Goodbye, Ahsan

A highly skilled graduate wanted to be a Philadelphian. It didn't work out.

by Kishwer Vikaas

globalization at home

SHIPPING OUT: Muhammed Ahsanur Rahim had hoped to make Philly, or at least the U.S., his home. (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

Twenty-nine-year-old Muhammed Ahsanur Rahim is a regular Philadelphian. Friday nights find him at a bar, eating chicken wings and drinking beers. Weekdays after work, he stops at his favorite Barnes & Noble before heading back to his apartment in University City. He loves Penn's Landing, follows the 2008 presidential election and spends hours in local coffee shops.

But on Saturday, March 22, he will walk into San Francisco International Airport and embark on a one-way flight to Dhaka, Bangladesh. He joins many international students who come to the United States for higher education, and after graduation, are compelled to leave before they'd like to.

Ahsan, as he is known to friends, didn't think it would end this way. His interest in business began when he was 17, and he majored in marketing and business administration at Dhaka's North South University. Obtaining an M.B.A. was his dream. "The South Asian mentality is that you obtain a master's in anything you do."

In August 2004, he left his family and friends in Bangladesh and made his way to Temple University's Fox School of Business. He graduated in February 2007 with an M.B.A. in risk management and a high GPA. Like many international students, he decided to search for a full-time position in the U.S., work here for a while, and maybe even get on a path to citizenship.

"I was very, very optimistic," Ahsan says of his chances. But reality soon set in. Company after company turned him away — because he is an immigrant, he believes — and after job-hunting for more than a year, he was forced to settle for an entry-level sales position with a Wilmington, Del.-based bank. The job consisted of advising customers on their accounts, and required little college experience.

To make matters worse, the company would not sponsor his work visa. Since INS allows people with student visas to work just one year following graduation in optional practice training (OPT) to gain experience in their field, this meant that, when his year was up, Ahsan would have to go home.

One of the reasons companies may hesitate to hire international students is the expense. "It's so expensive for companies to file for H-1Bs (temporary work visas)," says Jane Goldblum, a local immigration attorney. "Filing fees are roughly $5,000 ... and a lawyer's fee ... is about $2,000." There may be other factors, as well. Zelon Crawford, director of graduate career management at Fox School of Business, says, "I don't think it has to do with money — big companies can easily afford it. But there could be fear that as soon as companies sponsor, students may leave."

Some of Ahsan's Fox classmates did find jobs with companies that offered to sponsor their H-1Bs. But even if he had received such an offer, Ahsan's battle would not have been over. As of 2002, the number of work visas given per year in the U.S. was reduced from 107,500 to just 65,000. Since then, employers have raced to turn in visa petitions for their skilled employees, knowing that demand far exceeded supply. Last year, only a day after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services began accepting applications, the department announced that it was finished — it had already received 150,000 applications for the 65,000 slots.

The Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which was proposed last May, would have raised the number of work visas back up to 115,000. Several business luminaries, including Bill Gates, advocated for such an increase, arguing that a number of positions in science and technology fields badly required employees. Gates noted in front of Congress that he was unable to fill 3,000 skilled positions in his company. But the bill was shot down in June.

Part of the reason the bill failed was a concern about the effect of immigrant labor on American workers — a phenomenon that's often discussed in relation to blue-collar work and overseas outsourcing, but that could apply to white collar workers here, too. Dr. William Stull, chair of Temple University's Department of Economics, says that the concern is legitimate. "If we would limit the number of foreigners, it would drive up the wages for Americans," he says. He believes corporate interests are at the heart of the pressure for more work visas. "They [corporations] want to keep their costs down ... so they bring in as many foreigners as they can. What's good for Bill Gates is not necessarily good for America."

Ahsan has heard similar stories from his fellow graduates. One friend found work with a major telecommunications company, but when the company failed to file for his work visa on time, was forced to re-enroll in a U.S. university for a third master's degree, to buy time before the next work visa application deadline.

Though some of the industries affected by this phenomenon, such as IT and pharmaceuticals, have a strong presence in the Philadelphia region, Dr. Stull believes that departing grad students are "not going to make a huge difference on the local economy. There are some sectors in the science industry where it may lead to some shortages."

One person it will definitely make a difference for is Ahsan, who returns to Bangladesh this week with plans to pursue a Ph.D. or continue his job hunt in the U.K. "If someone were to ask me if they should go to the U.S.," he says, "I am going to say, 'No, it's not worth the hassle.'" He emphasizes, "We [international students] are not looking for any handouts. We just want to be able to get internships [and jobs] without a hassle." Currently he is residing in San Francisco with distant relatives, and phoning his goodbyes.

(kishwer@citypaper.net)