foreign – Our Story Insight

Skilled Foreign Workers Think About Leaving the U.S.

admin — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 22:50:27 +0000

These highly skilled, highly educated foreign workers have been documenting the challenges of trying to build a career in the U.S. “If I don’t find a job, I have to leave the country.” “I sent out 907 applications.” “Have I ever truly relaxed in America?” They need an H-1B visa, which is given through a lottery system that allows U.S. companies to hire highly skilled international professionals for up to six years, in industries like tech and medicine. But the Trump administration has made changes to the program, requiring companies to pay a high fee and enforcing new rules that prioritize higher-paid foreign workers, in an effort to make more jobs available to Americans. This has forced some foreigners to rethink their career plans. “I think the U.S. is still the golden standard.” Wen-Hsing Huang came to the U.S. from Taiwan in 2022 for the tech scene, and was hired by Amazon on an H-1B visa. “I want to use my talents to change the world, and I think the United States was the best platform to do that.” Ananya Joshi came from India to attend a master’s program in Chicago in 2022. “So it was actually my my father’s dream that I had inherited because my father couldn’t go because of his financial situation.” Haina, a Chinese national, fell in love with the U.S. while studying in New York. She got her H-1B in 2022. “I remember there were a lot of companies, they would be able to sponsor.” Haina said she’s experienced a recent shift, where it has become harder to find companies that sponsor H-1B visas. “This time when I was job searching, I didn’t realize it could be a deal breaker. I just had my second interview of 2026, and it was a pretty short call.” (Recruiter) “I don’t think we’re eligible or able to do sponsorship for this role at the moment.” “They don’t even really get to know if I’m qualified, am I experienced, or anything. The decision is already made at that point.” “Please, please make sure that the company you’re about to work for has experience handling international hires.” Joshi said a start-up she interned with during grad school rescinded their promise to sponsor her H-1B visa. “Ask for everything in writing. And then there were jobs that were contract jobs. They would just reject me. They would only need people with a green card or a U.S. citizenship.” Even with an H-1B and a six-figure salary, Huang said he felt himself becoming anxious, as tech layoffs ramped up and Trump’s immigration policies kept changing. “I woke up every morning with this knot in my stomach, because my entire life depended on the policy I couldn’t control. The United States seems not very welcoming to immigrants that contribute to this country.” “The signals are, like, pretty clear at this point. They want to make this H-1B, is, like, risky and also, like, harder.” Hello, everyone.” Despite that, Haina says she’s determined to keep looking for a job until she’s forced to leave the country. “The pressure about where I’m going to be in the next of my career or, like, my life. I sort of like lost the ability to enjoy my life or just be happy.” “So I had to leave the U.S. Of course, I expanded my search beyond the U.S. Found a job in Germany.” Joshi packed up her life and started a new role with a European biotech firm in January. “I think I left at a good time, because there would have been more stress. I would have been stuck in a loop.” “It’s an endless cycle of anxiety.” After quitting his job at Amazon, Huang is now back in Taiwan, planning to launch his own company. “To bet on building an A.I. company that gives me complete control over my time, location and future. Staying in the United States is no longer the only way to achieve my American dream.”

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Coca-Cola recalls 3 popular sodas over concerns of foreign material contamination

admin — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 09:32:21 +0000

Some Coca-Cola products are being recalled over the potential presence of foreign material in the products, according to federal officials.

About 1,115 units of Coca-Cola Zero Sugar 12-ounce cans in 12 and 35 packs, 2,322 units of Coca-Cola 12-ounce cans in 24 and 35 packs, and 791 units of Sprite 12-ounce cans in 12 and 35 packs are included in the recall, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The products are considered Class II recalls, which is when the use or exposure to a product “may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote,” according to the FDA’s website.

Texas-based Coca-Cola Southwest Beverages LLC initiated the recall on Oct. 3, and the FDA issued the Class II classification a few weeks later.

FOX Business reached out to Coca-Cola for comment.

A spokesperson for the company told Today that the recalled products were distributed in the McAllen/Rio Grande Valley and San Antonio areas of Texas.

Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, and Sprite products have been recalled due to concerns of foreign material possibly being present. Praewphan – stock.adobe.com

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports that approximately 1,115 units of Coca-Cola Zero and 2,322 units of Coca-Cola packs and cans have been recalled. EvgeniyQW – stock.adobe.com

791 units of Sprite 12-ounce cans in 12 and 35 packs have also been recalled. Andrei Armiagov – stock.adobe.com

That’s as far as the recall extended, the spokesperson said.

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All of the affected products were pulled from store shelves out of an abundance of caution by Oct. 10, the spokesperson added.

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Foreign retailers Primark, Mango, Uniqlo expand in the U.S.

admin — Tue, 04 Mar 2025 03:39:29 +0000

ELMHURST, NY — One of the newest additions to Queens Center is a store that many local mallgoers may not recognize.

Along with well-known mall staples like Macy’s, American Eagle and Bath & Body Works, the shopping center is now home to a Primark. The Ireland-based discount retailer, which sells clothing, shoes, purses and more, opened its doors there in December — and it has more U.S. stores on the way.

Across the country, a growing number of malls and shopping centers are getting a dose of international influence. Retailers including Primark, Spain-based Mango, Canadian retailer Aritzia and Japan-based Uniqlo are adding new stores across the U.S. — and pushing into regions where they haven’t gone before, outside of coastal cities like New York City or Los Angeles.

Primark store at the Queens Center mall in Elmhurst, NY.

Melissa Repko | CNBC

Nearly 19,000 stores opened in the U.S. between 2018 and 2023 and about 28% of those were foreign-owned retailers, according to the most recent available figures from GlobalData, a market research firm.

And in the past few years, retailers based in Europe or elsewhere around the world have announced ambitious U.S. expansion plans.

Primark, which has 29 stores in the U.S., plans to reach 60 locations in the country by the end of next year. It has signed leases for new stores in diverse parts of the U.S., including El Paso, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; Hyattsville, Maryland; and Miami, Florida.

The retailer, known as Penneys in Ireland, has become a household name in Ireland, the U.K. and other parts of Europe since its first store opened in Dublin in 1969. The U.S. market has become an important place to break new ground as the company hits a “maturity point” in some European countries, president of Primark U.S. Kevin Tulip said in an interview with CNBC.

“The U.S. is the number one consumer market,” he said. “So to be here and to get it right means a lot. But you really need to get it right.”

Why the U.S. is a retail expansion target

Primark isn’t the only one with big ambitions for the U.S.

Barcelona-based retailer Mango announced a $70 million expansion last fall, including plans for 42 new storefronts in the U.S. in 2024, 20 more locations this year and a new logistics center outside of Los Angeles. Those locations will be scattered in parts of the Sun Belt and Northeast, Mango CEO Toni Ruiz told CNBC in an interview.

Vancouver-based Aritzia’s U.S. footprint is now nearly as large as its fleet of stores in its home country. Last year, the retailer opened 14 new stores, including three expansions or relocations, in North America. That brought its store count to 61 in the U.S., as it added boutiques in major cities like Chicago and Miami and smaller markets like Plano, Texas and Sacramento, California.

Shoppers wait in line to enter newly opened women’s clothing store Aritzia on Michigan Avenue on Black Friday on Nov. 29, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.

Kamil Krzaczynski | Getty Images

And more stores are coming this year in cities including Scottsdale, Arizona and Murray, Utah, the company said.

The U.S. has many ingredients that brands from Europe and other parts of the world look for, said Monique Pollard, a London-based retail analyst for Citi. The U.S. has a fragmented market of apparel retailers, and its consumer spending has proven more resilient than in some other inflation-weary markets like the United Kingdom, she said.

Plus, fashion trends are going global more quickly as influencers on Instagram and TikTok and consumers’ own travel influences what they wear. That can make it easier for a new brand to break into an unfamiliar region, said John Mercer, head of global research for Coresight Research.

“There are fewer differences to kind of iron out between markets,” he said, adding that foreign brands now “stand a better chance” than in previous years or decades.

Social media has made it possible for brands with even a tiny footprint of physical stores to gain traction in the U.S. About 63% of consumers under 25 and 57% of those between 25 and 34 discover products or brands on social media at least weekly, according to a retail survey by research advisory group Forrester.

Shoppers walk into Uniqlo at the Westfield UTC shopping center on Jan. 31, 2025 in San Diego, California.

Kevin Carter | Getty Images

Viral trends have fueled sales for some of the international newcomers, through products like Aritzia’s Super Puff winter coat and Uniqlo’s shoulder bag. Both companies credited social media for driving popularity of those items two years ago.

Shrinking department stores and retail bankruptcies have left market share for foreign retailers to grab — and some empty stores in malls for them to fill. Macy’s is in the middle of closing about 150 of its namesake locations across the U.S. Many specialty baby stores have also shuttered due to bankruptcies, including Buy Buy Baby, which was owned by Bed Bath & Beyond, and Babies R Us.

Primark’s Tulip said children’s clothing has been one of company’s strong categories in the U.S., saying the company has noticed higher demand and less competition.

And some of its stores have replaced retailers like J.C. Penney that have shuttered some locations, or others such as Bed Bath & Beyond that have gone out of business.

Mango, Aritzia, Uniqlo and Zara are all in the early innings of U.S. growth, though, with less than 100 stores each across the country. That means that at least for now, the U.S. businesses account for just a small piece of many of those companies’ global business and a tiny fraction of the country’s apparel market.

The U.S. represents about 5% of global sales for Primark. Tulip said he expects that percentage to grow and already, that growth has begun to influence the retailer’s product range. One change is that it’s now making more leisurewear to suit American shoppers’ tastes, he said.

Mango flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Courtesy: Mango

The risks of expansion

Yet in any new market, success isn’t a guarantee — and relevance can fade.

Sweden-based H&M paved the way for other foreign retailers when it opened the doors of its first U.S. store about 25 years ago on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. Since then, the retailer has become a well-known mall name strongly associated with its fast fashion approach of quickly responding to trends and selling cheaper versions of hot items.

But more recently, the Swedish retailer’s sales have disappointed as it faces stiffer competition in the U.S. and abroad from low-priced Chinese online retailer Shein and Spanish rival Zara, which is owned by Inditex.

A shopper carries Foot Locker and Zara shopping bags while walking down the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California, March 20, 2023.

Patrick T. Fallon | Afp | Getty Images

Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing has gained traction in the U.S. after earlier pushes into the country fell flat. The Japanese retailer reported losses of roughly $71.5 million in fiscal 2016 from retiring assets and shuttering stores in the U.S.

Now, the company is back in growth mode and has pledged to reach 200 stores in North America by 2027.

For Primark, the U.S. has come with a learning curve, too, Tulip said. The retailer broke into the U.S. market in 2015 by opening a store in Boston, a city with a large Irish population that would recognize its brand. Then, he said, it moved cautiously to try to understand the U.S. shopper before opening more locations in the Northeast and then heading further to Southern states.

At many of Primark’s store openings, enthusiastic shoppers have turned up early and waited in a line before doors swung open, he said.

Yet the Irish retailer has had missteps too, he said. Primark carries a lot of licensed merchandise, such as Disney and Marvel-themed clothing or jackets and T-shirts with the logos of popular NBA and NFL teams.

But when it expanded to the U.S., that sports merchandise didn’t land in the way it had hoped.

“Initially we thought, you know, surely everyone in Europe loves the Dallas Cowboys and, you know, let’s land that product into every [U.S.] store and everyone’s going to absolutely go wild for it,” he said. “But we saw pretty quickly that actually people are very passionate about their local sports team.”

He said Primark pivoted to carrying only relevant local sports teams, such as having Buffalo Bills items in upstate New York.

Primark also has a unique quirk that could become a weakness: It sells exclusively through brick-and-mortar stores. Its lack of an e-commerce business in the U.S. could make it vulnerable to retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Shein, especially since those sites sell many low-priced wardrobe staples.

More than 50% of Primark’s clothes are everyday basics, such as underwear, T-shirts and socks, according to the company’s website.

As the newcomers have tried to gain traction with American shoppers, some brands have taken a different tack. Zara’s net store count in the U.S. has stayed flat at just shy of 100 for the past five years.

Instead of more locations, Zara’s parent company has added more room in its stores. In 2013, the average store size for Inditex’s retailers including Zara was around 6,000 square feet. That’s shot up to an average of about 8,600 square feet a decade later, according to a Citi analysis based on data from company filings.

While the growing international retailers have only a small footprint in the U.S., they have already proven influential, as they offer shoppers fresh choices and U.S. retailers new competition.

One of Primark’s next expansion moves show the company is not subtle about its ambitions: a store is set to open in New York City’s Herald Square. It will be a less than two-block walk from Macy’s iconic flagship store.

On a recent day at Queens Center a few miles away, prospective customers browsed the aisles of the Primark store, and some left with an armful of purchases.

Jeanette Torres, a retiree who lives in Brooklyn, heard about the brand from her son. She said the company’s low prices convinced her to shop there. She purchased a T-shirt, underwear and winter hat, which cost a total of about $30.

She said she likes that those prices don’t come at the expense of the store experience. Primark has brighter lights and neater locations than off-price retailers like Burlington Stores, where she said “everything is on top of everything.”

Bruce Wolinsky, another retiree from Queens, made his first trip to Primark by accident. He went to the mall with his Macy’s credit card, a 25% off coupon and a need for a new pair of shoes.

He never made it to the department store. Instead, he walked into Primark and walked out with a $22 pair of lace-up navy blue and brown sneakers.

— CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge contributed to this report.

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Trader Joe’s recalls frozen fruit product over ‘foreign material’ concerns: ‘Please discard’

admin — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 05:11:52 +0000

Trader Joe’s is asking its customers to throw away a certain frozen product over fears that it may contain plastic.

The beloved grocery store chain announced the recall on Feb. 14.

In a statement on its website, Trader Joe’s advised customers to dispose of any Trader Joe’s Organic Acai Bowls, regardless of UPC code or best-by dates.

“Out of an abundance of caution, please discard any Trader Joe’s Organic Acai Bowls, as the product may contain foreign material (plastic), or return them to your neighborhood Trader Joe’s store for a full refund,” the company said.

The supermarket chain did not disclose any reported injuries or how many product units were impacted.

Trader Joe’s has recalled products over plastic contamination in the past.

Last year, the chain’s Steamed Chicken Soup Dumplings were recalled over fears that it contained hard plastic from a permanent marker pen, impacting 61,839 pounds of the frozen soup dumplings.

Trader Joe’s also recalled 653,000 of its mango tangerine scented candles last August.

The company said, “Out of an abundance of caution, please discard any Trader Joe’s Organic Acai Bowls, as the product may contain foreign material (plastic), or return them to your neighborhood Trader Joe’s store for a full refund.”

At the time, the grocery store said that when the candle flame was lit, it could “spread from the wick to the wax, causing a larger than expected flame, posing a fire hazard.”

“If you purchased the Mango Tangerine Scented Candle, please do not use it,” Trader Joe’s said in its recall announcement.

“We urge you to discard the product or return it to any Trader Joe’s for a full refund.”

Customers with questions about the latest recall are urged to contact Trader Joe’s Customer Relations at (626) 599-3817.

FOX Business reached out to Trader Joe’s for additional comment.

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Adams admin hires foreign firms to run NYC’s Downtown Heliport, raising security concerns: Not ‘a wise choice’

admin — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 06:31:59 +0000

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has chosen two foreign firms to run the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, raising concerns in some national-security circles because the president’s Marine One chopper uses it.

The city Economic Development Corporation selected Downtown Skyport LLC — a partnership between Skyports Infrastructure, a UK-based firm and the operator of the London Heliport, and France’s Groupe ADP, which operates Paris’ three airports, to run the city-owned downtown heliport.

The Downtown Manhattan Heliport is used by Marine One and by US military and federal law-enforcement officials.

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has chosen two foreign firms to run the Downtown Manhattan Heliport. ZUMAPRESS.com / MEGA

The city Economic Development Corporation selected Downtown Skyport LLC to run the cityk-owned downtown heliport. Angel Chevrestt

“I don’t think it’s a wise choice, given the sensitive activity that happens there. I’m surprised,” said Jonathan Wackrow, who served for 14 years as a special agent in the US Secret Service, to The Post.

“It raises a red flag. It’s odd and should certainly be questioned. Any critical infrastructure should not be operated by a foreign entity.”

He claimed foreigners will have access to national security information and asked, “Where will this information go?”

There were at least two attempts to assassinate President-elect Donald Trump during the election campaign.

The city Franchise and Review Committee is expected to approve the contract after a public hearing Monday.

Wackrow, who served in the security detail for former President Barack Obama, said the Downtown Heliport was an important post after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, providing access from Pier 6 in the Battery near Ground Zero.

The new European operators will replace Manhattan-based Saker Aviation Services.

The Downtown Manhattan Heliport is used by Marine One and by US military and federal law-enforcement officials. Paul Martinka

The current operator faced controversy last year after it was revealed that William Wachtel, chairman of the board of Saker Aviation, is law partners with Morris Missry, a board member at the EDC.

Downtown Skyport won the subsequent contract in a competitive bidding process.

Both of its companies have developed the use of quieter electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, a top priority of Mayor Adams.

Helicopter noise has long been a major bane of New York City residents, with 59,000 complaints recorded last year.

EDC officials defended the selection of European-based Downtown Skyport.

“NYCEDC is proud to welcome Downtown Skyport as the new operator of the Downtown Manhattan Heliport,” said New York City Economic Development Corporation President and CEO Andrew Kimball in a statement.

“With their expertise in global transportation, Downtown Skyport is perfectly positioned to advance the Adams Administration’s vision of transforming DMH into a hub for cutting-edge mobility. By integrating eVTOL technology — a quieter, greener alternative to traditional helicopters — and facilitating maritime freight and last-mile deliveries, this initiative will not only reduce truck traffic but bring huge quality of life improvements for all New Yorkers,” he said.

The city Franchise and Review Committee is expected to approve the contract after a public hearing Monday. David McGlynn

As part of the bidding process, EDC officials said it checked with appropriate federal agencies on the possibility of hiring an operator with a parent entity based in foreign countries.

These reviews found that there would be no security risks posed to Marine One — or any other official US government helicopter — landing at the heliport, the EDC said.

The agreement will provide for a five-year $14.7 million contract from February 2025 to January 2030, with three five-year options for renewal through 2045.

Downtown Skyport would initially pay the city a minimum of $2.75 million to operate the airport, increasing to 4% annually or 42.5% of gross, whichever is greater, according to the terms of the contract reviewed by Crain’s New York Business.

New York City remains the owner of the heliport. Operations are managed through a concession agreement, which EDC can terminate at its discretion.

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