I'm currently living in the Netherlands, and am planning to marry my fiancee who lives in WA. We plan on me moving over to the States but I was curious if I would have any trouble finding a job once I'm over as my degrees are Dutch.

I have multiple degrees two of which are Associates Degrees and one being a Post Bachelor. The Associates Degrees are in Business Economy and Electrical Draftsman. With my Post Bachelor being Energy Engineering. I also have multiple years of work experience in being an Electrical Estimator and some as Electrical Engineer.

I'm purely posting this because I wanna have some peace of mind regarding me being able to work once I'm over. And if I do have to take action I can do that ASAP.

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Few_Neighborhood_828 t1_jb4siyn wrote on March 6, 2023 at 1:02 PM

Where are you moving? DM me if it’s near Tacoma, would like to set up an interview.

Educational_Ice5114 t1_jb5fb7r wrote on March 6, 2023 at 3:58 PM

So I’m in a position that my friend married a Dutch man so I’ve had a little insight. One, it took literally forever for him to actually be granted his conditional green card and be able to work. There was a lot of dragging on the government’s end. I also don’t know what his degree is in, but it is actually useless here. He’s not able to work jobs he worked in the Netherlands in WA. I’d hazard that engineering would not have the same issues, but that’s been their experience.

Also, as a heads up, if you are getting married on a fiancé visa, the government is going to look for any reason to declare your marriage fraudulent. They went after my friends about 4 years in their marriage for not having a house or child, in Seattle. My friend had literally everything documented to prove otherwise, but the reasoning was if they didn’t have a child or a mortgage in a high cost of living area, then clearly this was a scam. Basically make sure everything is joint and your name is on everything. That was the only proof they had.

intrepidated t1_jb5b8zv wrote on March 6, 2023 at 3:31 PM

As alluded to, it's more important to use US conventions for how you represent your experience than any footnote about your education. I don't know how an "Associate's degree" and "post-Bachelor" translate to equivalents in the US, but I would list that mapping like "(equivalent to 4-year B.S)" on the resume itself.

Some industries expect an exhaustive CV while others want just a synopsis resume as well. Recognize that a resume is not a CV.

NoneOfYoBusinezz t1_jb524ah wrote on March 6, 2023 at 2:24 PM

Relevant experience is so much more important than where your degree comes from. You'll need to be extremely prepared so you can impress during the interviews. If you have trouble getting replies from your resume submittals, find an expert to help you tailor your resume to individual job openings. Most companies use a AI-based tool as a first filter to submitted resumes. Experts will help you get past this first filter so you can get to the next step, a phone interview. Good luck.

Anxious-Fox-1782 t1_jb5mba3 wrote on March 6, 2023 at 4:45 PM

You will be alright in engineering. If you have any title (PE, PMP or any other) the US doesn’t recognize those from other countries, you’ll have to sit for the exams in order to be able to use them or stamp any work in the US.

Capable_Nature_644 t1_jb6n8gu wrote on March 6, 2023 at 8:53 PM

Electricians have no problem finding work in this state. You can always start by getting on with a major corporation such as pse (pudget sound energy) and go from there. If you reside in tacoma or seattle or bellevue you have a vast job market open to you.

Just be aware tacoma isn't like the safest city to live in. My cousins moved to tacoma for a couple years and had so many crimes and issues that they decided it wasn't worth it any more and put their house on the market. They both remotely work so they can reside any where.

Seattle has it's issues to but isn't as bad. The homeless population is out of control just fyi. Mostly due to the fact housing market and apartment rent is so high no one can afford even the cheapest things.

I'd highly recommend belllevue even though it is a major city and traffic isn't all that great. I watched it grow from a sleepy little suburban area to a major metropolis hub. We only moved because of traffic and housing prices sort of forced us to buy south in renton/kent area.

Issauqh is a nice little rich folk town. You have two income classes in that town rich or poor very little middle class. Due to the housing marking installing 1 mill/bill dollar homes. Apartment rents are also ridiculously high. Rent averages for most around $1,500 mo up to $3k monthly. Easily. That's not including your other monthly expenses and bills. Most live in issaquah and commute to bellevue or seattle.

If you can average about $38-70k annually you will do well in what ever city you reside in. Traffic in king county isn't all that great during rush hour. Please do not live 2+ hrs away. You'll regret it really quickly unless you have opposite commute shift.

ChromeDomers t1_jb7wylc wrote on March 7, 2023 at 2:31 AM

For your degrees, take a look at the IERF (ierf.org) for a foreign degree verification service. One of the demographics they cater to is for employment using foreign degrees.

And if you decide to study in the US, you can get it evaluated for acceptance by a US educational institution so you don't have start over again.