<p>The process is a lot easier to understand once you accept one thing: the US doesn’t need or want you.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to be harsh, but that’s the way the visa system is set up.</p>
<p>It can be done, but it’s not easy.</p>
<p>If you join the ROTC / Military with a degree, they can help you acquire US citizenship… It would be a large commitment though…</p>
<p>I have the opposite idea. I want to return to my home country after graduation or at least in a few years. I wonder how much a US degree from a good uni will be respected in India…</p>
<p>I’d try every reasonable possible measure to stay in US after graduation. Not to sound offensive to fellow countrymen, but Pakistan is a ****ty place to be in.
So, what have we settled on? Get a H1B work visa. Work there for a couple of years. Then, apply for green card. And wait for it…?
Any reasonable estimate how long can this process can take?
Do they have any different policies for us, the dangerous Pakistanis? I hope not.</p>
<p>Slightly off-topic question: What about UK? I was born in UK, but didn’t get the citizenship (some policies). If I go there now, will I be in the same pool as the rest of the internationals in quest for the citizenship status? Will my birth certificate make any difference anywhere?</p>
<p>Oh and what about the family green card thingy? I don’t know how it works. But my mom applied for green card some years back for the whole family.</p>
<p>^^ I feel the same! I will also try everything possible to stay in the US (legally of course! I don’t want to become a burden for society). However, where I come from is not bad at all, but I have always had a dream to make it big in the US. Of course you can always marry to get a green card. But I will only use that option if I actually find romance. ;)</p>
<p>At the end of the day, I guess keepittoyourself is right, the US really doesn’t need us, and if all else fails, then I will return to my home country (where I would be paid one fourth of the salary that I could make in the US, pretty sweet huh?).</p>
<p>By the way, what is ROTC?</p>
<p>@kheiron1729 doesn’t that mean your whole family has green cards then??</p>
<p>The US needs as many college grads as it can get (who will pay taxes and fund all the retirees and welfare receivers).</p>
<p>ROTC: [Army</a> ROTC | GoArmy.com](<a href=“http://www.goarmy.com/rotc.html]Army”>Army ROTC | goarmy.com)</p>
<p>Don’t call other people ignorant, keep it to yourself lol. It is true that H1B can only last for a few years. It’s in the law
[H-1B</a> visa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“H-1B visa - Wikipedia”>H-1B visa - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>6 years is the maximum. And then unless your employer/family sponsors your green card, you have to go back to your country (you can’t apply for green card by yourself, it’s your EMPLOYER who needs to apply and sponsor you)
it is very difficult to get employer sponsor you, unless you are really outstanding. Even so, there is still quota, a lot of paperwork and cost, plus the economic situation in US now… your chance is slim</p>
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<p>Yes but as I mentioned, if you have a green card application submittded, this can be extended indefinitely.</p>
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<p>Cite?</p>
<p>Hi. What do you mean by saying “People with work visa (H-1B) can only stay for one year, then they can’t extend the visa any more”?</p>
<p>Does not the (H-1B) visa give the green card? I mean people who get an H-1B visa are supposed to have a green card, right?!</p>
<p>Nope. That visa is Temporary. Green card is permanent.</p>
<p>This is one of the error. You can stay in US one year after graduation on OPT.</p>
<p>After that if someone wants to hire you, then you can apply for H-1 visa.</p>
<p>Righty but at those points, no green card.</p>
<p>Yep. Green card is different.</p>
<p>I am a student in Sweden who is looking to go to college in the US. I know that after graduation many international students are sent home or are on temporary h-1b Visas. However, would the following schools significantly increase my chances of staying in the US? I ultimately want a masters in Electrical Engineering.</p>
<p>MIT
Stanford
CalTech
Princeton
Cornell
Columbia</p>
<p>It seems like a waste to spend $200,000 on an a US education if you can’t stay in the US afterwards. </p>
<p>Large companies like HP, Intel, Google etc are also the ones that reward the most Green Cards, and conveniently the above mentioned universities all have a lot of graduates that go to those places.</p>
<p>So, anyone know if the chances of you staying significantly increase if you go to a top-tier engineering school? Is it worth to take the risk?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>You’re better off doing your undergraduate education in Sweden, then coming to the US for your Master’s. That way you save money, and still have a shot at getting an H1B visa. (Though notice, it’s a temporary visa, so you can’t stay in the US indefinitely.) I think it would be foolish gambling well over $200,000 just on the possibility of getting H1B. There are government caps on the amount of these visas, and employers today face greater scrutiny in applying for them. Who knows what the regulations will be by the time you’d finish school.</p>
<p>If you attend top schools like MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, …, you will be in touch with those top companies like IBM and Google (IT and Computer Science major).</p>
<p>Having good scores, recommendations, programming competitions, extracurricular activities and scientific projects, would be very effective to find a job in the US.</p>
<p>However, there are many graduate (Master, PhD, Postdoc) students in the US, but still looking for a job. I think that the field of study/career would be very important.</p>
<p>Even if I’m unable to work in the US, won’t the reputation of the previously mentioned colleges help me find work in other countries? There’s a chance that I get to stay, and if I don’t I’ll have to find work in another country, which I don’t think will be hard with a degree from Stanford, MIT etc. (Can always try to get back in later down the line with a lot of experience.)</p>
<p>So in the end it’s better college experience + possibility of working in the US + Global college recognition vs $200,000.</p>
<p>Hmm.</p>
<p>Edit - The fact that there are many Master/PhD students without work is worrying. I’m just going to assume that they’re from less recognised universities to make it easier for myself.</p>
<p>I teach in a graduate program in applied statistics. Over the last decade about 15 of our M.S. graduates were international students. All of them found employment in the U.S. (usually state government agencies that had a hard time filling the positions, possibly due to lower salary) and their employer sponsored them for Green Cards. I don’t think the OPs situation is impossible at all if they are continuing in graduate school in an area with decent demand.</p>