Re:The Ivy League Was Another Planet
by ams6110 on Sunday March 31, 2013 @02:21PM
(#5469573)
For many state schools, international students are a huge source of revenue. They mostly pay full freight.
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Yep, and then the US government makes it almost impossible for us to find jobs here.
Would you mind elaborating on this? What's wrong with OPT?
Nothing. Just applied to mine in fact. But:
1- H1-B Is not guaranteed. It's a lottery (literally).
and
2- You have 60 days after graduation on OPT to find a job. For many that I know (particularly not in the tech field), they are really searching for a job but can't find one at all. Even American citizens can't find a job that easily.
The tech field is an exception. I talked to 35-40 startups & companies from AngelList and other websites in a 4 months period. Ended up with 4 offers.
I might be mistaken, but afaik H1-B is not a lottery, it's just simply capped which means you have to apply for it during the one week of the year when they are available (note: that's this week) [1]. And then it's not guaranteed but more or less certain as long as you meet the eligibility requirements.
As for OPT: Aren't you allowed to work self-employed during that time [2,3]? So as long as you give yourself a job, you are fine?
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-1B_visa#Congressional_yearly... [2] http://blog.messersmithlaw.com/?p=720 [3] http://e3visa.info/tag/opt-self-employed/
H1-B is a lottery. It is not guaranteed at all. There is a set number of visas issued each year. Google "H1-B lottery". Check out the latest Bloomberg article on it. Last year, on the fifth day when they received a specific number of applications, they closed of any new applications and did a lottery on who will get the visas.
I'm graduating in May - I cannot self employ myself :). I already accepted a job offer with a startup, and they will be applying for H1-B for me in two consecutive years. If I don't get it, I'll have to leave. Otherwise, I get H1-B for a max of 5 or 6 years I think