Unemployment is a Reality for Many Foreign Spouses
Unemployment or undesirable, low-paying, difficult employment is a reality for lots of foreigners and their spouses. But it doesn’t last forever!!! Many people manage to do what it takes to earn a good living–but it takes a lot. Even many Americans are unable to do it, so it’s much harder for people who come from different places.

Personal Experiences
Take our situation. My husband had excellent credentials when he came to this country–job experience at well-known companies abroad, master’s degree, and so on. STILL, it took 5 YEARS for him to get a full-time job with benefits (but he had contracts and part-time jobs during that delay). The good news is that he’s doubled his salary in 2 years–so in this way, he has certainly made up for lost time. He’s earning more than any of my friends or relatives our age, and his English STILL isn’t anything to write home about (but it’s fine).

Rejection after rejection, and it didn’t sink in! He kept thinking if he bettered his skills, he’d get a job–this was partially true. He did better his skills, and it was eventually noticed. But by that time, he had also learned to dress for interviews and learned a lot of English.

Some Spouses Go With the Flow
Hopefully your spouse will be a little more open to change than mine was. I’m not sure why this was, but he simply REFUSED to believe what I and everyone around him told him about getting good jobs in the US. We all knew important basics (I think even my six year old knows some of these)–speak English well, wear a suit to an interview, ask questions, be prepared with answers, and so on. My husband did none of this. He insisted on wearing casual clothes, felt certain that his English made no difference (though he knew almost NONE), and almost said nothing during his interviews–well, how could he? He didn’t know English

We have a lot of foreign friends who found good jobs MUCH more quickly than my husband and who learned English a lot more quickly. I think I got an alien who is RESISTANT to CHANGE. That made many years very hard for both of us–I mean, when you live in a foreign country, there are just some areas where you have to play by their rules, not yours (I know, cause I’ve lived in foreign countries!). But anyway, it all worked out.

Even Those Who Resist Change
After four years, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. How I made it that long without my husband having a job and still managed to pay our bills on my measly dinky little salary, I will never know. But I’m glad I did because for the past four years, life has been really grand!!

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