<p>How hard is it for international students to get jobs in the US with a work visa after graduating?</p>
<p>My brother graduated and had a very hard time finding a job so he went to get his masters degree
He went to a relatively good school (University of Florida) and graduated in chemical engineering</p>
<p>I am going to USF which is even less known that UF for electrical engineering</p>
<p>I understand most companies shy away from the expenses paperwork of having to hire someone without a greencard, but how bad is it?</p>
<p>Would an internship be mandatory or should I save OPT time international students get per year to use it after graduation?</p>
<p>There has been a new policy that allows STEM (science, technology, math, engineering) majors to apply for an additional 17 months of post-graduation OPT in addition to the 12 months everyone gets. So don't feel shy using your initial 12 months of OPT for summer internships!</p>
<p>I think it's worth mentioning that the additional OPT time is officially designated an "interim policy" and there's no guarantee that it is still in place by the time you graduate, but immigration laws change so frequently that you would never have that guarantee anyway.</p>
<p>Please folks, DO NOT EXPECT A US DEGREE TO MEAN THAT YOU WILL GET A JOB HERE!!!!!</p>
<p>Yes, you have various amounts of OPT to use during and/or after graduation, but even using this time well, and getting good letters of recommendation, etc., etc., etc. will not guarantee that you can get a job here and stay here forever. Do yourself a big favor, and be certain to have to have a back-up plan in your home country or in another country.</p>
<p>A lot of internationals in the hard sciences are able to stay here because they work in academia. Academic lab jobs are a great source for a visa.</p>
<p>Yup..I have to agree... It is hard to stay in the states after your degree; whichever one you get. I am a senior in engineering now and I got rejected from pretty much every job I applied to (in the US) even with my resume/academic record being way above class average.
So take happymomof1's advice and make a back-up plan - A very GOOD one, because you would probably need to use it.</p>
<p>It's true. It is also becoming harder for students with Masters degrees. Current MBA students are having a terrible time especially in this economy since companies are cutting back new positions, let alone any position with sponsorship. It's really sad because they have incurred big loans for schooling here.</p>
<p>Most jobs are found through campus career offices.</p>