“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” – Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck

We decided to come to Malaysia for my teaching job and we planned that Mitch would find a job working in finance in KL.

We were wrong.

People warned us that Mitch would have trouble getting a company to sponsor a visa for him. All over the world, non-citizens need to prove that they have something special to offer for a job that a citizen cannot. For me, that’s easy. I’m in an international school that needs Western teachers; Malaysians aren’t Western so I offer something they don’t. Since Mitch isn’t a CEO and doesn’t have decades of experience, companies are reluctant to hire him because it is very possible that Immigration will deny him a work visa. We knew this coming to Malaysia but we hoped that meeting expats who work in KL would point him in the right direction.

Fast forward two months: As of Tuesday morning, Mitch is in Singapore indefinitely trying the job search all over again. There are definitely more opportunities there in the financial sector and the visa laws are different, so hopefully productive employment will come along. Wish us luck!