<p>can someone please explain? What are the options of getting residence while studying in US as an international student ?</p>
<p>Unless you have close family in the States, your only options are to marry a US citizen or win the Green Card Lottery.</p>
<p>b@r!um is right. However, it is also possible to get on the track to permanent residency by getting a H-1B visa (work permit) after graduation from college. The problem is that there are far more applicants for such visas than there are visas. Furthermore, to even be able to apply, you need a sponsoring employer who can prove that NO American can be hired for the job. As you might imagine, very few employers are willing to make that claim and spend upwards of a thousand dollars on immigration lawyers to help an international student get a work visa. </p>
<p>If anyone thinks that studying in the U.S. is a ticket of entry to a life there, they might be in for a nasty surprise when they arrive. In the current economic climate it is practically impossible for internationals to get jobs. I feel so sorry for the internationals in the class of 2009 because they might as well begin packing their bags to return home, unless they’re going to grad school or marrying an American.</p>
<p>Hey, I have a question about the Visa lottery.
I’d really like to move for good to the US after college, but because I’m an international and American schools are so expensive, I’ll most likely end up in the UK for undergraduate for 3 years and probably go to grad school in the US for a PhD. </p>
<p>In terms of the lottery, if I am studying in Britain for the 3 years but apply for the Visa lottery and hypothetically get it next year, do I have to IMMEDIATELY move to the US or can I complete my study in the UK and then cross the pond?</p>
<p>Another question to B@r!um: is it true that lottery entrants must have 2 years of work experience in order to be eligible to apply?</p>
<p>no u don’t have to have two years of work experience, just a high school diploma i think. And not all countries are allowed to participate in the US visa lottery. But I would assume that you are from a former british colony-hence the decision to choose a school in the UK or chinese. If u are chinese…no visa lottery if the from a commonwealth country that is on the list of countries allowed to try the visa lottery then yes.</p>
<p>Citizens from the following countries are INELIGIBLE to participate in the DV Lottery:</p>
<p>BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, PERU, POLAND, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM.</p>
<p>bluebubbles, you need a high school diploma <em>or</em> a certain number of years of work experience in a job that requires training. If you win the lottery and get a visa, you have to enter the US before the October following the day when you get your visa. You don’t necessarily need to move to the US at once, but you do need a valid US mailing address (your green card and social security card will be mailed to that address a few weeks or months after you initially enter the country) and you may not leave the country for more than 364 days at a time.</p>
<p>Note that winning the lottery does not guarantee that you get a permanent resident visa - it only allows you to apply for one. The actual visa application process is rather painful: you have to get a medical exam with a doctor to be specified by the embassy, pass a criminal background check, appear for an interview that is scheduled for you (you don’t get to pick a time - mine was during exam week and I was not allowed to reschedule!) and pay a hefty fee. It took about 1.5 years from the day I signed up for the lottery until I actually had a visa.</p>
<p><em>Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. The above is my personal experience and not legal advice.</em></p>
<p>B@r!um, did you come to the US on an F-1 visa? Or did you apply for the DV Lottery before you entered the US? </p>
<p>Just wondering if it is OK to apply for the DV Lottery if you already have an F-1 issued. I applied for the 2010 Lottery last December, but as you pointed out, it will probably take at least 1,5 yrs before it gets issued (I plan to enter the US in August, class of 2013, so I need an F-1 in the meantime).</p>
<p>
Both. I submitted my lottery entry in November while I was working on college applications and I came to the US on an F-1 visa. I got my green card at the end of my freshman year.</p>
<p>Btw, the latest round ended on Dec 1. The next one starts in October, if it starts at all. There have been several attempts in recent years to eliminate the lottery, and it is probably just be a matter of time until one of the bills passes: [Diversity</a> Immigrant Visa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“Diversity Immigrant Visa - Wikipedia”>Diversity Immigrant Visa - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Ah, okay. Thanks for the reply.</p>
<p>I don’t know if Im gonna go back to Nigeria. I feel employers in the US or UK will value the quality of education I would have recieved, more than those in Nigeria. I mean wats the point working so hard to get into these top colleges if it not gonna more competitive. I still have the “lets change the world” mentality but sometimes when I look at the level of corruption in the country I feel discouraged… I don’t maybe my generation will be different; people will be more honest and we will actually have a proper democractic government.</p>
<p>yep. i’d never want to live permanently in america. its a nice place but not home. and i want to use the skills and credentials i’ve earned to contribute in some way to my own country.</p>
<p>I have a question for international students from developing countries: Do you have loans in your financial aid package, and if so, how do you plan to pay those back? Are those loans seriously restricting your future options? Maybe I am completely off, but I can’t imagine that it is possible to pay back a $20,000 loan with a standard Nigerian income. Any input appreciated.</p>
<p>^ My government/state oil company will provide me a full ride if I get in, and I need to come back after that to work 4-5 years. No repays</p>
<p>The United States would love to take all international students with degrees from US institutions especially people with advance degrees in science and technology. The unfortunate thing is the H1b visa is oversubscribed. I think Hib has an annual quota of 60,000. The economic turmoil is expected to drag the global market much of 2009. When the domestic economy is struggling and people are loosing their job, there might not be an appetite for the US congress to loosen up the H1b visa. </p>
<p>The immediate concern is the health of private independent colleges and universities in the US. Most of them depends a lot on tuition that every student brings. The worst case scenario is if these colleges accepts more international students who can afford to pay without the financial aid. Colleges will have to make a lot of hard choices. They need full paying international students to cover expected deficits.</p>
<p>There are so many cases where international student go broke even before they get their degrees. Some financial aid are mere “Bait and switch” tactics by some colleges. Even with full rides which is hard to get by, you still need a lot of extra money to spend on other stuff.</p>
<p>By AMY TAXIN</p>
<p>Associated Press Writer
Published: January 3, 2009</p>
<pre><code>SANTA ANA, Calif. - For foreign professionals, the rising unemployment rate is especially daunting.
Laid-off foreign workers are scrambling for temporary visas and seeking advice from immigration attorneys about how long they can legally stay in the country while hunting for jobs.
Even some foreigners here on visas or work permits are switching employers, fearing that an unstable job during a recession could ultimately lead to a one-way ticket home or kill their chance of getting a green card.
Thirty-eight-year-old Caron Traub of South Africa panicked after losing her job as a business development manager for an envelope manufacturer. With plans for an April wedding in Atlanta to her Canadian fiance, who has a green card, Traub worried that she could be forced to leave the country before then and be unable to get back in.
Its very scary stuff, said Traub, who applied for a temporary visa to stay in the country legally and look for a job.
An undetermined number of foreign workers have been casualties of the recession, which pushed the nationwide jobless rate to 6.7 percent in November, a 15-year high. Economists expect the jobless rate will continue to climb through much of 2009 and could surpass 8 percent.
Foreign residents with valid visas that authorize them to work in the United States can qualify for jobless benefits if they meet the requirements of the state in which they file, according to the Labor Department.
Nearly half a million foreign professionals are working in the country on visas, known as H-1Bs, or have applied for green cards with support from their employers, said Stuart Anderson, executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy, a policy research group in Arlington, Va. Many came to the United States to pursue graduate degrees and have lived and worked here for years.
Those who lose their jobs in the downturn may head home or move to countries that have more lenient immigration rules. That could drive much-needed innovation in technology and engineering overseas in the years ahead, Anderson said.
What you may find is there are people who could be future entrepreneurs in the United States who end up starting these companies in other countries, he said.
Companies are required to notify the U.S. immigration agency when a visaholder stops working for them, but the government does not track how many skilled professionals leave their jobs because of layoffs, said Bill Wright, an agency spokesman. There are many reasons a foreign worker might leave a company in good economic times as well as bad - for example, to move to a better job, he said.
Immigration lawyers say they have received an increasing number of calls from foreign professionals who have been terminated - many in the financial services industry as investment banks slash payroll to stay afloat.
Cyrus Mehta, an immigration attorney in New York, said he was fielding a call a week from foreign workers who lost their jobs in the last year.
Carmita Alonso, a partner at corporate immigration law firm Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, said shes worked with at least 100 visaholders in the same predicament since late 2007. This is definitely worse than weve seen in quite some time, Alonso said.
Following the dot-com bust in 2000, many high-tech workers were laid off and some foreign workers returned overseas. This time, immigration attorneys say the pain began primarily in the financial sector - though manufacturing and technology companies have also started eliminating jobs.
One of the biggest challenges for laid off visaholders is the lack of a grace period to leave. Companies must provide a return ticket home for workers, who may try to switch to another visa, such as a six month tourist visa, to buy time to pack their bags or look for another job.
Immigrants seeking green cards - which would let them remain in the country permanently - face different problems. If they are laid off, they can stay and look for a new job but must find one before the government reviews their paperwork, which could take months or years, depending how far along they are in the process. The bottom line: no employer, no green card.
Harsh Dharwad, a 31-year old electrical engineer from India, said he made a quick move to California with his wife and 1-year old daughter in September after the automotive supplier where he worked in Alabama began shedding workers.
It was a tough decision to make but I didnt want to get stuck in a position where if I got laid off, I could be in a no-win situation, said Dharwad, who now works for a medical device company.
During an economic slump, companies may reduce hiring abroad to scale back on legal fees. They also may do so to comply with U.S. laws that ban firms from sponsoring foreigners for green cards to replace laid off American workers, said Robert Hoffman, president of government and public affairs at Oracle and co-chair of Compete America, a coalition that supports bringing more skilled workers to the United States.
A clearer picture of the recessions impact on foreign workers could emerge in April when companies can request visas for workers they hope to hire in 2009.
The demand for visas tends to mirror the rise and fall of the U.S. economy - which has many attorneys guessing that cash-strapped companies will ask for fewer visas this spring.
I think theyre looking at every penny and this is a short-term cost they may want to avoid, said Tim Barker, partner at Fragomen in Los Angeles.
For the last six years, the demand for the visas has surpassed a 65,000 annual cap put in place by Congress, with 163,000 applications filed last year.
In the late 1990s, the U.S. temporarily raised the quota and more than 100,000 visas were issued each year. But demand for the visas waned to 79,000 on the heels of the tech industry decline, according to the National Foundation for American Policy.
Ironically, if fewer companies apply for visas, foreign professionals who have job offers in the United States may find themselves in luck: there would be fewer competitors for one of the coveted spots doled out in the governments annual visa lottery.
</code></pre>
<p>my mum was bringing up all the financial points yesterday and made me cry… it was like of all the people in the world I would never have thought she would be the one trying to talk me out of it… she’s been supportive the whole way even when I went through the stage of not telling anyone I was applying cause I couldn’t deal with the whole “What are you going overseas when aussieland is brilliant”… but yes not planning on returning really… well thinking about it… it depends on what happens I guess. Have a US passport though so slightly different situation I guess.</p>
<p>beeish AUstralia is the most beautiful country to live.I was there,i want to come back,some day.So beautiful,peaceful .I was to Newcastle Melbourn and Sidney.Perfect.</p>
<p>I am a citizen of ECC so i guess i will be able to get good job in Europe after graduating from U.S School.</p>
<p>Beeish, I have the exact same problem… Probably quite common to intl’s I guess…</p>
<p>Anyways, I’ve kinda just accepted that my mother doesn’t want me to go - and it is simply because she cares for me and doesn’t want me to go off into a country in turmoil, when I can stay back home and receive some “great, great education!”. </p>
<p>But it is so much more complicated than that - parents just don’t get it, I guess. I don’t wanna go to the US simply because of the E- word.</p>
<p>/venting</p>
<p>concerning barium’s question on students from developing countries: yes schools offer students loans from financial aid countries…if it is a generous school most students end up with around grants of 33000-37000 dollars and loans of 1,000-2,000 each year. Grants are higher but most loans dont exceed that amount. The school also assumes that the studenta nd their parents would be paying part of the loans within the four years of school (I am assuming so anyways)…I know because I got a lot of financial aid with loans attached.</p>
<p>Most people from developing countries-like nigeria in my case- end up paying like around 15,000-20,000 dollars for top schools (at least the ones I know)- except if you are really lucky and get full financial aid which is rare…at least the highest offer I got three years ago was 38000 dollars…from Wesleyan I think though it included some loans.</p>
<p>Anyways I have like a year to graduate but I have no plans for what I am going to do…worrying about the future isn’t really a good idea-I know from experience-it wouldn’t change the fact that you need an advanced degree to work in the US—working in a different country (from your citizenship country) is very hard regardless of whether it is the US or UK</p>