International students, are banks joining e-Verify?

Hi, I am an international engineering student interested in entering finance. I wonder if IBs will be joining the e-Verify program so that their engineering hires can qualify for the 29 month OPT. Would appreciate first-hand knowledge as well as rumors on the street, but please qualify your answer as one or the other. Thank you!

 

I too have read the new CIS policies and have my own interpretations of them. I am much more interested in finding out about what banks will do in regards to the policies, rather than people's speculation. IMO, as long as your school issues an I20 for OPT extension and your employer is enrolled in e-Verify, you should be eligible for OPT extension. Note that the same wording - working in a field directly related to one's studies - appears in H1b rules as well, but that does not stop banks from sponsoring science majors for H1b.

Having said that, I know from talking to a friend that at least one finance employer (boutique) won't be enrolling in e-Verify. What is the situation for bigger banks? Thanks.

 

A bulge bracket told me that they will be joining the e-verify but only people working in IT and Actuarial science will be eligible for hire under the 29 month OPT program. They said for banking, it's not possible to get through this barrier but for perhaps quant based sales and trading, it's possible but they won't do it for undergrad students, only masters students because it's simply not worth the effort of having the lawyer come up with enough documentation at that level to prove that your work is related to your major.

 
Best Response

The H1B does indeed state that you need to be in a field which directly relates to your major but earlier on this didn't matter much to Immigration officers as the H1 cap was close to 190000 or so. Now, it matters a lot more, since the cap is only 65000. In fact because of this, certain banks to my knowledge have stopped recruiting and sponsoring international students, and i know of two such banks; JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers. Both banks didn't take international students for SA positions to my knowledge. CS, GS and ML still sponsor, but the likelihood of getting a Visa is pretty narrow anyways.

 
indian-banker:
In fact because of this, certain banks to my knowledge have stopped recruiting and sponsoring international students, and i know of two such banks; JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers. Both banks didn't take international students for SA positions to my knowledge. CS, GS and ML still sponsor, but the likelihood of getting a Visa is pretty narrow anyways.

In some ways America really is downright hostile to foreigners! And this goes some way toward explaining why London has been outflanking New York in various spheres (IPOs, etc). Get your act together America!

 

Thank you indian-banker for the reply. Seems I'd be better off getting a job at Microsoft or something.

To be fair to good ol' US, I think a big reason why we have this situation right now is b/c congress and white house are controlled by different parties. All 3 candidates support H1B increase, so if the winning party also wins congress we may have an h1b increase by next year. Sounds likely?

 

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