The Employment-based Immigrant Oral History Project

Open Access
- Author:
- Rowland, Jade Lily
- Area of Honors:
- History
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- A K Sandoval-Strausz, Thesis Supervisor
Cathleen Denise Cahill, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Immigration
H1B
L1
F1
Visa
Oral History Interview
High-skilled Immigrant
History
INA 1990
Immigration Act of 1990
Immigration Act - Abstract:
- The Immigration Act of 1990 created a new employment-based immigration category and new nonimmigrant work visas. To meet shortfalls in the American workforce, U.S. businesses have used the H1B visa to hire top global talent and multinational firms have used the L1 visa to transfer their employees from international offices to work in American offices. This study breaks with most historical research by looking at employment-sponsored immigrants according to their common visa category rather than by their nation of origin. Inspired by my family’s immigration journey to the United States, this thesis reveals the high-skilled immigrant experience through oral history interviews with seven H1B and L1 visa holders. My findings are preliminary and based on anecdotal sources. All interviewees responded that their work visa programs had been satisfactory, but there were noticeable differences between accounts of high-skilled immigrants depending on their initial work visa, time of immigration, and work culture similarity to their home nation. Immigrants who came through the L1 visa pathways reported less stress throughout the immigration process and were more conscious of the corporate culture differences between their home nation and the United States. The interviews revealed distinct differences that developed over time regarding application strictness, involvement of the applicant, and stress levels between immigrants who gained their work visas in the early 2000s and immigrants who arrived in the past decade. Using Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, I found that immigrants from cultures similar to the United States showed perceptions and experiences different from those of immigrants from cultures dissimilar to America’s. They experienced different familial and societal expectations, difficulties in relocating, and anxiety levels. Despite the observed variations, the employment-based immigrants had more in common than not with shared obstacles and reflections about their immigration journey.