<p>Hey, so Im an international student at MSU Bozeman. Im majoring in Mechanical Engg.</p>
<p>While looking for jobs, I realized a lot of them say, "US citizen".</p>
<p>Im just a freshman, so dont really have too much of information and how substantial being a US citizen is to get a good job.</p>
<p>So, is it really THAT much harder? Or will it all fall into place as long as I as an individual am qualified?</p>
<p>It really depends on the type of jobs you are looking for. If you are looking for anything involving government contracts that are governed by DoD, you will more than likely need to be a US Citizen. However, I highly doubt that someone like Ford would care much if the person designing their engines is a US Citizen.</p>
<p>Thats good news. </p>
<p>However, its always a littler harder to hire an international than a local, right? I mean, I heard the H1B visa is cumbersome?</p>
<p>It depends on the industry somewhat. In ME, that is definitely something that can make things difficult. As long as you are a good enough candidate it won’t matter for the most part though. The other option is to just try and earn citizenship. If you want to stay and work in the States long-term anyway, then I would just strongly suggest that.</p>
<p>Hmm Yup, but getting a citizenship takes around 5 years, right?</p>
<p>Um… being a native of the US, I don’t honestly remember how long you have to live here. That sounds right though, at which point I still recommend it but I am sorry I suggested it without thinking. haha</p>
<p>The other option would be, if push comes to shove, to get an MS right out of undergrad and while you are doing your 2 years of that, you would have passed your 5 year requirement so you could be naturalized during that period before you graduate.</p>
<p>Oh…are you sure the studying years count to the limit?</p>
<p>I think it’s 5 years AFTER applying, and you cant apply on a student visa.</p>
<p>You have to get a company that is willing to sponsor you post graduation. This is hard but not impossible. After that, stay here fo rsome time and apply for green card/citizenship.</p>
<p>Hard in what way?</p>
<p>As in keeping a good GPA? What else would you recommend?</p>
<p>I am just going to step out of this one for the time being since I clearly am not that savvy to the whole citizenship process. haha</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, good GPA is certainly important. But if you want a job, companies look for prior experience as well. Try to get an internship at a corporation (apply to 40/50 companies, it works) or do research with a professor. Companies are very risk averse these days, especially when it costs them more to sponsor an international student for a visa as opposed to hiring a local student. But if you have a top notch GPA (3.6+) and get a paid engineering internship, you will probably be fine.</p>
<p>Haha alright lets break it down.</p>
<p>So are you trying to say that internships are “citizen-status blind”?</p>
<p>Slightly off-topic, but when working for defense/government be aware that not all citizens are made equal.</p>
<p>As a personal anecdote, I work in a Canadian company and I am a naturalized Canadian but we operate under US laws/regulations. These regulations stipulate that I do not have access to certain information irrespective of my national clearance level due to being born outside the US or Canada. (A few years back a large, multinational engineering firm was sued by former employees and paid out a lot of money due to this, but admitted no fault.)</p>
<p>As a student you should be able to get some sort of work visa fairly easy. Look into it.</p>
<p>However, it’s your best bet to apply to ‘civilian’ employers to avoid extra hassles.</p>
<p>Hmm, alright one more thing. Next month in the career fair, should I come out straight and tell the employer that I’m an international or just be quiet and subtle about it?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>On your resume, have a line saying: </p>
<p>Residency Status: F1 Visa. Citzen of _______.</p>
<p>You don’t need to explicitly mention that you are not a US citizen. That will just hurt your chances and doesn’t serve any purpose. It also takes away time during which you can otherwise mention your achievement, academics, and projects.</p>
<p>But being an international is not how you want to introduce yourself. The career fairs are more a platform for companies to introduce themselves than a mechanism to hire interns but are still worth attending. Apply online for internahip.</p>
<p>Wow in the Boeing Jobs page, I haven’t yet found EVEN ONE internship that says “US person status required” : No.</p>
<p>Are there ANY international workers at Boeing? Whats the way around this?</p>