dave1987

Hi All,


I’m going to be moving to NYC around 1st July onan L1 visa with my wife on an L2 visa.


I’ve done quite a bit of research around how we get an EADfor her after arriving and this topic is pretty well covered off in this forumand others.
I was still wondering whether you could help me though on acouple of things that I haven’t really been able to get info on…



1. Aside from administrative errors on the formsetc, is there any reason why an EAD for an L2 would be refused? Company isn’thelping me with this/paying. It seems a fairly straight forward, but as we’d berelying on her picking up a job in order to make us that bit more comfortable, Iwould just like to check.





2. Finding a job on an L2 visa with an EAD – how difficultis this is in the current climate? I know that’s a bit of a vague question, butI just wondering what the general job market is like in NYC currently? Thefield she’s in in the UK is quite niche (account manager for a utilities/energybroker) and so I’m sure something would exist around that remit. Do employerslook down on an L2+EAD? as it’s not a forever thing? Could anyone suggest anygood recruitment agencies as our network/contacts are going to be very limited.

Cheers,

Dave

Noorah101

1. No.
2. The same as anyone who is eligible to work in the USA.

Rene

ian-mstm

No.


Of course not - why should they? Your wife doesn't work for them.


That depends on her education and skills. She likely won't have any problem getting a job so long as she's not picky about where she works or the type of work she does. If she is picky or is holding out for some pre-conceived salary, she might never find work.


It is illegal for an employer to deny employment based on the future expiry date of employment credentials.

Ian

H Bomb

I think illegality and reality are very different things.

I have had a few instances when applying for roles with agencies that I have been told 'only US citizens can apply'. I then quote them the law, they apologise and say they will send me resume over. However I know it is just going straight in the bin!

To be fair that has been the exception not the norm.

md95065

Employment in the US isn't exactly a "forever thing" either.

In most states employment is "at will" meaning that, in the absence of certain specific exceptions, which vary from state to state, the employer can terminate the employee at any time for any (or no) reason with no advance notice.

themadpooper

Yes is basically the answer and anyone saying otherwise has either been incredibly fortunate or has never experienced looking for their first job on an L2/EAD

US employers are incredibly insular so if you have no US work experience you might as well be from Mars. My advice: don't assume your qualifications and experience automatically translate over here and don't turn respectable job offers down early doors just because they pay a few dollars less than what you were getting in the UK - take the job if it means getting US work experience to put on your resume. I worked minimum wage when I first came here despite having a very good degree, it was crap but the route I followed was pretty much what the American dream is all about. That was 10 years ago, I'm now a citizen and earn considerably more than I would be getting in the UK doing the same thing

ian-mstm

Bzzzt... wrong - and the rest of your post completely contradicts what you've just written. Since you can't have it both ways, I suggest you read more and post less.

Ian

Owen778

I have a question for you, Ian: Are you posting from personal experience and knowledge, or are you just posting on the basis of the fact that employers are legally not allowed to discriminate?

There are plenty of personal stories around of suitably qualified people struggling to find employment when they first arrive in the US.

ian-mstm

That's a fair question! Both. I had an EAD for 3 years before I got a green card. I was unemployed for 4 months when I first arrived in the US. I also held a graduate degree, knew the language and culture, and was willing to work anywhere. My ability to get a job had nothing to do with employers poo-pooing my EAD... it had everything to do with job availability. I live in a rural area and the closest larger cities are 2 hours away. Quite simply, there weren't many jobs available but I applied for them anyway! For most of them, I was deemed over-qualified so there were no offers! Nothing I could do about that. I did eventually get a part-time job writing the weekend obituaries for the local daily newspaper, and it was another 4 months before I found a full-time position. It was not in my area of expertise, but it was a good job, albeit at a lower salary than I would have wanted. It was another 2.5 years before I got a full-time job in my area of expertise... and I'm still here 15 years later having moved nicely up the chain.

I expect that had I lived in a larger, more urban area, getting a job would have come sooner... because I wanted to work, and I didn't much care what I did.

In those first few years, I thought that I might have better success if I dumbed down my resume. My wife said that wasn't a good idea, but I did deliberately leave out a few things when I sent in my resume, although everything I wrote was true.


As I wrote in an earlier post, it's all about education and skills. If you're not picky about the type of work, you can find a job. If you are picky, you might never find work.

I'm not saying getting a job is going to be a piece of cake, but it has precious little to do with having an EAD.

In my experience, people are simply not willing to work at McDonald's because they think it's beneath them. That is their choice. They could work if they wanted to, but they've chosen not to... and that's an entirely separate issue from having employers look down on an EAD.

Ian

Owen778

That's an interesting answer, thanks.

However, I think you just disproved your own argument. If well-qualified candidates need to consider working minimum wage at McDonalds in order to build up US work experience to enable them to later get a job better suited to their qualifications, then yes, employers absolutely do look down on people who apply with an EAD. Whether it's specifically because of the foreign work experience or the EAD itself is debatable, and an interesting question, but irrelevant for people in that situation, since the two come hand in hand.

ian-mstm

Not surprisingly, I don't see it that way.


I think you're heading down the wrong track! Working at McDonald's has nothing to do with building up US work experience - it has to do with getting a job which, in this case at least, is what the OP asked about. They'll be in NYC, so I don't think getting a job will be as difficult.

It seems you're trying to create a relationship between US work experience and having an EAD, and I don't believe the two are related.


I don't think that's true, though - because people who have a green card and are just arriving in the US will face the same problem. I would argue that it has more to do with not having US references, than having an EAD.

Ian

cheradenine

I agree, we all face running the same gauntlet when we get here. A friend I sometimes message on this site landed a job pretty quickly. it took me some months before I landed a job. in fact it was pretty recent and I start tomorrow. I imagine others can take much longer!


Never seemed to have an issue with my EAD card in the brief time I had it before it was superseded by my green card. biggest issues I had was being overqualified or 'ITAR'/needed to be a citizen.


Not sure what to make of the 'mcdonalds' debate. tried applying for many minimum wage jobs and a lot of them are simply not interested because they know you won't be around long.

themadpooper

You're wrong I'm afraid. As others have testified to, you absolutely can encounter employment discrimination on the various temporary visas available, regardless of what the law says. For you to smugly tell me and everyone else who've directly experienced this we're wrong, I suggest you learn more decorum. As for my post being contradictory, I originally arrived in the US on a marriage based green card and encountered plenty of discrimination, so the notion someone on an EAD wouldn't is bizarre, even in New York where I initially moved to myself, btw

ian-mstm

Really? So you never actually had an EAD? What the hell do you have to offer from personal experience then?


I submit that the problem still isn't about having an EAD. In your case, it was more likely your lack of personality that dampened the mood of everyone in the room.

If you encountered discrimination and were afraid to say anything or did nothing about it, then you're part of the problem.

Ian

Bob

Well he's right though.

I know from experience, that off the record, people were not offered jobs because they mentioned that they had a EAD. In one case it was because the person doing the interview didn't understand what it was and in another, it was because it had an expatriation date and another candidate didn't, but the first person would have been offered the job till they mentioned the fact.

And the McD's thing, yes, people can be over qualified. The missus worked with a shift manager who said the owner wouldn't hire any one who had a degree because they weren't expected to stay long enough to make training worth it.

Discrimination, sure. Go spend the money to prove it.