Christopher Coen
Melissa Sogard
nancylee1
A Chinese journalism student named Xue Jianyue studying at the Missouri School of Journalism wrote an article for publication at the Columbia Missourian about Iraqi refugees with professional credentials. The article did not get published in the end because his interviewee refused a photograph. The article is now published as a post in Jianyue’s blog.
Just as most Americans in Missouri are preparing for bed, Mr Kamal Mohammedali, a 51-year-old Iraqi refugee from Baghdad, heads to work at midnight, delivering the Columbia Daily Tribune to the newsstands across Columbia.
Even before the sun rises, Mohammedali starts his second job at 4 a.m., doing maintenance at public schools here.
Both Mohammedali and his wife, 49-year-old Bushra Faris, are overeducated for the jobs they currently hold – Muhammadali holds a degree in civil engineering and had helped the Iraqi government construct dams for many years. Faris holds a doctorate in Obstetrics and Gynaecology but works as a medical interpreter in Columbia.
“Our degree certificates are not recognized in America,” he said. “We are expected to start from zero.”
Mohammedali is among hundreds of Iraqi refugees in Missouri who are underemployed, working in low-skilled jobs as their academic qualifications are not recognized.
In order to get it recognized, they have to go through a lengthy process called recertification, which involves submitting academic certificates for evaluation, and taking tests on their professional knowledge and English proficiency.
While the recertification process can vary from each occupation and state, being recertified in a regulated occupation “requires significant financial, emotional and time commitment,” according to the Office of Refugee Resettlement website. For example, medical degrees can cost up to $4,000 and several years of tests and revision to get recognized.
For refugees like Mohammadali, they face 2 big obstacles; saving enough to pay for recertification, and verifying their certificates with home universities in war-torn Iraq…. Read more here
Although the post goes on to repeat some of the resettlement agencies’ talking points, such as IRC’s unsupported yet widely reported claim that the refugee program is “dangerously under-funded”, and that the State Department’s aid is $900-$1100 per refugee (no, it’s $1800), the post is interesting in what it reveals about employment services that USCCB’s Refugee & Immigration Services offers to refugees. The agency is still not set up to help refugees with re-certification, and needs to take more time to find more funding and connections, even though Iraqi refugees began arriving a few years ago.
…”It takes a very long time and costs alot for many to get re-certified,” Anne Zellhoefer from the Refugee of Immigration Services said. “These individuals must take the jobs they can in the meantime to support their families which complicates the process considerably.”
“Our staff members are pursuing additional funding and connections in the community to assist with this.”
Zellhoefer is not sure if 1-2 years is enough to even get a good start with recertification much less complete the process.
Individuals must be self-sufficient, save enough for the courses and tests, take the TOEFL and pass, before investing more than 5 years in the process, she added…
…It is also too early to decide if re-certification will be successful. “We have only just begun receiving highly educated Iraqi refugees in the last 1-2 years,” Zellhoefer said. “This is not enough time to offer any type of definitive statements or statistics on the process or results.”…
Yet, resettlement agencies have dealt with earlier waves of refugees who had professional experience and credentials, such as those from former Soviet republics and those escaping the wars in the former Yugoslav republics. What explains the seemingly complete lack of know-how about proper employment services for refugees with professional credentials? When I was helping an Iraqi engineer figure out how to find a job in his field I quickly located Upwardly Global’s website, which is a goldmine of information for immigrant professionals in the U.S., as is the ORR’s Recertification/Re-credentialing of Refugee Professionals page.
Do we really have to pay resettlement agencies to bureaucratize the process? Much of what they would do would probably be reinventing the wheel of what Upwardly Global has already done. It’s interesting to me how much a couple of volunteers with a phone and an internet search engine can do to help refugees that the resettlement agencies claim they would need government grants and years to do. I’m not saying that its easy for these refugees to get recertified, but resettlement agencies should at least be giving the refugees all the information they need about how to move forward on the process.
