US offer and sponsor for H1-B but not eligible for the OPT

Have an offer from a company that would start in July assuming you have OPT and then sponsor your H1-B valid as of October. How do I tell them I am not eligible for OPT (non-US school nor US resident)? Will they rescind the FT offer or find alternatives?

11 Comments
 
Most Helpful

1) Something is off here - what is your legal status? There are very few cases where you legally live in the US and can't work somehow. Did you work too much already and you won't qualify for F1-OPT? Are you there with family/spousal sponsorship and your EAD hasn't been approved yet? I know this is personal, so please don't answer anything you don't want to talk about in a public forum. If you graduated from a US school you should be eligible for CPT/OPT.

2) How will they "cover your H1b" if nobody knows whether you'll be offered one? Both the company/you would only know this is after April, unless you are an existing holder and would need a H1b transfer/extension?

 

1)  From a H1b perspective, this would work - but I would tell the company as quickly as possible that you don't live in the US and/or the reason why you don't qualify for OPT. If you are lucky, they will wait for you a bit longer.

2) That is the thing, a lot of people don't get it. Best of luck with the entire process and I wish you'll get it though.

 

It depends. If they assumed you had OPT, and/or you made them think that (either actively or by not mentioning it when you should have), then they’ll likely rescind your offer, since you misrepresented your ability to work in the US. If they didn’t know, you have to tell them ASAP for them to figure out what to do

 

Thank you for your answer. I never intentionally misled them. I was unaware of the existence of OPT and that it only applies to US students.

 

Honestly, the company should've known that you are not living in the US. you would probably have an international phone number (unless you are in Canada and they ignored the area code), an international address and every document/address is from another country. this isn't really your fault.

edit: This entire situation is incredible; you almost never hear from finance professionals who are entirely abroad. most are intl. students from the US. Again, congratulations for making it this far. Amazing result.
the typical non-immigrant workers are farm hands, agricultural, medical professionals or in hospitality/travel, etc. most intl finance people I have met have studied in the US.

 

How did you manage to pull this off? Not from the states and not studying in the states. Doesn’t fully answer your question, but I’ve seen peoples offers rescinded because of these sorts of issues.

 

Or it's bullshit or they lied on their application.

No US based firm in their right mind would given an offer to some random kid from abroad without a reasonable chance (better than the ~30% odds of winning the H1-B lottery) that they'd end up being eligible to work for them. 

Sounds like complete and utter horse manure to me.

 

Perferendis molestiae eveniet animi ullam quisquam. Voluptatum cumque ut aspernatur sunt magnam. Consectetur ut dolore quidem sit quos nam itaque. Et perferendis non qui et aspernatur dicta. Voluptatem quis nihil voluptas. Provident sint cum rerum animi expedita molestiae ratione.

Repellat illo asperiores asperiores quaerat provident repudiandae. Optio sunt alias iure sunt illo aspernatur quam. Facilis et facere nemo et enim aut.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (49) $260
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”