

[Boiler 45,657]

Sounds like she came to the US to provide domestic care.

He came I would guess as a visitor. And overstayed. Sounds like he waited until one of his children obtained citizenship and could file for him.

I wonder what he was doing for those 7 years?

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

The Canadians already have F/A-18s and are going to buy F-35s, so that bit's out the window. Au revoir.

Oh, so I am imagining the F-16s flying over my house? That's good news, it is much quieter now. You think they would not go to Montreal if Canada had a problem? The Green Moutain boys were the first Air Force planes over New York on 9/11. My guess is that at any given moment they could be over Montreal faster than any Canadian jets. Bet?

[Pooky 3,807]

Oh, so I am imagining the F-16s flying over my house? That's good news, it is much quieter now. You think they would not go to Montreal if Canada had a problem? The Green Moutain boys were the first Air Force planes over New York on 9/11. My guess is that at any given moment they could be over Montreal faster than any Canadian jets. Bet?

No, the F-16s are Vermont ANG, not Canadian AF.

If you're in VT, the Canadians wouldn't be flying over your house, would they?

[rika60607 215]

Good. Send yours back.

Another indicator we are immigrating too many people......and the wrong ones.

[peejay 327]

Good. Send yours back.

US citizens have always been allowed to bring their foreign spouses to their own country to live.

Chain migration is something else altogether that got slipped into the misbegotten 1965 Hart-Celler Immigration Bill that started the lunacy that continues today.

Don't compare apples to oranges.