Tagred tape

The best alien for the job

T

I am a national of an Asian country who’s worked for public and not-for-profit organisations in a few different countries, including Australia and US. As an immigrant (affectionately known as an ‘alien’ in the US), I know how many hoops one must jump through to be able to live and work in another country. One of the worst ones is having to re-apply for your own job. Australian and US laws (and presumably many, if not most, other countries) require that organisations wishing to sponsor a foreign resident to work and live permanently in that country prove that there is no current citizen who...

pulling up the ladder

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When a new opportunity to pick up some expertise in running some important programs came knocking, I got pretty excited. It sucks that when I answered the door all I saw was a rope ladder being pulled up out of my reach. I’ve been a public servant for a few years now, and I’m good at what I do, with some successful projects to show for it. I’m ambitious to learn more and get further in my career so I can do even more for public service delivery. But it dawned on me with a new piece of work that my ambitions are completely blocked. Our department has been given the role to set up an important...

(not) welcome to my country!

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A few years ago, a close friend planned to get married in South-East Asia. Several of our friends decided to make the trip over for the festivities. My partner and I even planned a longer trip around it. At the time, I was living and working in Australia, but was a national of a country notorious for always being close to/at the top of the list of countries with the worst passport. The list is based on how few countries you can gain entry to without applying for a visa in advance of travel. Needless to say, I had to apply for a visa. I completed my visa application and got my paperwork ready...

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