MENA Men/Women arriving in USA

[ya falaha! 0]

My husband has a degree in computer engineering but is unable to use his degree here without more education. He's currently working as a manager of a convenience store/gas station. He works long hours and makes pretty good money considering he works in a gas station. He's planning on furthering his education after we take of a few financial obligations.

My ex (who is also an immigrant from a MENA country) started off working at a gas station also. He's been in the states for 16 years now. He now co-owns a smoke shop/cell phone store.

[SandyNJack 5]

Jack is educated as a lawyer. When he comes here I am thinking that maybe at first he will get a job at Target or something just until we get everything situated and he decides if he wants to pursue law or some other profession.

Oh wow. I mean will he have to start from scratch since our laws and procedures are so very different?

From what I have learned so far, he only has to be able to pass the bar exam. It is not required you have a degree in law to be a lawyer so we would have to send him to a place that would prepare him for the bar exam.

[Imua 0]

My husband has a degree in computer engineering but is unable to use his degree here without more education. He's currently working as a manager of a convenience store/gas station. He works long hours and makes pretty good money considering he works in a gas station. He's planning on furthering his education after we take of a few financial obligations.

My ex (who is also an immigrant from a MENA country) started off working at a gas station also. He's been in the states for 16 years now. He now co-owns a smoke shop/cell phone store.

Wow - this answers my question that I posted in the S. Asian and Moving to America forums. If your hubby, with a degree in computer engineering, couldn't find a computer job, then definitely my hubby(who is completing some computer classes but they do not lead to certification or a degree) will not be able to find anything and he is wasting his time....

Edited February 21, 2008 by Pattu Rani

[ya falaha! 0]

Have your hubby save his time and money and just wait until he gets here to take classes. There are several Microsoft certification exams that he can take here to have him certified.

[doodlebugg 10]

My husband has a degree in computer engineering but is unable to use his degree here without more education. He's currently working as a manager of a convenience store/gas station. He works long hours and makes pretty good money considering he works in a gas station. He's planning on furthering his education after we take of a few financial obligations.

My ex (who is also an immigrant from a MENA country) started off working at a gas station also. He's been in the states for 16 years now. He now co-owns a smoke shop/cell phone store.

Why not get a job as a computer tech or a help desk guy in a company that pays for tuition? That way he can work his way up if they offer engineering jobs as well.

[ya falaha! 0]

Yeah we tried that when he first was looking for work but no one wanted to hire him due to lack of work experience in the states. He recently got a lead for a computer related job that will be open in March sometime.

My husband has a degree in computer engineering but is unable to use his degree here without more education. He's currently working as a manager of a convenience store/gas station. He works long hours and makes pretty good money considering he works in a gas station. He's planning on furthering his education after we take of a few financial obligations.

My ex (who is also an immigrant from a MENA country) started off working at a gas station also. He's been in the states for 16 years now. He now co-owns a smoke shop/cell phone store.

Why not get a job as a computer tech or a help desk guy in a company that pays for tuition? That way he can work his way up if they offer engineering jobs as well.

[JeanneVictoria 55]

Wael has done very well since arriving in the states. He has a full time job with benefits working for a military contractor. He hopes to begin his Master's program this summer and his ultimate goal is obtaining a dual Master's... MBA and MBA in Marketing. So he is on his way and I'm so very proud of him!!! He has worked hard. We are very fortunate he speaks, reads and writes exceptional english which I do believe has helped him.

[nu7015 0]

My husband has a degree in computer engineering but is unable to use his degree here without more education. He's currently working as a manager of a convenience store/gas station. He works long hours and makes pretty good money considering he works in a gas station. He's planning on furthering his education after we take of a few financial obligations.

My ex (who is also an immigrant from a MENA country) started off working at a gas station also. He's been in the states for 16 years now. He now co-owns a smoke shop/cell phone store.

Why not get a job as a computer tech or a help desk guy in a company that pays for tuition? That way he can work his way up if they offer engineering jobs as well.

My husband just has a 2 year computer science degree from Morocco and finished 2 years of a 4 year economics degree. He began working at McDonalds when he first got here. Together we made a pretty nice resume for him to send and I helped him apply everywhere. A company said they would hire him for temporary work once he received his employment card. Once he received his card, he was interviewed for a data entry position and they recognized his computer skills and took him to the computer department and they hired him immediately as a software tester. Within days they were blown away with his knowledge and a few weeks later increased his pay 2.5 times and gave him a computer developer and designer title. After 4 months, they gave him permanent benefits and promoted him to test engineer. In March he will be a Project Manager and making more than I can ever dream about with a 4 year degree.

My advice is to keep searching. He was turned away at Burger King and many other places because of his lack of work history and experience. Don't give up or think that there isn't anyone who will hire them!

[ya falaha! 0]

Wow that's awesome! It's very encouraging to hear stories like this. Thank you for posting it!

[♥JP♥ 5]

it's so funny, i was working on my husband's resume today....

...i'm guessing you're husband's an engineer.. my husband's a civil engineer and when he comes, we're going to be looking for civil engineering positions....i'm praying to God that it's an easy process....i know he'll need to take some exam, the EIT [Engineer in Training] and later the PE [Professional Engineer] for the license...my husband really loves his job...and i'm so worried that he'll be underemployed, it'll really be difficult for him...but i'm praying for the best, insha Allah..

i wish you and your husband all the best, insha Allah

take care

My husband is also an Engineer. Where did you learn he needs to take those exams? I've asked Engineers I know here and no one has mentioned any exam...doesn't mean it isn't necessary though! lol They just said that his degree must be an "American accredited degree".

Yeah there is no such thing as a certificate or an exam you can take, they will have to pursue a Master's degree from an accredited university. My cousin is an engineer and when he came from Jordan thats what he had to do to get a job.

[Nasturtium 500]

My husband taught anthropology at a University in Jordan. When he first got here, I got him a job as maintenance man at my job. Then he transferred to the building next door for full-time and a raise.

He's applied for teaching positions for fall 2008.

Today he decided he wanted to get another job-- a second job to help his family in Jordan because of the recent cost of living increase (and there are 3 unemployed adults in his household, and one employed who makes 150JD/month. So, he just went out and now he has an interview at 4 at a restaurant.

He'd rather teach in a heartbeat, but he's pretty pragmatic and realizes he has to just make money at the moment and he's not being picky about it.

[ya falaha! 0]

Julianna, my husband is the same. Any job will do for now as long as he's working and contributing to the household. He hasn't sent any money home yet but he does want to save a little something to send for his sister's wedding in July plus he has a couple loans to pay off for his plane ticket and money he brought with him. His top priority now is to help me pay down my debts (almost done, thank God!). After that comes the GC. Then comes the money he owes and a gift for his sister. He's also considering a second job although I'm against it. He works 63 hours a week currently. I really don't want him wearing himself out.

[Cheryl & Medo 3]

My husband has a degree in art. So when he gets here I will be teaching him how to tattoo. And we will be opening our own tattoo shop. And in this time of AP I have been buying all the supply's we need for the shop. We also met in a tattoo chat room. We also love dogs! And plan on haveing a dog kennel raiseing Shiloh Shepards. All our plans are in motion........WE JUST NEED A VISA!!!!!

[doodlebugg 10]

My husband has a degree in art. So when he gets here I will be teaching him how to tattoo. And we will be opening our own tattoo shop. And in this time of AP I have been buying all the supply's we need for the shop. We also met in a tattoo chat room. We also love dogs! And plan on haveing a dog kennel raiseing Shiloh Shepards. All our plans are in motion........WE JUST NEED A VISA!!!!!

not to hijack the thread but have you called DOS about your security checks? Are they done yet?

[Nasturtium 500]

Julianna, my husband is the same. Any job will do for now as long as he's working and contributing to the household. He hasn't sent any money home yet but he does want to save a little something to send for his sister's wedding in July plus he has a couple loans to pay off for his plane ticket and money he brought with him. His top priority now is to help me pay down my debts (almost done, thank God!). After that comes the GC. Then comes the money he owes and a gift for his sister. He's also considering a second job although I'm against it. He works 63 hours a week currently. I really don't want him wearing himself out.

Mine hasn't sent any money home yet either, although he's traded away most of his inheritence at this point since he's been here in order to have brothers and sisters pay for the other brothers and sisters. Why they can't just step up is a sore subject with me, but anyway... prices just rose to equal or higher than here in Jordan-- yet their income still averages about $300/month. So as you can imagine, the sudden crunch is on! His thought is pretty logical and basic-- they need about $700-1000 a month to live (house needs osme repairs too becuase the roof is leaking), so he's just wanting to cover that. His plan is to use the income of the second job to pay for them and the primary job to pay for my student loans. Since he's been here it's been awesome though-- he's a good saver. We've knocked out all the credit card debt and we're saving until my loans are out of deferrment in July. I'll consolidate and then dump a giant lump sum onto the principle. Plan is to get 60k paid off in under 3 years. Not bad for two people making less than $10/hour What helps is having him here and not having $60 billon phone bills to Jordan.