EMPLOYMENT IN USA

Due to downsize of the high tech and computer industry it became practically impossible for a foreign IT specialist to find employment through the Internet. However demand for technology workers remains very strong in the US. USA continues to import IT specialists from India, Brazil, Russia and other countries known for high level of education in science and engineering. On the other hand, demand for specialists in some technology fields is soft. The reason for this seeming contradiction lies in the fact that many companies continue to perform well and prefer to be more careful in selection of their employees. US employers are less willing to go through trouble of hiring foreign specialists with no employment authorization or green card. Obtaining a visa is a time-consuming procedure, there is no guarantee of success, and employers are often reluctant to assume the responsibility of sponsoring a foreign employee. At the same time, the training of US workers in American universities is still not nearly adequate to meet the demand in the work place. The number of students graduating with bachelor's degrees over the last four years has increased only from 8,000 each year to 16,000, which is not nearly enough for the marketplace. Consequently, the demand for foreign technology workers remains strong. IT specialists from Russia and countries of the former Soviet Union are still desirable candidates for employment in the area of information technologies and technical sciences because of their high level of qualification, superior training and affordable salary demands. Unfortunately, there are two main problems that US employers encounter when dealing with potential employees from Russia and countries of the former Soviet Union - lack of status allowing employment in the US and insufficient knowledge of the English language. Both of these problems can be resolved.

Certainly, learning of the foreign language greatly depends on individual's will and desire, as for assistance in obtaining status allowing employment in the US and finding a job in IT industry, Premier Expert Service offers a complex of services helping our clients with obtaining employment and permanent residency status (green card) in the US.

We have developed a special program in order to assist our clients applying for a green card in finding a job. It is only natural that practically all specialists who apply for permanent residence in USA are planning to find a job in the area of their specialization. However, such drastic changes as relocating to a new country often imply some risk and uncertainty in one's future. These are consequences and sacrifices that an individual who has decided to immigrate to another country usually faces. Thus, we see the most positive outcome when we work with people who are ready and willing to take the risks related to major changes in their lives. Considering our more than 10-year experience in the area of adaptation of the Russian specialists in the US, we offer our clients the most effective program that includes assistance in job placement. During the years of our existence we were able to compile a database of American recruiting agencies that focus on placement of specialists in very particular areas, such as medical imaging, gene engineering, biotechnology, aerospace engineering, defense industry, environmental engineering, network and system engineering, etc. Our approach proved to be more successful for specialists in computer and technical sciences since demand for these professionals is much stronger.

The main requirements to a prospective employee are ability to communicate in English and authorization to work in the US issued by US Immigration and Naturalization Service. Most all of the specialists in technical sciences have knowledge of the written English from reading technical literature and IT-related publications. However, sometimes they are not proficient enough to fluently communicate in English. It is important to understand that immigrant employees are not expected to speak English as perfectly as the native speakers, yet one has to be able to clearly express himself when communicating with his boss or colleagues at work. Consequently, a person who considers relocating to the US, obtaining a green card and finding a job has to objectively evaluate his level of English language proficiency and consider either taking English lessons or finding another way to improve his language skills. Usually our clients work on this problem while their permanent residence application is pending with US Immigration and Naturalization Services. Application processing presently takes about a year - a year and a half and by the time immigration procedures are complete, our clients have everything necessary, including authorization for employment in the US, in order to get started in a new country.

Another serious matter is obtaining a legal status of a permanent US resident. Our clients often ask us if we could assist them in getting a job in the US first and afterwards help them in obtaining a green card. Unfortunately, the reality proves such order of business to be unsuccessful. A potential candidate has practically no chances to obtain employment until he has some type of work authorization from the US government. We are successful in our efforts to assist our clients in finding a job for the most part because we are able to provide potential employers with an official document showing that our client's immigration case is pending. Usually future employer is far more willing to accept your application if he does not have to apply on your behalf to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. When necessary our attorneys support client's employment efforts by supplying potential employer with a letter explaining the nature of priority immigration category our client is applying for, thus verifying his high qualification and confirming that employment candidate will comply with all necessary immigration requirements in the nearest future. Therefore, we prefer to proceed with these two important processes concurrently, so our client would have both, legal residency status and employment offer in the US. In addition, our employment assistance efforts result in placing client's resume on record with several hundreds of recruiting agencies specializing in placement of specialists in similar to our client's area of expertise thus increasing our client's chances to obtain desirable position upon arrival to the US. Certainly, there are many factors that solely depend on each individual client, such as his potential to make a credible impression on perspective employer and ability to complete sample trial tasks, which are sometimes given to an employment candidate in order to verify his level of expertise. In other words, we provide our clients with a key to the door of their future, and they have to open this door and be able to enter it.

It is important to note that before we accept a case for immigration and employment services, we first determine whether there is a reasonably fair chance for success. In order to make such determination we thoroughly consider and evaluate relevant information provided to us by potential clients. This service is provided free of charge. If our attorneys and experts do not believe that an individual has a reasonably fair chance for success, we will not accept the case.