In my last blog, An international student’s guide to staying in the United States post-college, I explained strategies you can follow to ensure you can stay in the U.S. after graduation as an international student. Perhaps the most important is Strategy 2: Understand Your Legal Options to Stay in the U.S. because it won’t matter what post-college plans you have if there is no legally viable way for you to stay and implement them. So in this week’s post, I am going to walk through my journey utilizing this strategy, making plans that aligned with an appropriate and viable legal option to stay in the U.S. Please note, I am not an immigration professional or attorney, so this post contains my personal journey and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult your International Students Office and/or a qualified immigration attorney or another authorized representative for guidance on your specific circumstances.
So my journey was definitely a bumpy ride! As I wrote about in my previous blog post, To grad school or to work straight after college –that is the question, after my initial job search didn’t work out according to plan, I found a one-year job so I could work while applying to grad school. To be allowed to legally work while still on my student F-1 status, I utilized the first option in Strategy 2 of the guide: Optional Practical Training (OPT). This gave me a twelve-month authorization to work. During that twelve-month period, I applied and got into the Yale School of Public Health. Legally, I then used the “F-1 Visa Extension” option in Strategy 2, which was technically a transfer of my F-1 student record from Amherst College to Yale University.
Lucky for me, my grad school job search went according to plan and the internship between my 1st and 2nd years turned into a full-time offer. I used my 2nd twelve-month OPT for work authorization, and then concurrently applied for my 1st H-1B lottery since my employer sponsored this work visa. The H-1B visa is the second option in Strategy 2. Unfortunately, I was not picked in the lottery in my 1st year of applying. To stay in the country and keep my job I then applied for the STEM extension to OPT work authorization, which is also an option in Strategy 2. This gave me an extra two years of work authorization. I applied for the H-1B visa the following year and I was not picked, again. So I had 12 months left on my STEM OPT, and 1 more chance to apply for the H-1B one more time. Not getting picked in the lottery this time was going to have dire consequences, so guess what I did? I reviewed my options in Strategy 2 again, of course!
I determined I could either risk another round of the H-1B Lottery or go back to school and transfer back to an F-1 status. As a healthcare professional, though, I also had one other option, which is the one I ended up going with: finding a job in hospital administration and convincing them to sponsor a cap-exempt H-1B. Not only would this option solve my immigration dilemma, it was also going to help me expand my career by adding hospital administration experience to my healthcare consulting experience. I worked my network hard and ended up securing an amazing opportunity as an administrator at a top hospital in New York, and finally got my H-1B.
As you can see, in real life, things do not always go as smoothly as they are laid out on paper. You will have to use the strategies outlined here to help you navigate your options. I ended up utilizing the F-1 visa transfer, OPT twice, and STEM Extension to the OPT, then getting denied twice for the cap-based H-1B visa until finally landing a job with a cap-exempt H-1B.
As always, we at First Xperience understand this might be an overwhelming process for many. As such, we are happy to offer you one free one-on-one session to answer your questions. Feel free to reach out to us here or send us an email at [email protected] with the subject line: Free Immigration Options Info Session and we will contact you to schedule a session. Looking forward to connecting with you and helping you in your journey!
