visa visa

February 3, 2006 7:58 AM

So, my friend has some visa issues...

My friend is currently in a PhD program in the US, and also obtained his BA here. For both his graduate and undergrad education, he has been on an F-1 visa (he's from the UK).

He is going through some personal issues which have left him in a bit of an academic tailspin. He wants to take some time away from school to regroup a bit, and we're trying to find a way he can do this (preferably legally).

If he leaves school or takes a leave of absence, he won't remain in status in the States, he doesn't want to go back home. He wants to continue his education eventually, once he works through some other stuff.

What solutions are there for a foreign student with a BA? I know H-1 visas are notoriously hard to get. What type of job would make it easiest to land a work visa--teaching? An NPO?

If his only way to stay in the country is by remaining out of status, do you have any anecdotes or advice?

Thanks in advance for your help!

posted by SassHat to law & government (16 comments total)

If he's on a PhD program, teaching is often heavily involved anyway. I wonder if there's a way he could negotiate dropping the academic and/or research sections and move to teaching only for a while, while remaining in the program? If you list teaching as a possible job option, then clearly he wouldn't find teaching a problem, right?

Other than that, he could try flying to a non-adjacent country to the US and coming back in under visa waiver. This will get him 90 days. Alternatively he could apply for a B-1 and get 180 days, but the story would need to be put in the right way. He would not be able to work under these classes, however.
posted by wackybrit at 8:22 AM on February 3, 2006

Avoid losing the F-1 status. Register a "non-resident" student or whatever the equivalent is at his school. This status is often used by students away doing research or things like that. It means you're a full-time student, officially, but no classes, no teaching, no showing up. You're off doing something else. You keep the F-status.

I've done this, no problem.
posted by duck at 8:37 AM on February 3, 2006

It is difficult to get an H-1B visa, but it is not impossible. (H-1B basics). In 2003 there were 231,030 H-1B petitions filed, and 217,340 petitions approved. Obviously, your friend will have to obtain employment first, and have his employer submit a petition on his behalf. As for what types of people tend to get H-1B visas:

In 2003, five percent of petitions approved were for workers between the ages of 25 and 34. The average age of beneficiaries approved in fiscal year 2003 was 32 years.

One-half of petitions approved in fiscal year 2003 were for workers with a bachelor’s degree. Thirty-one percent had a master’s degree.

Thirty-nine percent of petitions approved in fiscal year 2003 were for workers in computer-related occupations.

The median salary was $52,000 for workers whose petitions were approved in fiscal year 2003. For workers in computer-related occupations, the median salary was $60,000.

The most popular types of jobs that people obtaining H-1B visas were doing in 2003 were: (1) computer-related (2) architecture, engineering, and surveying (3) education.

Source.

Your friend's best bet might be to use his connections at the school he was studying for his PhD at to get a job there, and have them petition for a H-1B visa for him.

Finally, I would not recommend that your friend stay in the U.S. without status. I wish him the best of luck.
posted by ND¢ at 8:38 AM on February 3, 2006

Oh, in case it was unclear, you're registering as non-resident student with the school, not with the visa people. The international office at my school said I didn't have to tell the visa people anything at all unless I changed US addresses (during this time I didn't even have a US address, so no need to tell them anything). If he moved somewhere else in the US, he would need to update his SEVIS record within 10 days.

Avoid at all costs switching statuses. It's a pain and there's no guarantee he'd get his f-1 back afterwards (he probably would, but no guarantee. My school said it's silly to risk it when there's no need.
posted by duck at 8:39 AM on February 3, 2006

Getting a different type of visa almost always requires leaving the country and applying to enter again with the new status -- though I don't know about the H1 specifically.

Grad programs usually have some sort of option for maintaining your matriculation without taking classes (after all, this is the mode in which people generally complete their theses).
posted by winston at 8:42 AM on February 3, 2006

Also in case it was unclear, the "non-resident" refers to not being resident at the university, not to not residing in the US. You can still come and go from the US the same as you always did with the F-1 and keep your US apartment, etc. etc. Basically, since you're still officially a full-time student, your visa status doesn't change.

If you change your address you report it, just like you would report any other address change for any other reason.

You're a student, you just aren't expected to show up and do student-y stuff. Your advisor would generally have to sign off on this.
posted by duck at 8:45 AM on February 3, 2006

Grad programs usually have some sort of option for maintaining your matriculation without taking classes (after all, this is the mode in which people generally complete their theses).

And it's not the same as the status in which you're working on your thesis. I'm doing that now, I'm still "in-residence" I'm just not taking classes. It's not really a status at all (my status with the school is the same as when I was taking classes).
posted by duck at 8:46 AM on February 3, 2006

He should talk to the visa people at his school. In my experience, they have a lot of interest in helping you do what you want/need to do legally, and zero interest in shopping you to the INS. There are likely to be legal ways of taking a break without going out of status & it is their job to find them for him.

IANAImmigrationL but I seem to remember that there is some '5 month' rule -- i.e. you can take a break for 5 months without going out of status. This seems to be confirmed implicitly here but again I emphasise the school's visa people will give the only advice worth listening to.
posted by beniamino at 8:46 AM on February 3, 2006

OK...I'm going to go to the office and shut-up, right after this one, I swear .

Also, to make money, he can do "optional practical training." The job has to be vaguely related to your field.

And yeah, go talk to your international students office.
posted by duck at 8:51 AM on February 3, 2006

Changing status does not require leaving the country and coming back. Here is how. I third or fourth speaking to the international student office.
posted by ND¢ at 8:58 AM on February 3, 2006

ND¢'s information is out of date. US congress has reduced the number of H1-B visas available.

In fiscal year 2005, only 65,000 H1-B visas were available. Availability began May 2005 and I believe all visas were filled by the end of the summer.

H1-B visas will be available again in April or May 2006. Until then your friend is SOL.
posted by crazycanuck at 9:03 AM on February 3, 2006

I stand corrected.
posted by ND¢ at 9:21 AM on February 3, 2006

CIPUSA CRITERIA FOR J-1 VISA SPONSORSHIP

Applicant must meet the following criteria:

• Be at least 20 years of age at the time of application.
• Have a university degree or a professional certificate.
• Be proficient in speaking, reading and writing English. For those applying from countries where English is not the first language, a TOEFL score is required unless waived by the interviewer. Applicants must have a score of 500 or higher on the written test or a 250 or higher on the computer-based test. We prefer however the test of spoken English (TSE) with a score of 50 or higher.
• Have experience in the desired field of training. CIPUSA prefers candidates to have at least three years of experience but may make exceptions for graduate student applicants.

See here. I had a couple of summer (4 month) J1 visas while a student, followed by a J1 for 18 months (through Council) after graduating, and finessed that into a H1B. If you want any more info, let me know.

Similarly for anecdotes re overstays - if you want some, drop me an email.
posted by jamesonandwater at 9:32 AM on February 3, 2006

Be VERY careful here. My immigration professor (who is a practicing immigration attorney) has horror stories of students who merely dropped below full time status while on a F-1 visa and received night-time visits from not so friendly ICE agents. This student was arrested and taken to jail. The real stupid thing here was that the student had merely dropped some classes to add others, and had only been less than full-time for a few minutes! Your school's registration system is tied into a system called SEVIS that allows Immigration to monitor your academic load.
posted by reverendX at 9:35 AM on February 3, 2006

He could look into taking full-time courses at a low-cost language school and keeping his student visa. (Since he's from the UK, he could study Spanish.) I know that in the Los Angeles area there are a number of language schools which operate primarily to offer student visas to immigrants. Although they are supposed to monitor student attendance, they usually fudge the attendance data as they know most of the "students" will be working full-time. Because there are a number of schools doing this they compete on price and so the tuitions are quite reasonable.
posted by soiled cowboy at 10:58 AM on February 3, 2006

Avoid losing the F-1 status. Register a "non-resident" student or whatever the equivalent is at his school. This status is often used by students away doing research or things like that. It means you're a full-time student, officially, but no classes, no teaching, no showing up. You're off doing something else. You keep the F-status. I've done this, no problem.

I think this depends upon whether you're from Canada, the EU, Japan or Switzerland vs. Eastern Europe, China, an African country, etc. I know two people personally from Moldova and Russia who were denied this non-resident status by their university (a huge state school) based upon legal concerns the director of the int'l students office had.

So they were unable to return to complete their research, which required them to travel.
posted by vkxmai at 2:15 PM on February 3, 2006