I was very surprised that I'm not eligible even to apply to work in CERN. Because I'm not in the list of allowed nationalities.
WTF?

I guess they provide jobs for people coming from the countries that finance it. What's wrong with that?

If you haven't paid your dues, you are not a member.

Everything?

You have excellent, educated, smart people whose countries are not members of CERN and they can contribute GREATLY in the program but they are excluded? Why, is this some rich friends club? I thought CERN was about science and development and not another bureaucratic ****hole made from the EU.

You read my mind! Thank you for understanding.
I never imagine before my nationality can be a problem.

It is sometimes! for "sensitive" works, they can legally restrict nationalities.
Ex: working for defence department in UK, one must have British nationality.

Or even here, it's not possible to work in some jobs.
Or they give free training only if you have Swiss nationality.


I don't know the CERN details, and I don't know if it's discriminatory or not... I guess it depends how they get their money?
Let's say if they are only funded by X or Y countries then I could understand that they only hire X or Y people... a kind of partnership? (ie they pay for a reason)

Is it only for certain positions or something? I know of Americans who work there, for example, and they aren't on the list.

Edit: I just read the fine print underneath the list:

Staff members, Students and most Fellows recruited by CERN come from the Member States. A limited number of scientists from Non-Member State countries are accepted within the Associates and Fellows Programme.

Romania is a candidate to become a Member State of CERN and therefore Romanian nationals are eligible to apply for Student, Associate and Fellow programmes.

Israel and Serbia are Associate Member States and therefore Israeli & Serbian nationals are eligible to apply for Staff positions as well as Student, Associate and Fellow programmes.

What planet have you been on until now????
Nationality is virtually always an issue when you are looking for a job other than in your own country....

I'm from Mars

Isn't it the same with ESA?

Government money always comes with a price. Why would they finance jobs for other nationalities if there are enough of their own looking for jobs. Judging by recent events it would appear that the strategy is working ok.

Maybe there are enough people from member countries that are HIGHLY qualified and can GREATLY contribute to the program.

You can not compare member countries with 300 milion (estimate) people and rest of the world with 6 billion people...Ther eis no way that you will have more highly qualified people in those 300 million compared to the rest of the world... Especially in a segment dedicated to science and development...

And that is why the EU and the EUR are going down really fast and really bad...

They don't need to have more of them than the rest of the world, they just need to have enough to cover their staffing needs.

Sadly a great deal of those 6 billion don't even get a high school education, never mind university. So there goes your 6 billion theory right out the window.

Gosh. It must be so difficult for you to live here knowing how fast it's all going to down. I guess you're like the captain of the Titanic.

Sometimes it's not even a case of having the right nationality - it can be also be a case of not having the wrong nationality.

A friend of mine with US nationality was effectively fired on the first day of working for a laboratory (weakly) linked to US defence, because he refused to renounce his UK citizenship.

Anyway, the CERN situation is slightly more complicated than the OP makes out:

Students:
General Fellows:
Other special programs for non-member countries:https://hr-recruit.web.cern.ch/hr-re...al/special.asp


Map of where CERN users come from:

Selective reading?

Staff members, Students and most Fellows recruited by CERN come from the Member States. A limited number of scientists from Non-Member State countries are accepted within the Associates and Fellows Programme.