<p>Im talking about undergrad program ( not medical or PhD).</p>
<p>Do you already have a Green Card?</p>
<p>If you don’t, don’t even ask this question. The chances of you being able to get an H-1B (work visa) after graduating are slim to none. Factor in the economic down-turn, and I’d put it closer to none. But, if you still feel hopeful, you should read up on the regulations that govern the H-1B at: [USCIS</a> Home Page](<a href=“http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis]USCIS”>Home | USCIS)</p>
<p>happymomof1, F1 visas allow you to work up to 20 hours a week and full time during hols… Twenty hours a week is about four hours a day and weekends off… Surely, that’s as much time as any undergrad with an eye on his grades can afford to spend on work?</p>
<p>Phyz, I think he/she means for AFTER graduation. There’s one word for you, OP: networking. I lived in the US for many years and know several foreign families that managed to stay on without having to go through all the H-1 visa crap.</p>
<p>bluebubbles, what exactly is networking? Thanks :)</p>
<p>Networking = keeping track of everyone that you meet, and getting to know who they know, and who those people know, so that when you need a job/the name of a good restaurant/advice about buying a car/anything else, you have someone that you can talk to who can advise you. </p>
<p>In order to remain legally in the US after you graduate and after your OPT time runs out, you will need to have a new visa status. There are several categories of work visas, but most people hold H-1B. There are other categories of visa for people who work for foreign embassies (A visa), and in international organizations (G visa). And yes, some students do manage to find trainee positions with international organizations that eventually turn into paying jobs, so they get to stay indefinitely on a G visa. Here in the Washington, DC area there are scads of people who’ve been here for 20 or 30 years with G visas. There is no way to know if you could be that lucky.</p>
<p>One place to read about the rules governing different visa categories is:</p>
<p>[Visa</a> Types for Temporary Visitors](<a href=“404 - Page Not Found”>404 - Page Not Found)</p>
<p>I couldn’t find this link last night or I would have posted it then.</p>
<p>happymomof1, thanks a lot :)</p>
<p>phyz,</p>
<p>I never heard of the 20 hours a week during school year thing. Maybe it’s something new. But in any case, those are parbably just part of your 12-month OPT. Some may not want to burn it all while in school and with little left after graduation.</p>
<p>Bubbles, please explain how. I’d love to be able to hire internationals to work in NY but I have a team of high paid immigration lawyers telling me I can’t. And they tell me it’s about to get even worse with a lot of political pressure to reduce H1-B visas which allowed some engineer and science related top students to stay at least temporarily.</p>
<p>A recent article from the NYT:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/business/12immig.html?scp=1&sq=sanjay%20google&st=cse[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/business/12immig.html?scp=1&sq=sanjay%20google&st=cse</a></p>
<p>Premedicine. If you can make it through med school, I think there’s a visa category just for foreign doctors.</p>
<p>Sam Lee, F-1 students are allowed to work 20 hours a week on campus while school is in session (and 40 hours during breaks). Kind of like work-study. If they want to work off-campus though, they have to use OPT.</p>
<p>F1 students can work 20 hours a week on campus (generally defined as “for the university” rather than physically on campus) and 40 hours off, but off-campus work count for the time in OPT (so obviously it makes more sense to save it for technical internships than say, McDonalds cleaning).</p>
<p>If one is of the right nationality one may apply for H1-B1 visas which are a lot easier to get than H1-B (if the economy doesn’t get better soon I’d bet a lot of money that they’ll be slashed making it even harder) and lets one work in the US for a couple years, but one cannot apply for green cards with H1-B1, so it’d just be a first-job type thing.</p>
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<p>Okay, well then, don’t even count on that either. US citizens/residents will always get the priority.</p>
<p>Sam Lee,</p>
<p>Back in the stone age when I was an undergrad, I knew several international students who were essentially working their way through college by maxing out their work eligibility while also earning free room and board as resident advisors in their dorms. Hiring for some campus jobs will be limited US students who have federal work-study money. Other jobs will be completely up for grabs. Each college/university has its own hiring policies, so if you will want or need a campus job you have to find out what kind of options you will have at each institution that you are considering.</p>
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<p>Like fake marriage? :rolleyes: It worked well for quite a while.</p>
<p>Best major: majorly rich.</p>
<p>Just go out and buy one. Couple million $ should do the trick.</p>
<p>Guys, is it true that engineering and science students get more than 12 months to work? Someone posted on the engineering board that this is the case.</p>
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<p>To be a little more specific: you have to be Chilean or Singaporean (citizen, not just PR). More than “cannot apply for green card”, the H1-B1 visa - in addition to proving the job cannot be filled by an American citizen - requires you to prove that #1 the nature of your job is temporary, and #2 you will return to your home country (not sure if this is the country in which you hold citizenship, or your previous country of residence) after the job is complete. The big difference between the H1-B and the H1-B1 is that H1-B1 applications tend not to meet the quota, so there is no lottery - if you meet all the eligibility requirements, you’re set.</p>
<p>Guys, is it true that engineering and science students get more than 12 months to work? Someone posted on the engineering board that this is the case.</p>
<p>Yes Hmom, you can get an extended OPT of up to 17 months if you are a science or math major-I dont rily know about engineering and this was a long time a ago…like a year ago. I dont know if this is still the case.</p>
<p>OPT visas can be extended for people with degrees in STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.</p>
<p><a href=“http://vkvisalaw.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2008/04/05/opt-extension-to-benefit-h-1b-applicants-and-stem-students/[/url]”>http://vkvisalaw.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2008/04/05/opt-extension-to-benefit-h-1b-applicants-and-stem-students/</a></p>
<p>To answer the OPs question, I would say engineering is certainly a good degree to get a job in the US after graduation.</p>