Jack Update:
Former Citizen Lands Dream Job, Finally Feels Like Part of the Team
Houston - Three weeks after renouncing his citizenship and re-entering on an H-1B, Jack is officially employed. The Princeton Ph.D. in chemical engineering says it's the first time in his career he's felt truly "seen."
"As a citizen, I was overqualified, underqualified and 'not a culture fit,' sometimes in the same email," Jack said. "On an H-1B? Hired in 48 hours. The interview was one question: 'Are you on a visa?'"
Jack now works for a staffing firm that places "process engineers" at refineries and chemical plants along the Gulf Coast. He describes his team of fellow H-1B engineers as "a real family." And like any family, they share everything.
They share an address. All 11 members of the team are listed at the same two-bedroom apartment in Pasadena, Texas, which is also the company's headquarters, its worksite and, according to the LCA filing, a "client location."
They share a resume. Every engineer on the team has the exact same resume, down to the typo in "Aspen HYSYS." Jack was handed his copy on day one. "I'd never worked at Dow, BASF and ExxonMobil at the same time before," he said. "Apparently I did, from 2016 to 2019, while also running a polymer plant in my spare time."
They share a hard hat, a single one that gets passed around on site-visit day.
They share interviews. When a plant manager calls, whoever is free takes it. "Last Tuesday I interviewed for a distillation column role as a guy named Steve," Jack said. "This Thursday, someone else is going to be me. That's teamwork."
They share the bench. Between refinery turnarounds, the team waits in the apartment without pay, which the manager calls "professional development."
And they share the monthly "team contribution," a portion of every paycheck kicked back to their manager.
His manager is 26 and holds two master's degrees, one from Trine University and one from a school whose campus Jack has never been able to locate on Google Maps. He reports 10 years of experience in chemical process engineering, which is impressive considering he'd have started at 16.
"He's very knowledgeable," Jack said. "He once asked me if a heat exchanger was a type of HR policy. Mostly he sends reminders that my visa is 'between me and him.'"
Jack's offered wage is listed as Level 1. That's the same level as the intern, who also has 10 years of experience and a PE license that nobody has ever seen.
(Satire)