Landing an Investment Banking job without work authorization?
Hello,
I was just wondering whether bulge brackets in the US hire international candidates with no authorization (work visa) to work in the US. How is that going to affect my job application? I graduated from a target school, but have held no investmentment banking job in the States. Is there any way that I can improve my chance to get into IB given my current visa status?
- You can use OPT after you graduate and ask your employer to file for the H1b.
- You may be eligible to participate in the DV lottery from abroad (if you are from a country where there was no huge amount of immigration from in the past years)
- You can leave the country and work for the employer abroad and hopefully come back on the L visa or H1b
- You may be able to marry a US citizen (only ideal if you are dating someone already, marrying someone for immigration benefits is a federal crime)
- You may be eligible for express entry / SFW in Canada, if staying on the continent is enough for now
All of the above is assuming you studied in the US and have everything in order, are not under any deportation order or removal processing, or similar.
Sponsorship opportunities are increasingly rare in the current economic climate.
If you have graduated already and don't have a sponsor for OPT, you would have to leave the country within the time frame stated in your F1/SEVIS. Under no circumstances should someone overstay their visa as most employers are obliged to use E-Verify. An overstay results in serious consequences and will not help you reach your goals.
Best of luck.
Dear @cyberpunk,
Thank you for your response. I really appreciate it.
It has been almost two years since I graduated. At the time, I didn't use my OPT because I had to come back to my home country for personal matters. Since my graduation, I have been working at one of the Big-4 in my home country, but I really would like to go back to the states. I have been very much drawn into Investment Banking, and have been applying to various IB analyst position in the US. Considering that I don't have an eligible work authorization and the fact I don't want to marry someone for immigration benefits, for many obvious reasons, I was just trying to determine whether my attempt to land an IB analyst job in the states without a work visa is a lost cause.
- ask your employer to move you on L
- if from a target in the US, apply for jobs that do require sponsorship and where this is provided (very rare and almost impossible to get)
- DV lottery
If the only goal is to live in the US, there are also other visa like O, E1, E2, EB5, etc. depending on your circumstance. Otherwise first degree relatives can also sponsor you.
The most reliable way to get into the US is to have an arranged, bona-fide marriage or to get one of the investment visa. In the case of family preference you'd be in a high(er) priority group and, depending on covid restrictions locally, would also be quicker than the other ways.
Investor visa are the other group of reliable visa if you have the funds, know what you are doing, and have good lawyers and business strategy support. The problem here is that investment visa are not in the same priority groups as family based or employment based ones. EB5 requires 900K in distressed areas, 1.8M in stable economic areas. But they do come with a green card.
Best of luck to you.
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