From: browning@willard.nas.nasa.gov (David S. Browning)
Subject: Re: Job (baan)
Organization: NAS Program, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 92 09:29:23 GMT
Reply-To: browning@willard.nas.nasa.gov

In article <1992Aug14.151353.25959@wam.umd.edu>, wats@next11csc.wam.umd.edu (Bryan Paul Wats) writes:
|> 	By demanding to be(come) US citizen, agencies like NASA have some  
|> added security. With that, by no means all problems are solved. Bad things  
|> also happen from within the agency.
|> 	Don't have the impression that the majority of American companies  
|> have these requirements. Quite often you will read "such and such company  
|> is an equal opportunity employer", when you browse through the job ads.

It is essentially ILLEGAL to for a U.S. company to discriminate on the
basis of race, religion, and just recently, physical handicap.  It is
not illegal to discriminate on the basis of sex (i.e. gender) or
sexual orientation (e.g. homosexuality).  (At least not on a national
level.  Some communities are enacting local laws that prohibit such
discrimination.)  You will typically see something like "EOE/M/F/V" in
a job ad, which means "Equal Opportunity Employer: Male/Female/Veteran"
showing they exceed what's required by law.

As with most countries, anyone working in the U.S. must have a work
permit.  However, most companies, especially big ones, require that
you be a Permanent Resident ("PR", i.e. have a "green card") or be a
U.S. citizen.  Employers want PR status because it's a permanent work
permit.  Any tempory visa requires legal work for renewal, and the
employer must pay the legal costs.

U.S. citizenship is required for jobs involving the "national
security", whatever that is.  You can, however, indirectly get a job
with a federal agency (such as NASA, DOD or DOE) as a contractor.
This is how the U.S. Government gets most of its technical work done.
Unless the job requires a "security clearance", PR status is usually
adequate.  You will typically have to be "drug free" to work for a
federal contractor, however.

What is truly discriminatory about the U.S. Government is the way it
grants PR status.  Legally, the U.S. does not have immigration quotas.
That is, the U.S. cannot favor one country over another in granting PR
status, by its own laws.  However, it DOES discriminate!  Not by
officially limiting the number of immigrants from a given country, but
by processing applications from one country more slowly than another.
The number of PR applications processed from Hong Kong depend on how
many people the U.S. government has working on Hong Kong PR
applications.  Similarly for Canada, etc.  By not allocating enough
resources for a given country-of-origin, they can restrict the number
of PRs granted.  It can take ten years or more to get PR status if
you're from Hong Kong, or you can get it almost immediately (probably
as soon as you're eligible) if you're from Canada.  (I have two
friends from the same family, one born in Hong Kong and one born in
Canada.  They both went to the same schools on the same types of
student visas.  After more than 10 years, the one from Hong Kong
finally got PR status with the help of an immigration lawyer.  The one
from Canada was a U.S.  citizen in 5 1/2 years.  I believe 5 years of
residence is the minimum for U.S.  citizenship.)  I'd be interested in
Dutch citizens' experiences immigrating to the U.S. and the ease (or
lack thereof) with which they got work visas, permits, etc.

[What I've described above may not be completely correct, and I'd like
to hear from anyone who knows better, and I'll gladly retract any
errors.  I'm pretty well informed, but not a legal expert.  Part of
the problem with this country is that no one here knows anything about
it.]

I intend to leave the U.S. and move to Amsterdam.  I can't tolerate
the hypocrisy of the U.S. Government any longer.  (Actually that's not
the reason I'm leaving, but it makes the decision MUCH easier!)

Anyone know who would hire a drug-free (as enforced by my employer)
non-Dutch-speaking American?

-- David

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