My passport defines me

Will you now, or in the future, require sponsorship for employment visa status?

These thirteen words — strung together in what seem like an innocuous question in a seemingly unimportant section of most job application forms — have come to haunt me over the past year.

Coming to the U.S. to attend one of the world's most prestigious academic institutions has led me to believe that my Duke degree will open doors for me most people can only dream of. And it really has. I will be forever grateful for the friendships and mentorships I have made, for an environment that allowed me to thrive and push the envelope every single day, and for having gained many different perspectives I never could have gained back in Munich where I am from. Duke has allowed me to become the best version of myself that I can possibly be at this point in time.

However, aside from all the intellectual glamour that comes with being a Duke student, for a certain sub-population of the Duke community - international students - navigating through college and formulating post-grad professional aspirations constitutes a greater challenge than for their American classmates.

For the past year and a half, I have been experiencing excruciating anxiety and stress. It all started when I tried to work on a Duke-based tech startup but was eventually told that my position as Chief Marketing Officer conflicted with student visa regulations. My anxiety steadily grew once senior year had come around and I had buried my original plans of applying to grad school in the UK. My priorities had changed and I wanted to start a professional career in the United States instead.

However, finding a company outside of consulting, finance, and software engineering that is willing to sponsor an international student turned out to be extremely difficult. I had snagged a few interviews with big companies such as Oracle and IBM just to be told one day before the interview - or in Oracle’s case the day of the interview - that the company doesn’t offer visa sponsorship for said position (despite what it said on the application form).

Over the past few weeks alone, multiple recruiters have reached out to me, telling me that they had identified me as a great fit for some really interesting roles - until I had to break the news to them that I am neither an American citizen nor a green card holder. 

Every single time I check “yes” on a job application form when asked if I required sponsorship, I immediately start picturing how the pre-set algorithm of the respective company’s application management system is sorting me out without even taking one look at my credentials. Just like an apple with a small dent that is being thrown off the assembly line. Having graduated cum laude and with distinction from Duke or having grown on the rarest and oldest tree doesn’t matter because nobody wants to buy fruit that looks slightly imperfect - even if that could have been the most delicious apple you would have ever tasted. Speaking of apples. Remember how Steve Jobs was the son of a Syrian immigrant?

Unfortunately, convincing an employer to sponsor you is only step one of a months-long process. Every year, United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) grants 85,000 H1B work visas (65,000 under the regular cap 20,000 under the advanced degree exemption cap for those who have earned their Master’s degree in the U.S.). During the 2017 filing period, USCIS received more than 236,000 H1B petitions.

Let me do the math for you: That’s about a 36% chance of getting the visa. Roughly two out of three people will have to return to their home countries.

It is not only them who lose in this process, it is also companies who have invested both financial and human resources in those two people and now have to start their hiring process over again. Therefore, from a purely rational point of view, you can’t blame corporations for choosing an American applicant - even if they are slightly less qualified - over a foreign national. It is much more cost efficient and less time-consuming.

I’m a fighter. I don’t give up easily. In fact, in every challenge that is being presented to me I see an opportunity for personal growth. My friends and family know that about me. However, over the course of these past 1.5 years, there were multiple occasions in which my roommate would find me crying in our dorm room because I was forced to realize that hard work, ambition, and stamina couldn’t change the fact that I didn’t own an American passport. For the first time in my life I felt as if my future and happiness were determined by a few sheets of fancy, holographic paper and a piece of plastic glued in between a bordeaux cover that debunks me as non-American, rather than my character and academic or professional credentials.

As much as I love this country and its people, I am defined by my passport.

Trips to Duke Visa Services where I have had more than one unpleasant interaction with staff members, oftentimes left me feeling like a second-class human being that was allowed to pay full tuition but not pursue her dream of working for a startup or landing a marketing job. A second-class human being who beat a transfer acceptance rate of less than 5%, someone who has found her way into the top 20% of her class with English as her second language, recipient of one of Germany’s most prestigious merit-based scholarships, recipient of a number of (academic) honors, and holder of an impressive résumé.

This is not how it should be, especially not in a country that claims to thrive upon diversity, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness. 

I’m a fighter. I know I will find a way to pursue my dreams eventually even if that requires overcoming more obstacles and taking a few detours along the way. I don’t give up easily. In 10, maybe 15 years I will be a more resilient individual after having navigated through all that mess. I’m not asking for a whole lot. All I am asking for is a chance to fulfill my dream of having a positive impact in this world and to become a role model for younger generations of ambitious, talented women.

I am sharing my story today because I have come to realize that most people are not even aware of these issues and it would mean a lot to the international community if more people were able to empathize. Sometimes it just takes one good-hearted person to change someone's life.

Edited by LinkedIn Campus Editor Sydney Sarachek

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