Is my degree going to the wastebin?

This isn't a question about degrees or engineering, rather than one about nationality.

One interesting example springs to mind: a New Zealander with an Irish passport working in the UK. How did that happen?

I don't have an answer to your problem but I am very confident that somewhere there must be a (however small) loophole in the system. A friend of mine (Swiss) married a South African and they decided to stay in South Africa. He will be only allowed to get a work permit after 3-5 years, in the meantime how will he be able to support his family? Her salary alone does not cover it (She also works as a freelance professional). They came up with this plan. They bought a house and put it on her name. He works full time fixing it up for no salary. When the property is in good shape, they could sell end share the profit, or rent it out and that will be his (unofficial) salary. I hope this story encourages you a bit. I think that if you can't make a living there you will have to do some action. Maybe fall in love with a Greek lady or send your CV all over the world or find that loophole in the system.. Good luck man!

Where are you come from ??? who are you ??? what passport do you have?

Do you believe you can go where ever you like with out taking permission by the country you wish to travel?

According to your letter you are not a native Greek so why are you angry by the policy of EU??

As for your assertion that you can't work in Greece i simple do not believe it as many companies want people with your education here in Greece

You have posted an interesting topic, but you have left out some important information for the readers to give you any useful information.

How did you get into Greece in the first place? Are you a refugee? If you are, then obviously after 20 years and having a PhD degree you must have some kind of "Status" as far as your residency is concerned!?!? Even refugees get a special passport after some years to travel to other countries other than the one that they ran from. So, you are not a prisoner (even prisoners have some documents). I am not familiar with Greek's educational system, buy say if it is free, then how did you mange your living expenditures? You either must be rich (in that case, how did you end up in Greece?) or poor. Then the question reflects back on that you must be a refugee in this case. No country in the world (especially the ones in EU) will allow anyone to enter their country and starve to death (you can not be dead and still go to school and receive a PhD). So the Greek system must have paid for your "living" and again in that case you have some kind of residency status!?! Right?

Did you have ay part-time or full-time job as assistance to the professor, any job in your post-graduate level or teaching job at the university with or without pay?

As one comment indicated, your education has not gone to waist and not being able to get a job has nothing to do with your degree if your "status of stay" documentaion are in order.

With discovery of new materials, man made combination metals and all the present structures and the new ones to come in ship building, oil and gas, deep sea structures and in actual high structure industry on land, there are jobs.

If you have the proper "living status" documentation, then there are many countries that will take you simply because of your education. You must have a number like the rest of us no matter where you live on the face of this planet. Even those who live in war stricken, poor and starving countries have one.

If I am wrong in any of my comments, then please do educate me as I am very much interested to know. By the way, I am a foreigner myself.

Waste?

Depends on YOU

You are the master of your fate--

And the captain of your soul.

Philosophize--" Knowledge never go waste"

What can EU-and its Bureacrats do?

What can anybody?

Don't worry

Be Happy.

Keep Smiling-do as best as you can.

Join your local SOKA GAKKAI and chant . Practice Human Revolution.

There is nothing new under the Sun

DIE IN YOUR OWN BED AT RIPE OLD AGE

mm

You've obviously spent too much time at Zombocom.

Zombocom?

Could you define the meaning of this world? Plaese

AC?

I'd much rather die in the bed of a beautiful woman at the hands of her angry husband.

Who wants to die in their own bed ?

I get it now.

He wants to see the world...

milo

I am a foreign myself and I live in EU. I don't have an European passport and I am not a refugee. To get a job here, if you are willing to move, take advantage over your mother tongue and the other languages you speak. In addition, your degree is something really good and there are plenty of job offers around the world. You CAN get a job anywhere, however, your employer must apply for your working permit; it is the same anywhere in the world. Now, just send your cv to the most attractive offers and for sure you will get something, it's just a matter of time ;)

Best wishes and success,

L.

Man, it's great to be American

Right IF..

you are in the USA AND ((have Master Or PhD degree) NOT in "liberal arts")

Think about Iraq - Iran - Middle East -Asia.
God bless tornado survivors

Hey. Its not bad here for liberal arts people either. In America even liberal arts majors can find employment. I know one and she hands me fries with my drink whenever I order carryout food at the drive thru.

milo

Your compassion and empathy is overwhelming. It is your kind of response which conveys to the rest of the world - yes, this forum has an international membership - that Americans are arrogant, insensitive, and have a the-rest-of-the-world-be-damned attitude.

My apologies to this forum for my countryman's insensitivity. His is not representative of all Americans.

No, it's not that As you say (Americans are arrogant) We know we are blessed, this not arroganace, This is our way of life by choice. "insensitivity" is crap The USA does more good in this world than any country. No room for left wing whimps

And who's doing the blessing? Fate? Luck? Random chance? I wonder if yours would be the same attitude had you been born in a mud hut in Sudan. You determined your place of birth? Your blessings are due to you? And people elsewhere are not blessed because that is their choice? You say these things because you don't know any better, and for that there is no excuse. In this country, at any rate. History has a way of humbling national arrogance, and we are no more immune than was Babylon, Rome, the Persian Empire, and a tiresome litany of arrogant nations who now exist only between the pages of history books. Your attitude is hardly unique. Someday it will change. This country's current preeminence is a gift, not an entitlement. Even now the blessings are increasingly witheld. Do you not see it?

Really?

Only if you let it. As others have pointed out, there are a lot of details that have to be negotiated. If I were you I would head for the UK or USA. Not only do we seem to have halfway decent immigration policies (especially for engineers and other professionals) but with all the salt they throw on the roads a degree in corrosion engineering would be put to a lot of uses.

OK, that last bit was just plain silly, but there you are.

Not that I have anything against Greece, but how did you end up there in the first place?

CV is called "Resume" in the USA

This is not an unusual situation. A former school roomie lives and works in the USA but can not return home to see his family in Canada until he gets his green card. (in process) If he left, he would not be allowed back in however; he is legally employed there and can not go anywhere until this is resolved. This is the process.

What are you trying to accomplish? employment? multiple citizenship? It's not clear what your end goal is.

If you need work...consult! There are many pipeline companies that require corrosion engineers to work on projects worldwide. If you want to move to Britain, then leave Greece with the understanding you can never come back until you have your British passport.

If every country had open door policy to anyone worldwide, it would certainly be hard on the tax payers in the countries with open borders and there would be no controls in place for immigration. Anyone in the southern USA can argue the issues with illegal immigration. People are employed at reduced wages and taxes are not paid as they are not legally registered with the government. How much does that cost the born and raised, legally employed, tax paying citizen in any country.

You made the choice to be in Greece. You are clearly smart enough to finish a Phd; you should be able to sort out this small glitch in your career.

You're smart...find the loophole

If you are desperate for a job in an EU country, then you must be prepared to wait the system. Or on the other hand look to European/Western companies who work outside of their first place of office, in countries that are not as strict on immigration. There are many opportunities, in locations such as Russia and its former States, The Middle East, South America, Australia, and North Africa. You may even be from one of these regions. It is common for particularly students of foreign nationalities, who have studied in the EU to apply to such companies expecting the sample level of salary that the offer to people of the same nationality of the company, but it often doesn't work like that.

However if you are a competent engineer, and bind well to that companies work ethic/philosophy, you will most likely be offered the opportunity to work elsewhere and may even be sponsored to work in the home country of the company where, you will be paid the salary for that country. I have experienced this with several Indian and Nigerian engineers in the Middle East. But I think that your skills will be best enhanced in the more remote projects, where the lack of good engineers is most evident. Unfortunately these are often the most volatile countries or most extreme locations. This is a hard route to follow and is not the easy in office one that most people are aiming for. Enthusiasm, Charisma, Confidence are on high demand the ability to take charge, responsibility and lead in these situations are what put you above others. An earlier reply said take advantage of you mother tongue, but you must also adopt an attitude of drive, push and succeed. I write from experience, and guys I have worked with, who have elevated themselves from simple labourer to supervisor and management. Have been the guys who have adopted the required work ethic and philosophy, this makes them stand out above all others. For them sitting back and accepting subsistence in not enough.

In terms of opportunities not everyone is born equal, The World is Not Fair. But it used to be the case that with every generation the prospects improved, but with the current state of affairs in the world it seems that for many it is only getting worse. The EU is a place of hope for many, by restricting immigration it is only trying to prevent failure of it's already over burdened and troubled resources and welfare systems.

Try the America's, corrosion engineering is in high demand right now. In this you can obtain a H1B to work in power generation, ethanol production, oil, or coal within the US. Canada is also a very good location, but the work location in the oil sand region is rather isolated. However, I am rather a taken back that you have not arranged a post doc situation as of yet? Using a post doc assignment is a great method to move within the system.

Apparently, your english is rather good as gathered from your posting. You can also use your multi language skills coupled with the engineering degree to obtain positions in Borneo. There are 3 year assignments there in the raw materials (mining) field. The positions are teaching, method development, and training the local talent to work in the field.

There are many opportunities available to Phd engineers. You just need to start to work the system, this can be arranged if your good enough. Using a post doc assignment is most likely the simplest way around the administronium night mare.

What is your country of origin?

Even in the EU many countries are becoming wary of poor border control and the ability of potential terrorist to move freely and unmonitored. I am not really sure why it is important to move around the EU, since the pay scales are so depressed. I think you could make better money in Missippi or Arkansas. Though i guess for people from some countries of origin immigration to the United States would be a problem if you have some questionable ties in your background. It is my understanding the English, who used to openly allow terrorist to immigrate in, are starting to be more restrictive, and so are the Dutch and Germans. Terrorist attacks in those countries has started to make the locals less liberal and sympathetic to the plight of foreign-nationals because of the probability of a terrorists slipping through.

And what of the terrorists who govern those countries - and mine?

We sure have moved away from the man's question concerning his situation. Can you all please get back on track and leave politics and personal comments outside of this particular case? We can all start another session soon after and discuss the great present leaders of our time and we can call it "The greatest leaders in the last ten years - The remnants of Hitler", how about that?

Well, the man in Greece--- I would very much like to get some answers to my questions (posting # 5) in which they were left unanswered (I guess you got busy reading the comments and completely forgot your dilemma……ha?)

Shall we…?

Looks you're caught in a bureaucratic oxymoron. Perhaps if you go to the USCIS.GOV site and look up H1 visas there may be away out of this mess. If you can fight your way through the bureaucratic verbage and get a clear understanding of the US work/immigration requirements you may then try monsterjobs.com and post your resume' (CV). You will probably find a job where the employer will sponsor you. It happens all the time in the pharmaceutical, medical device, and computer industries. When I was at St. Jude Medical Inc. we hired many foriegn professionals. The same goes for the US Federal Govt. (ironic isn't it?). Anyhow your chances of getting hired are great and you can kiss Greece goodbye. Once you are in the US after several years you will be able to either apply for citizenship or use that experience to land a job elsewhere. Good luck..

Like I said, It's Great to be American !

True, specially if you have not lived anywhere else, and you are white, blond, or red-headed and freckled-faced, or if you are a second generation inmigrant from some country that has a government not "for the people", but "against the people"...

I guess for everybody else, it's only OK to be an american, where OK = less BS and way more personal freedom and personal choices and social mobility than anywhere else, and plenty to take for granted. America is the also the first and current place where it is OK to discriminate against white regardless of haircolor in order that nonwhites can have preferred placement in jobs, education and promotions.

And you know what ,thats ok, because ultimately its all about performance.

And if one is willing to do the work, the will perform their way past the BS, regardless of phenotype.

It is great to be an American. Thats why people of all phenotypes break the law and risk their lives to get here. "America," its how you spell "Opportunity" if you are an achiever.

Have a nice day.

milo