Careers for New Americans: Global Professionals, American Dreams

"He was a teacher in Africa. He's got a Master's degree, but when he came in, he started working as a custodian and he's still working there," relates Emily Love, a U.S. Immigration and Nationality lawyer at the Law Offices of Emily Love, PC, about an immigrant client of hers. Love has been practicing law for seventeen years and has a deep understanding of the problems facing professional immigrants when they arrive in the United States. Love works with immigrants to secure employer sponsorship, family sponsorship, naturalization, or political asylum and also defends against deportation. She is a solo practitioner based in Evanston, IL.

From registering immigrants for legalization when the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act was enacted to working with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights in its infancy, Love has a long history of serving the immigrant population and understanding the complex struggles that so many face.

"It's too expensive and onerous," says Love, explaining why it is so difficult for foreign trained lawyers to relicense in the United States. Love laments that the U.S. loses some highly qualified immigrant lawyers to the process.

"My first legal assistant was a lawyer from Colombia. He was working for me for a few years, but I always thought, 'This guy's a lawyer, and here he is pushing paper for me,' and I just thought he was so overqualified."

Love remembers when her assistant was studying for the bar and that he even qualified for the Illinois Supreme Court Rule 715 on the Admission of Graduates of Foreign Law Schools, which would have made obtaining his credentials much easier and quicker. Rule 715 provides that a lawyer with a degree from a foreign law school may be eligible to take the Illinois bar exam without having to return to school to obtain a U.S. JD (Juris Doctor). Yet, instead of continuing the lengthy process in the U.S., he chose to return to be a lawyer in Colombia.

Love sees some alternatives to relicensing that would allow an immigrant to work in the legal field. Love says, "I know of a number of people who are educated as lawyers, who are licensed as lawyers in their home countries, and who work in the United States as paralegals or as legal assistants."

She does not advocate these alternatives as equivalent careers to becoming a fully licensed lawyer and says that both paralegals and legal assistants operate in more of a support role, can never sign off on anything official and do not make a comparable salary.

Love does see the value of immigrant lawyers in Chicago. She particularly notes the special ability of foreign educated lawyers to speak with their clients in their native language and understand their culture and experience to a much greater extent than American-born lawyers.

"They have the language capabilities which is absolutely an advantage, especially in a place like Chicago which has such a huge immigrant population from everywhere," she says. She notes that there is a particular need for Spanish and Arabic speaking lawyers since, "Certainly the highest immigrant population group or single country represented in the Chicago area is Mexican," and she feels that there is a scarcity of lawyers who can serve the growing Arabic population.

Her advice to lawyers arriving in the United States is to know all the rules, like Rule 715, and to get licensed as soon as possible in order to begin practicing.

Every year thirty foreign-trained dentists successfully embark on a new phase of their careers in the International Dentist Degree Program (IDDP) at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The school accepts professionals trained outside the United States and Canada into a two year program designed to enhance the clinical skills and knowledge necessary to practice dentistry in the United States. 

"Foreign trained dentists' educational background and experience with dental material may vary dramatically," said Dr. Terry Parsons, Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of the International Dentist Program at UIC. "The goal of our program is to help foreign specialists acquire the necessary experience to practice successful dentistry in the U.S. and specifically in the state of Illinois."

When the UIC's College of Dentistry originally started the International Dentist Degree Program, they were accepting only twelve students at a time. The number of applications has been steadily growing throughout the years. "There seems to be an increased number of foreign-born and trained dentists immigrating to this country," Dr. Parsons observed.

Now IDDP receives over two hundred fifty applications every year. In a highly competitive environment, successful candidates may need to meet numerous criteria.

Applicants are required to have a dental degree from a country outside the United States and provide proof of residency status. Candidates without current visa status are not considered for this program. Future IDDP students are required to complete an online application and provide National Board Examination and English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores, among other documents. "Although the second part of the National Board exam is not required, it is highly recommended for admission," said Dr. Parsons, a long term member of the selection committee.

High scores on the tests are critically important, but not the sole criteria applicants will be evaluated on by the selection committee. A personal statement written in standard English, without spelling or grammatical mistakes adds additional value to the application. "We also look for communication skills and review if grammar, punctuation and spelling are correct," Dr. Parsons explained.

Candidates who have had an opportunity to gain some understanding on how dentistry is practiced in the U.S. by working in a dental office as a front desk receptionist, office assistant or doing other general jobs not requiring licensing, may be better qualified to enter IDDP. The selection committee looks to see if a candidate has a general understanding of how patients are being treated in the U.S. and if he/she has knowledge of insurance programs, legal liabilities and infection control procedures. They also look to see if he/she is familiar with materials and equipment used in the dental clinics. "Exposure to work at dental offices helps students succeed in the program," Dr. Parsons said.

Even though foreign professionals may need to put extra effort in to get in to the U.S. dentistry field, it does not mean their international experience has no value.

"The strong side of foreign candidates is their experience working in community-based dentistry. In numerous countries, dentistry education programs include time spent in the communities providing care to people who cannot afford dental care, " Dr. Parsons said. Community dentistry is a new concept at the UIC College of Dentistry and was recently added to curriculum. The program prepares future dentists to be multiculturally competent in order to meet the needs of low income, under-served populations in community-based clinics.

Students who successfully complete IDDP are awarded a Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S) degree, which is sufficient for licensing purposes throughout the United States.

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) promotes immigrants' rights and champions their full and equal integration into all aspects of society.

ICIRR is an immigrant advocacy organization that, according to its mission statement, "educates and organizes immigrant and refugee communities to assert their rights; promotes citizenship and civic participation; monitors, analyzes, and advocates on immigrant-related issues; and, informs the general public about the contributions of immigrants and refugees." The organization has been integral in bringing about significant budget investments in integration services in the state of Illinois, and has been a national leader in immigrant integration work.

ICIRR has several program offerings for immigrants, including providing services in earning US citizenship and referring families to a wide array of resources. Based on the strong link between vocational English skills and success in the workplace, ICIRR is currently focusing on implementing adult education and ESL programs throughout the state. These programs lead immigrants and refugees to employment and integration into society. For foreign trained professionals, ICIRR can help close the gap between their existing education and experience and the qualifications they need for U.S. employment in their field.

The New Americans Policy Project is ICIRR's program dedicated to determining policy changes to promote and support immigrant integration. Lisa Thakkar is the Project Coordinator and works with the Illinois Governor's Office on implementing strategies to promote immigrant integration and further the efforts for more comprehensive adult education services.

While ICIRR works with both high- and low-skilled immigrants and refugees, the organization recognizes that highly skilled foreign trained professionals require special aid to reestablish their career in the United States. It was natural then for ICIRR to assist Upwardly Global in getting established in the state of Illinois. Upwardly Global provides a specialized response to immigrant professionals to ensure their previous education is not neglected and their skill set is not left underutilized.

Thakkar encourages immigrants and refugees to "build their skills and build their resumes, but also to build a strong voice," and adopt a civic engagement that can help make legislatures and other people in the workforce realize the contributions that immigrants can make to the system. She recognizes that the onerous process to get relicensed in the United States reflects a broken system, and she wants immigrants and refugees to be a part of reforming that system. Ideally, Thakkar would like to embolden immigrant professionals successfully relicense in their field to consider adopting professional associations as their own and integrating into leadership positions. This will eventually allow them to hold the door open to others who are similarly qualified and looking to join the U.S. workforce to contribute to the well-being of important sectors of the country, such as in health care, engineering and teaching.