At Least You are Better Than A Fresh Graduate International Student
Today: USPS just lost my EAD card.
for people don't know, EAD card is the working authorization for international student to work in U.S. for one year, it has a start date, and if you can not locate yourself in a job or internship or any type of "work" in three months, you are forced to pack all your stuff and get out off this country.
After studying at this country for four years (two years undergraduate and two years graduate school), i realize how hard it will be to get even one piece of working experience. why it is so hard to get paid, legally.
work your ass off like other american students to apply hundreds and thousands of jobs and internships (i think most of young adults experienced how miserable this step is). however, as an international student most of the applications will not turn out to be an interview, not because you are not qualified or dont know somebody, it is because you are foreigners, will need a sponsorship in the future, that is too complicated to my company, we dont like to deal with it.
fine. After being reject hundreds of times, then you got luck to be call back for a job, this employer finally don't care the sponsorship. If you are good, we can give the sponsor in one year. what a great news!! you feel happier than you got laid in high school. what you need to do is to get the EAD card ready, prove you are legal, wait for the first day coming,nervous and excited.
then you wait for one week and did not see any mail with the EAD card coming in, even it is a two day priority mail...you stop everything you are doing, run to the post office, transfer to another post office, explain at least ten times what is going on to ten different USPS stuffs, nobody know where this piece of mail is, this damn mail with my working authorization card. after you staying in one post office half day long to try to talk to the supervisor help me find this mail, they called the security, conferring you with threading to let you go back home...waiting...waiting another don't-know-how-many days.
your employers can't wait you that long, you have to say don't-know-how-many times of SORRY and PLEASE to keep this opportunity for you one more day. but you know it will not last long, you have to give up, and the employers have to hire others. you call the employer one more time to say sorry with tears, even it is not your fault, you finally let it go.
now you walk back to your apartment, on the street, a couple of homeless people standing there asking money from you, you can't offer anything, but a thought coming up "how I envy you, you got the citizenship to work here, why don't u find yourself a job?"
