Long journey to America for some migrants precedes long wait for work

For the migrants coming to New York, it represents a chance for a new life. But when it comes to actually getting work, that journey takes much longer.

It is not uncommon to meet people who have to wait more than a year after arriving in the United States to get their work papers.

That’s because migrants must apply for status — like asylum. After that, they must wait another 150 days to apply for the paperwork that would open them up to legal work in the U.S.

NY1 met a man named Abdoul, who said he has been in the United States for almost a year. He said he has applied for asylum, but he has not received work authorization.

NY1 spoke with him on the Upper West Side, after he finished taking a class to learn English and prepare for job interviews.

Two months ago, he said he didn’t know any English. Now he could understand and answer most of the questions NY1 asked.

He came to the United States from a country nearly 4,000 miles away. He asked we not specify where, pointing to a scar on his forearm.

“You see that? That’s the police,” he said, adding that he had been protesting the government.

He said he was attacked by police and then arrested.

“I’m feeling safe here,” he said.

He said he lives in Brooklyn, in an apartment thanks to some financial help from people who care about him. Right now, he hasn’t been able to find a job because he doesn’t have his work papers yet.

“They’re kind of frozen in place because work authorization takes a while,” said Doris Athineos, who teaches Abdoul’s English as a second language class through the Riverside Language Program.

The nonprofit helps, in part, recent arrivals in New York find work and learn English.

Athineos’s six-week intensive class incorporates job training too. The class has helped some students land jobs and prepare others as they wait for work authorization.

While this program helps on some career paths, it’s not for advanced degrees. Program director Berta Colon said they are unable to meet the demand.

“Hundreds of individuals are applying and we can’t accept them,” Colon said.

And for others not in the program, even after getting work papers, it can be tough. One migrant told NY1 in a text message translated from Spanish, “My husband has all the papers but he doesn’t have a job.”

The struggle: he doesn’t know English.

“You’ve just described our perfect client,” Dinashel Gross, the commissioner of NYC Small Business Services, said.

The city agency has a program, Workforce1, that has helped place hundreds of recently arrived New Yorkers, who have work authorization, with jobs. She said they have provided thousands more with resume and interview prep.

The reality is, however, that hundreds of thousands of migrants have come to New York City since the spring of 2022. Despite handing out flyers at shelters and conducting text campaigns, she said too many people do not know about their services.

Workforce1 also coordinates with businesses to find good matches for work. NY1 met Gross at Kommissary, which provides tens of thousands of meals through the city, in Long Island City, Queens.

“I feel that I am doing my part,” Edward Song, Kommissary’s CEO, said.

He said he has employed dozens of migrants the past few years.

“Making sure the American Dream is alive here in New York City. If not, then at least within Kommissary,” he said.

One of his employees is a Venezuelan asylum seeker named Jhoarwen, who is a line cook at Kommissary.

Jhoarwen came to New York with his wife and his five-year-old daughter. This job is what got him out of the shelter system.

“Now I’m able to pay rent for us and also get my daughter whatever she asks for,” he said in an interview translated from Spanish.

He said he wants to make New York his forever home, but that may not be up to him.

“Everything is in God’s hands,” he said.

It could also be up to President-elect Donald Trump. He has promised mass deportations, which could prevent millions of people in the U.S., like Jhoarwen and Abdoul, from not only working but being here altogether.