Q: I know you're extremely busy but this question is really important, and will affect my future career a great deal. I should have asked you before.
English is not my first language and I don't have U.S. citizenship. I'm an international student from Vietnam. My dream is to cover Vietnam for wire services, such as the AP. But for now, I need a newsroom job in the U.S. and I also can't go back to Vietnam and work as a reporter anyway, due to state regulation.
Under the law, I can work in the U.S. for a year. After 12 months, if the paper still wants me working, it will have to sponsor me for the B-1 or H-1 visa (working visa)
My fear is that small newspapers won't hire me, even if I have the skills, because they don't want to have to go through the whole process of completing paper works. They would rather hire an American.
Bigger newspapers, like the New York Times, do have foreigners work for them. But I'm not good enough for bigger newspapers anyway.The only thing I can add to a newsroom is diversity, which is a lame excuse. However, I have been chosen to some of the programs for student journalists partly because I'm from Vietnam. So, I'm not sure whether it will play a role in my job searching. Or it will prevent me from getting a job in the U.S.
So, I'm facing a dilemma here: can't go back home and work, and can't get a job in the U.S.
I know you have thousand of questions coming in. I really hope you would answer me, maybe not immediately, but in the near future.
Best regards,
Huong
A: You are not alone. I hear almost weekly from journalists in the same situation. In fact, I was talking about this with an editor in Wisconsin just this week. He was frustrated by his inability to land a journalist we both know who he dearly wanted to keep. The U.S. government denied the application and she is working at home in Canada now.
When the market is tight, as it is now, international journalists have an even tougher time. The extra costs and red tape are hard to justify.
One thing that can push them to make the effort is the chance to acquire someone with fluency in a language ot skill they need.
So, a few strategies for international journalists looking to get work visas:
- Become knowledgeable about the process. Get help from an immigration lawyer. If a university encouraged you to come here to go to study, press it to help you with the work visa. (It is a disservice for universities to attract international students without providing this kind of support.)
- Apply to places where your unique qualifications -- a language, most likely -- are in demand.
- Don't be afraid to apply to small newspapers. They are sometimes willing to sponsor, and you're right that larger newspapers are looking for more journalistic experience.
- Don't ask the newspaper to pay your share of the costs on this. After all, American candidates don't come with that extra expense.
- When you take internships or jobs for part of the 12-month practical training period that student visas allow, be sure that the papers you go with are open to sponsoring you. If a newspaper takes you on as a student intern but has no interntion of hiring your or sponsoring you, that costs you months you should be spending to impress a prospective employer.
