Are there difficulties with hiring a permanent resident? Does an amployer have to go through US Immigration procedures? Or can they just hire you direct without all of that? (permanent resident = "green card", right?)
Just wondering if that has anything to do with it - maybe it's easier to hire a citizen than a non-citizen.
But good luck, hopefully things will turn around. Otherwise, have you considered relocating? It seems to me that there are always places that need engineers. Those places may not happen to be where you are presently living, is all. I've moved around in pursuit of work before.
greencard holder here. There are no legal restrictions and as far as I know there isn't discrimination against greencard holders. The employer does not need to do any extra paperwork (I work for a municipality, no way they would do extra paperwork). the only limitation are federal jobs and jobs with certain security clearances. I once applied for a job with a company that cleans up old ammunition factories and they said for accessing certain databases I need to be a citizen (didn't get the job, not sure if that was the cause).
Apparently in the federal mind, I'm less trustworthy than
Timothy McVeigh who was a citizen.
I probably would have a hard time working in nuclear facilities. I once had a project with a federal laboratory (I leave out the name) and my access was much more restricted and someone had to go to the bathroom with me (no kidding, not in the stall, of course) and I had to wear a red tag (unlike the citizen people). Ironically some weeks later an employee who wasn't happy with his retirement plan there, who was a US citizen, started a shooting on the premise and killed some people. So they don't even trust me with a bathroom (and not with cell phone either...), but apparently you can bring guns to work if you are a citizen.
