From a company of scholars to a line at customs: foreign citizens face precarious prospects for the post-graduation job search

From Yale Herald

Applying for jobs is indisputably the most daunting task that any college senior faces. Students have to make time in their schedules for endless information sessions at UCS, interviews, job fairs, and the looming prospect of post-graduation unemployment and moving back home. The process is, however, much more harrowing for international students, whose visa restrictions mean that staying in the U.S. post-graduation is uncertain at best.

In the fall of 2007, international students represented 16 percent of Yale’s population, the largest percentage in Yale’s history. Most international students in the U.S. hold F-1 or J-1 student visas, which allow them to remain in the country for the duration of their academic careers. F-1 students are allotted 12 months of employment in the U.S. known as the Optional Practical Training period (OPT), which can be applied during the summer or after graduation. Time spent working as an intern in the U.S. counts as part of the 12 months. In order to remain in the U.S. after the OPT, foreign citizens must apply for an H-1B Temporary Worker Status visa.

Unfortunately, merely attaining eligibility to apply for an H1-B visa can be a major difficulty for international students. The deadline for the H1-B application this year is Tues., Apr. 1, and applicants must have completed their graduation requirements by that date. However, the vast majority of universities’ terms end at least a month later. Usman Humayan, BR ’08, recalls that two of his friends actually graduated in December 2007 instead of May 2008 in order to avoid that problem—but they must now begin their OPT earlier and leave the country earlier if their H1-B application is denied.

Yet even those who complete the H1-B application face a long and nerve-wracking wait. In October 2003, the U.S. government, citing security concerns in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks of 2001, decreased the number of available H1-B visas from 195,000 to 65,000, its 1998 level. Demand for the visas, however, continues to skyrocket, and a lottery currently decides which applications will even be reviewed. Humayan, who is from Pakistan, plans to use his OPT after graduating while applying for an H1-B. “If I do go home after my OPT it will be because of difficulty in getting an H1-B visa,” he said. “You do not even have the cushion of having the OPT anymore if your visa application is denied.”

Some have gone to extreme lengths to remain in America while waiting for the State Department. Estonia native Kristina Mois, PC ’08, explained that her sister, a Stanford graduate, agreed to work for her employer without pay until she got her visa. “This was stressful by itself,” said Mois, “but it also prevented her from fully settling in—i.e. you can’t invest in a car or make a long-term rent contract, 2-year cell phone plan, or health insurance, if you don’t know [if and] when you will be kicked out of the country.”

The wait and costs associated with the application have also caused American employers to look twice at job applications from international students, according to some recently-graduated international students. “After several months of applying to jobs here, I did get the impression that my visa status was a problem,” said Kaja Wilmanska, ES ’08, who is from Poland. “In general, I felt that internationals had to be truly exceptional to get an offer from one of the coveted investment banks or consulting firms.” Ultimately, Wilmanska’s efforts to obtain a job in the U.S. fell through, and she will attend the London School of Economics next fall. “The $340 fee and paperwork [required to procure my OPT] was not worth the effort since I had no job offer.”



SOME STUDENTS DO GET LUCKY. RAHUL KRISHNnan, a Columbia senior from India, has 8 months left of OPT after he graduates, and said that his workplace is “ready and willing to sponsor my visa.” If he doesn’t get the visa, it is standard procedure for the firm to move him to a foreign office. But with inklings of an economic crisis ahead, said Krishnan, “Many firms are using these visa issues as grounds for firing people when their OPT runs out. Even if I am moved to the London office, my odds of getting the H-1B don’t improve.”

The H1-B application hassle isn’t the only reason for employers’ current circumspection. An international employee can remain on H1-B status for a maximum of six years. After that, employers must sponsor their employees’ green cards if they are to stay in the country. Yet the Department of Labor can take years to process the applications. As a result, many employers only consider job applicants who are permanent U.S. residents. That’s one reason Mois also plans to continue her education in England: Her immigrant status didn’t allow her to apply for the engineering jobs in the U.S. that interested her. “In short, Merck, Pfizer, and many other big U.S. firms do not even want to see your resume unless you are a U.S. citizen or a green card holder,” she said.

Those lucky enough to obtain H1-B status encounter another set of difficulties. H1-B holders traveling outside the U.S. for the first time since getting their visa are not allowed back into the country without a visa stamp from the appropriate U.S. consulate abroad. A visit to the embassy is not a quick trip, said a 2003 Yale graduate from Western Europe who requested not to be named. “They give the same appointment time to 20 people,” the student said. “We waited outside in the cold for an hour, and waited inside for another hour after that.” Many of the student’s friends with H1-B status may not see their families at home for years for fear that they will not get their visa stamp and will be refused re-entry to the U.S.

This 2003 graduate was another lucky student. After leaving Yale, she found work at a university, and universities are exempt from the government’s cap on available visas. Yet higher education jobs are the exception to the rule.

For the unlucky ones forced to leave the country, finding jobs overseas may be as difficult as the search in America. “I suspect that the graduates of a typical European state technical university have taken many more engineering courses than I have, and at this point make stronger candidates than me,” said Mois. Wilmanska agreed, “The liberal arts education is much better understood by employers in the U.S. than in Europe,” she said.



DESPITE THE POSSIBILITY OF RECEIVING A LIBERAL education only to be forced to return to a home where specialized training may have been more valuable, neither Mois and Wilmanska think that international students will ultimately be discouraged from applying to American universities. However, Krishnan said that, had he known about the difficulties of working in the U.S. before applying to school, he and many of his friends may have decided to attend college elsewhere. “I know I gave up good opportunities at Cambridge and the London School of Economics in favor of coming to New York,” he said. “After going through the most expensive education system in the world, being told that I cannot stay and work is a real kick in the face.”

The value of an Ivy League education will likely continue to attract students from all over the world. However, bureaucratic hurdles seem to be discouraging increasing numbers of international students from even considering remaining in the U.S. post-graduation. While the 2003 graduate said that visa concerns did not dissuade most of her friends from pursuing work in the U.S., more recent graduates and current seniors tell a different story. “I personally did not go through the entire process just because I didn’t want to deal with it,” said Imane El Andaloussi, SY ’07, who plans to return home after completing her OPT. Mois also noted that her sister’s experiences discouraged her from enduring the same hurdles. But Humayan pointed out that many international students have no plans to remain here after graduating. “A lot of them are just happy to get some work experience and then go work in the fast growing economies of Middle East or Southeast Asia,” he said.

But there is no doubt that America is losing a crucial pool of talent. Mois will be attending college in England to get an M.S. While she is happy with the program in which she will matriculate and wants to work in Europe after graduation, she said, “If a green card was handed to me tomorrow, I might change my mind about staying.” But as the demand for the H1-B continues to climb while the resident alien cap remains the same, more and more students may echo Mois’ words: “Well, screw you, America—I’ll just take my IQ and my Yale education to a society who wants it.”