Reading Skills, Silencing Diplomas: A Thematic and Deconstructive Analysis of Brain Waste in Lithuania

Abstract

This article re-conceptualizes “brain waste” based on the experiences of highly qualified immigrants living in Lithuania, not merely as a measurable mismatch, but as an institutional-textual regime in which language, equivalence (recognition), and licensing thresholds are intertwined, determining the readability of competence. Conducted with an interpretive design, the study involved semi-structured in-depth interviews with 14 participants from different disciplines and statuses, analyzed using reflective thematic analysis. the narratives were also examined through a deconstructive reading, in terms of where the dichotomies of “qualification/document,” “native/foreign,” and “presence/absence” are established and where they clash. The findings reveal that (i) sub-qualification employment creates a “chronic waiting” pattern; (ii) the language–recognition–license triad is the main threshold determining entry points; (iii) while social networks enable initial job retention, they carry the risk of lock-in to secondary sectors in the long term; (iv) initial contact practices (name, accent, photo) can function as a “threshold label”; (v) status mismatch has detrimental effects on mental and physical well-being. Processually, the narratives are linked to the flow of promise → threshold → waiting → micro-break → reorientation → settlement/separation; here, “micro-breaks” (short internships, scholarship language courses, accelerated equivalency) are turning points that make competence “readable.” The theoretical contribution is to position brain waste as a readable and nameable phenomenon and to show that dichotomies can be loosened through design; the practical/policy contribution is to demonstrate that thresholds can be rewritten through recognition justice, early and intensive language support, fair hiring design, and bridge programs (mentoring-internships, psychosocial support). The single-country context and qualitative design point to the transferable but limited generalizability of the findings; nevertheless, the study shows that textual and institutional arrangements can transform the “foreign” into a colleague even with small design moves.