Also called: Country Conditions Researcher, Asylum Expert Witness
Researches what is really happening in one country, like gang violence or persecution of a group, and writes reports or testifies in asylum cases.
He reads police reports, news stories and human rights records from Honduras to answer one question: would this woman be safe from her abuser if she were deported? He writes a 25-page sworn report with 120 footnotes and testifies by video in immigration court the next week.
Estimate; many are professors or researchers paid per report or case.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Doctorate (PhD), about 8 years after high school. Usually a master's or PhD in area studies, anthropology or political science, plus deep knowledge of a region and its language.
Ways in: Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Anthropology, Political Science, Latin American Studies, International Relations.
Growing about average. Demand rises with asylum caseloads, but there are few full-time jobs.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI gathers and summarizes sources quickly; courts still need a credible human expert to judge and testify.
Classes: World history, A world language, English, Government.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.