I was recently accepted for Northeastern CS and I’m trying to figure out if Northeastern is worth it for employability as an international student AFTER GRADUATION
Do international students attending Northeastern actually get full-time jobs in the United States after graduation because of the Co-op program or is it more probable that they have to go to their home countries and get a job there because the visa laws are strict
(to elaborate (from my understanding sorry if I’m wrong): if an American company cannot justify that an American could do the job instead of an international then that international gets the job through work visa… but this is usually expensive for the company and also improbable they can justify they need the international student(most of the time))
I’ve seen the stat that 2/3 of people in co-op get offered a full-time job, but I have a feeling the remaining 1/3 might be international students (possibly a good chunk at least) just because of the visa strictness
Anyways, I’m trying to see does Northeastern have the upper edge for employment after college for International students because of their unique co-op program or is the weight of the visa strictness too much to bear (which is why even T20 colleges have International students heading back to their home countries for work because they couldn’t get a job in the U.S… I know there are many other factors of course)…
My goal is to NOT go to northeastern just to end up working in my home country, I want to work in the U.S and I want to know if a Northeastern education will give me a definite edge against the visa strictness.
Purely anecdotal. My daughter had one friend who was an international student (did Masters in Architecture). She had great co-ops, including doing the program in Berlin. She did have some issue with co-ops due to being international (I think she couldn’t extend her co-op past 6 months or couldn’t do a third one in the US but not sure if that rule was her country or US). Anyway she couldn’t find a job in the US after graduation. I am not sure if it was because a company would have to sponsor her.
Contact the Northeastern International admissions team and/or the career/coop groups, and ask your questions, such as:
What proportion of students who want to stay in the US to work have been able to?
How does NEU navigate internationals and co-op jobs?
Do internationals have fewer coop opportunities?
Can international students participate in the career center job placement activities, or are their limitations?
Fundamentally it’s more about the hiring companies and governmental restrictions, than Northeastern. Competition for H1B visas is fierce, and expensive for the hiring company. Here is an article with relatively recent numbers that discusses OPTs, H1B visas, etc. https://news.jrn.msu.edu/2019/05/international-students-face-challenges-to-work-in-u-s/
My D is at Purdue where about 1/3 of engineering and CS students co-op. Anecdotally her international friends are struggling to even find good co-ops and internships, let alone US jobs after graduation Our parent group has a number of posts from frustrated international parents.
The visa situation is simply not favorable for staying in the US post graduation so that’s now having a trickle down effect for internships and co-ops. Companies know that even if they try to sponsor and jump through hoops for an applicant, they can still have the visa denied, so they aren’t even beginning the the initial investment with training interns or coops.
I think it’s a very good idea to call the international student office or the coop office and get the actually statistics. If they don’t have them or won’t give them out, that should be a red flag. You should also ask the salary range for international students cooping and make sure it’s reasonable.
In general, all international students should plan on returning to their home countries post graduation. The H1B visa situation is too restrictive to count on.
do you think all this fares any better for the currently in-demand Computer Scientist (Undergraduate CS Major)? (especially a CS major from a reputable uni for CS like Northeastern)
Also, what about applying for the American job position (at a reputable American company) and then taking a transfer to a different office (London, Paris, Europe Office, Asia Office, Australia, etc)… is that allowed often and a possible way to skirt the visa strictness?
CS is STEM-designated major, so a student will have has a work permit for three years after graduation. Theoretically, three years is a long period, especially in IT. Of course, there is a lot of frustration for international students with internships and jobs, but if someone wants to live in the USA, he or she should be strong and don’t expect easy ways. If you are not strong enough, stay home. Really, US is hard
OP - I would suggest you read through the US department of labor information about F1 and H1B1 visas (links below). To have a STEM extension after graduation, you need to already been employed and have your employer complete their part of the paperwork. Then it’s a lottery for the H1B1 after your extension is up. As I mentioned before, many US companies are not willing to put in the time into training so initially getting that job offer is very tough.
I think the bottom line is that international students need to not make financial plans about the affordability of college based on assumptions of remaining in the US. Sure, some people get lucky, but most don’t. You don’t want to bankrupt yourself or your family on faulty assumptions.
@momofsenior1 Thank you for your response. I completely agree.
I had posted some alternate routes I could take. what are your thoughts on the feasibility and frequency that this happens?:
“applying for the American job position (at a reputable American company) and then taking a transfer to a different office (London, Paris, Europe Office, Asia Office, Australia, etc)… is that allowed often and a possible way to skirt the visa strictness?.. they’d be willing to offer me a job because they dont need to go through the visa hoops for America in the first place??”
You wouldn’t be able to transfer to a foreign office unless you were an employee of the company, and you can’t be hired as an employee without the Visa paperwork. Why not go to college in your home country then apply to the foreign office directly? I don’t think you’ll be able to use that as a backdoor to “skirt” the laws and transfer to a branch in the US so I wouldn’t spend a lot of money gambling that you can make that happen.
In addition to the above, remember that most countries where you do not have citizenship will have their own work visa process. It took nearly a year for a family member’s company to get him to an overseas assignment because of all the paperwork and government regulations in the EU.
“Where does it say that CS students will get work permits?”
I know a couple of international graduates with CS degrees who did have work permits in the US and were working in the US, who relatively recently had to leave the country because they could not renew their work permits. Both kept the same job that they already had but moved to Canada. One or two others moved to India although I am not sure whether that was a personal preference.
Having some coop experience in the US might help after graduation, but there are no guarantees. Work and immigration visas in the US are a political issue which is unpredictable four or five years in advance.