Working license in United States

Ewe is a female dentist who has a busy practice in the most strategic part of Jakarta, and her husband has a prosperous advertising company. With their three sons, the family is quite well off. A year ago the couple decided to move to Seattle, an area on the west coast of the United States on the border of America and Canada. There are already four or five families from Indonesia in that city, in as much as Asians living outside their home country prefer to live in a closely-knit Asian community. Los Angeles and San Francisco have the largest Chinese community in the U.S.

One Sunday I met this couple at church and they related their experience during their stay in the U.S. Their story showed that it was not easy to make a living in Uncle Sam's country, especially for dentists and doctors.

Although Ewe had at least 20 years of work experience as a dentist, she couldn't open a practice. In order to obtain a working license, she has to study at least 8 years to qualify as a dentist in America. Just to work as an assistant she has to study for one year.

If a dentist in America decides to move to another state, he or she has to follow an adaptation test. A distant relative of mine (male) who graduated from an American university and holds a Ph.D in architecture, has to take an examination when applying for a working license, because the university from which he graduated does not belong to the so-called accredited schools. Needless to say, such stringent regulations produce qualified technicians and or experts, and there is no place for bogus dentists or doctors.

A. DJUANA

Jakarta