My partner was born outside the U.S. and received their degree from a foreign university. My partner is now living and working in the United States. They have begun to apply to various Ph.D. programs, which all require letters of recommendation from previous professors.
The problem that has been occurring is that it is not common in their culture for universities to ask for letters of recommendation or for professors to write them which has resulted in poorly written letters because of a misunderstanding from the professors on why it's needed or its purpose, as well as the language barrier. This problem is exacerbated when you take into account that it's common to apply to multiple universities. In this case, my partner has attempted to apply to 7 schools.
So now my partner has not only struggled to get in contact and have them write a letter, which they don't normally do, but my partner also has to hound their professors to upload the letters themselves into university systems 7 times over.
This has resulted in multiple applications not being able to be completed before the deadline even though they have been started many months prior.
I feel frustrated for my partner and I am wondering if other foreigners have had similar issues and any suggestions to overcome this.