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You would be correct, many BB's do sponsor but keep in mind it is not as "readily" as you would assume. US employment law states that to sponsor HR must prove that there is no better qualified candidate in the pool. If you are indeed a top candidate, then no problem, they'll do it. But, it is rather difficult to be better than all US citizens/greencard holders in a GS application pool. Many international students that I've seen have gone to Tier 2 banks like CS, Barclays, etc...because they are able to stand out more. The rationale for why BB's are ok with the risk of sponsoring is they have foreign offices they can send you off to. So say you don't win the H1B lottery, you can work for their HK or London office for a year and potentially come back. This way, the firm hasn't completely wasted the 3 months of training and 1 year of analyst prep they've invested in you.
EBs are a bit different. These firms don't hire as many people as BB's to begin with, so it's even harder to be comparatively better than your US national peers. Secondly, many of these banks do not have foreign offices they can send you off to if the shit hits the fan and Joe decides you have to go back to China, India, UK or wherever. So if you're not a stem major and don't have an H1B extension, xyz bank would have to not only fill a opening 1 year in, they also wasted a ton of resources training someone who isn't even allowed back in the country anymore. It sounds shitty, I can only imagine the unfairness international students must feel when they put their best effort in and it all is moot simply due to a random drawing of numbers from a hat.
My best advice is to create a full list of firms which sponsor. Then list those firms in terms of what is realistic and what is a reach. You will have much better luck working for a place like BNP or Soc Gen than going balls to the wall on GS, MS, JPM and getting turned away. It's not impossible, it's just extremely difficult. For your specific situation of having a UK citizenship, you at least have the optionality of a backup plan of working without a employment visa in London if you aren't selected in the lottery.
I would agree with everything but I think that you're a bit pessimist on EB. Even very small groups like rx nowadays sponsor (not a lot but I know that PJT/HL/EVR do) - no need to say that getting an offer there as an international is basically impossible, good luck being the best candidate in that pool when they're taking 10 people but you can in theory
At my school, we have sent one International to each of these groups in recent years so double
Sponsorship is a pain in the butthole man. I'm going through the grind right now. It is surprising that some BB's like JPM/Barclays and potentially UBS don't sponsor. Very few MM's sponsor. Most EB's do sponsor but it is extremely hard to get into, literally like 5 thousand ppl gunning for 10 spots. It is good that you already go to a target. Coming from a non target, like myself, really makes it a lot worse. Just work hard and hope for the best. I think the other guy is right. Mainly focus on soc, bnp, nomura those type of banks. And have a right mindset. Don't feel discouraged. You can still do internship with CPT at smaller firms. I'm sure they are a lot of firms in NYC that are open to it. Also get a STEM major if you can. It can let you work in the US for at least 3yrs without being selected in the lottery. 3yrs is enough to cover the Analyst program and gives you 6 tries to be selected. The chance of getting at least one lottery is close to 80% ( 1-(1-0.23)^6).
What’s the chance per lottery? I thought it was closer to 30%?
That’s for masters. I think for undergrad it is only around 23%. You could look it up the number on USCIS report. It floats around every year tho.
That’s good to know. Yeah, based on my current intended major I should be eligible for STEM OPT. Thanks for the comment!
Similar position. I gave up and moved to England after school. I had US offers, but preferred the UK option I had despite the lower comp.
Any insights on recruiting for the UK? Thanks for the perspective, I think i’d happily settle for the same too.
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