Modern Immigration

I had the pleasure of getting to speak with Riku Watanabe about on a podcast that I did called The Social Engineers. On the podcast we talked with Riku about his move from Japan to the United States. We take a look at his first few years in the United States, then his life and college, and finally his future hopes for employment.

Riku first moved to the U.S. in 2005 following his father who got a promotion in his job leading the Watanabe family across the Pacific. During Riku's first year in the U.S. he did not speak any English and it would take him 8 years to have a comfortable command over the English language. Riku's hard work would eventually pay off and being bilingual is a very marketable trait in his search for employment after he graduates. During the podcast Riku talks about his first day of school and his story highlights a need to provide a better transition experience for young children from other countries into the school systems. For Riku, there was very little that was done for him and he often did not know what was going on during his first year of school.

Riku followed in his fathers footsteps and decided to go to college to study mechanical engineering. During his sophomore year he became the president of the Asian American Student Union at Ohio Northern University. He also has a job on campus working for International Student Services. Riku helps students transition to life on campus among other things. Riku's experience from moving to the U.S. from another country means that he was once in the international students shoes and understands some of the confusion that comes with moving to this country. As Riku's college career is coming to a close he faces many more tough situations, as he looks for work he has to find a company that will sponsor him so that he can obtain a work visa in order to stay in the U.S. Riku discusses some options that will give him some time after he graduates to stay in the U.S. and find work. The fact that Riku is in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) field, under current laws and regulations which are constantly changing, he will get 2 extra years to find work.

I learned a lot during the podcast with Riku, even though I have been friends with him since our freshman year of college, there are a lot of things dealing with international students and the way that work visa's which I still do not know about. The complexity behind being able to become a citizen in the U.S. baffles me, I don't think that it should be as difficult as it is for someone like Riku, who has lived in the U.S. since he was 10 years old, to become a citizen of the U.S. I had an awesome time talking with Riku and I encourage you to check out the podcast for yourself and hear what Riku has to say about being from another country.