Basic Trope: A person who had a high-paying/prestigious job in another country does menial work in the setting of the work.
- Straight: Bob worked as a doctor in Troperistan, but works as a janitor in Troperia.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob was the CEO of a Fiction 500 company based in Troperistan, but works as a lowly street sweeper in Troperia.
- Bob has multiple PhDs from Troperistan but can only get work as a janitor in Troperia.
- Bob was the CEO of a Fiction 500 company and has multiple PhDs from Troperistan but couldn't even find a single job in Troperia.
- Downplayed: Bob worked as a doctor in Troperistan, but can only find work as a medical assistant in Troperia.
- Bob needs to retake a residency as his education and experience are considered equivalent to a medical school graduate. Still an annoying set back but one he would get past in a few years.
- Justified:
- Bob's Troperistanian qualifications and certificates aren't recognized by Troperian hospitals for various reasons.
- Bob doesn't speak Troperian very well, if at all.
- Employers suspect that diploma mills may be using 'foreign' degrees as a cover.
- Troperia has a shortage of doctors and government policy there is to hire native-born Troperian students first.
- Or, conversely, Troperia has too many doctors and as such there just isn't room for Bob.
- The quality of medical training (or education in general) in Troperistan is considered sub-par by Troperian standards, so Bob's qualifications and experience carry little weight with recruiters.
- Troperia and Troperistan are currently at war, and both countries are very wary of potential infiltrators.
- Inverted:
- Bob was a lowly janitor in Troperistan, but when he arrives in Troperia, he's offered a job as a doctor.
- Justified Inversion: Troperistan is known for its better education quality than Troperia, where Troperistani Diploma mills equate to Troperia's most prestigious university.
- Subverted:
- The chief of medicine at the hospital where Bob is applying to work acts as if he's going to reject Bob, but hires him.
- It isn't so much that his degree is from Troperistan but that his university is a known diploma mill. Carol's degree from Troperian Plantation University is accepted.
- Double Subverted:
- The chief of medicine at the hospital where Bob is applying to work acts as if he's going to reject Bob, but hires him... as a janitor.
- It's the Tropperistan University of medicine that is the known diploma mill, not the Troperistan University of Medicine where Bob graduated
- Parodied: All the janitors at the hospital have prestigious medical degrees from foreign countries.
- Zig Zagged: Bob was a doctor in Troperistan, but can only find menial work as a janitor in Troperia. Alice, on the other hand, was a short-order cook from Troperistan who got a high-paying systems analyst job in Troperia. Charlie, a third immigrant from Troperistan, worked with Bob at their old hospital, and fills a similar job as a surgeon in Troperia.
- Bob came from Troperia's past. His medical knowledge is outdated in some respects and would be considered a hilariously dangerous quack. However he finds a high paying prestigious job as a world class history professor as he recognizes where their current history got it wrong due to language drift, record corruption and context losses. Bob has mixed feelings about this.
- Averted: Bob, a doctor from Troperistan, finds a similar job as a doctor in Troperia.
- Enforced:
- In a time of widespread xenophobia, the writers can't write a competent and ethically scrupulous foreign character without mass backlash.
- Troperistan commissioned this work to curb its Brain Drain by vilifying Troperia.
- Lampshaded: "I had dignified work back home!"
- Invoked: "Hey, let's ask Bob the janitor. I'll bet he was a doctor back in Troperistan."
- Exploited: Bob the janitor may not be officially recognized as a doctor, but Bob still has the skills of a doctor and people go to see him instead of 'real' doctors because he gives cheap 'advice' and they give him monetary 'gifts'. Totally not practicing medicine without a license at all.
- Defied:
- Bob goes to medical school in Troperia at the first opportunity so that he can keep up his rewarding career.
- Troperistan and Troperia sign an agreement where each country's medical certification are recognized by the other as having equal validity.
- Bob decides to use his skills for those who want things done off the books or procedures not normally allowed.
- Discussed: Bob asks Inhuman Resources director Dan if hospitals in Troperia will honour qualifications earned in Troperistan.
- Conversed: "This show sure doesn't paint a picture of an immigrant-friendly society."
- Implied: Bob is a very intelligent immigrant janitor who occasionally makes bitter comments about being meant for better things.
- Deconstructed: Bob is extremely depressed because his talents are being wasted on menial work.
Back in old country I was highly paid computer engineer! Now, I guide people back to Worthless Foreign Degree.
