Career as a foreigner

[sculd]

Hello.

Quantnet is the very source of many useful informations for me, so I want to express my gratitude for you all before I ask a question. (I am not sure if this is the right place to post quastion thread.)

I am a south Korean and I don't have American citizenship nor a green card.
My question is, how can I continue my career as a quant in U.S after getting my FEMS degree(by graduating from NYU, CMU, Columbia, Baruch, etc...), as a foreigner?

And is there any disadvantage or handicap for being an asian in the finance industry?

Thank you.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Your first and foremost goal would be to graduate and get a job. None of this is trivial and automatic. Being in a good program helps big time.
Getting a job means the employer will file for your H1B visa and sometime green card at the same time. Some will sponsor gc after sometime. 5 years after your gc, you can file for us citizenship and realize your american dream or what have you.
A large percentage of mfe grads is foreigners and most have become gc holders or citizens.
So before you get there, you need to identify a good program and get admitted to it. This in itself is a job requires attention at this point.

 

[DominiConnor]

Assuming you're under 28, the new British regulations would give you the right to work in London once you get your MFE under the new points system.

But if you want to work in a smaller financial centre like NY, then you can push at the larger firms. They of course prefer people who don't have visa issues, because there is simply no way of telling whether you will get a work permit.

 

[sculd]

Assuming you're under 28, the new British regulations would give you the right to work in London once you get your MFE under the new points system.

I am 25. Does it mean that I can only work in England for 3 years before I hit 28?

 

[DominiConnor]

I am 25. Does it mean that I can only work in England for 3 years before I hit 28?
My mistake for not saying it correctly.
The British system is points based, and once you are in, you should retain the right to work,
and after some years (5 ?) get an option on a passport allowing you to work in most of Europe.

35 for the Masters
20 points for being under 28 (10 for 28/29, 5 for <31)
10 For speaking English (doing the Baruch masters proves this)
10 for having £2,800 in the bank (about $6K)

The 75 points will get you in and there's also points based upon earning money.

If you've been educated in a non-English speaking country you have to pass an exam.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Assuming I have 75 points, how do I proceed ?
1) Do I have to secure a job offer before I apply ? I assume the sponsoring firm will take care of all the paperwork ?
2) Is this 75 points system only for work or immigration purpose ?
3) In your experience, how long the process takes till I get my work permit ?

 

[DominiConnor]

I'm assuming that you'd be "Tier 1 (General) highly skilled worker" ?
Isn't it just so nice to have a major government officially call you that ?

Being Britain it is the Home Office that deals with foreigners who want to be in Britain, not the Foreign Office which deal with Foreigners who don't want to be in Britain


http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/workingintheuk/pointsbasedsystem/applying/

1) You do not need a job offer, though of course you ought to be pushing that at the same time.
2) It's immigration, but no one is going to hold a gun to your head and make you stay.

3) The system is fair, but not efficient. Allegedly it is 6 weeks, allow 3 months.


I have to caveat that the system is new, and a major upgrade, the administration of British government is run by evangelicals aided and abetted by EDS and Accenture. Almost anything could happen.

 

[dstefan]

But if you want to work in a smaller financial centre like NY, then you can push at the larger firms. They of course prefer people who don't have visa issues, because there is simply no way of telling whether you will get a work permit.

While I do not have numbers, I am somewhat doubtful than NY is a smaller financial center than London. Smaller ``centre", might be though

These days NY employers sponsor (at least good) international graduates without any fuss, and they all get H1 visas without problems. At least as far as I know.

 

[israelrt]

While I do not have numbers, I am somewhat doubtful than NY is a smaller financial center than London.

Depends on the metric you use.
By options and derivatives, NY is Number 1 and London is Number 2
By shares volume and IPOs, London is Number 1 and NY is number 2.
A lot of the Russian, Chinese, European and Indian money is now pouring into London.

 

[markchan]

If I finished the MSc program at age of 29, does that mean the chance to get a working visa in England is relatively low?
BTW, I just want to work in London for several years and then go back.

I am 25. Does it mean that I can only work in England for 3 years before I hit 28?
My mistake for not saying it correctly.
The British system is points based, and once you are in, you should retain the right to work,
and after some years (5 ?) get an option on a passport allowing you to work in most of Europe.

35 for the Masters
20 points for being under 28 (10 for 28/29, 5 for <31)
10 For speaking English (doing the Baruch masters proves this)
10 for having £2,800 in the bank (about $6K)

The 75 points will get you in and there's also points based upon earning money.

If you've been educated in a non-English speaking country you have to pass an exam.

 

[atito]

I am 25. Does it mean that I can only work in England for 3 years before I hit 28?
My mistake for not saying it correctly.
The British system is points based, and once you are in, you should retain the right to work,
and after some years (5 ?) get an option on a passport allowing you to work in most of Europe.

35 for the Masters
20 points for being under 28 (10 for 28/29, 5 for <31)
10 For speaking English (doing the Baruch masters proves this)
10 for having £2,800 in the bank (about $6K)

The 75 points will get you in and there's also points based upon earning money.

If you've been educated in a non-English speaking country you have to pass an exam.

Hello!
Sorry but you mis understand the point based system. to be eligible you should have:
- 75 points ( Age (20 points for < 28), Education (master 35 points) , UK exprience (5points), ..)
& english + maintenance funds ( 2800 pounds)
so in the example you gave, you only have 55 in the first stage and the peron is therefore not eligible.

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Some information someone went through this gave me:

The easiest way to get a work permit is through the highly skilled migrant programme (HSMP). Most MBA's get an automatic qualification through this programme, otherwise there is a points system under which you can qualify. The first step is applying for the HSMP permit which I think is about $400 and then once you have received the permit you will need to apply for an Entry Visa (which will run you about another $400). If you already have a job lined up your company should be able to sponsor you through this process.

 

[DominiConnor]

Atito, the system is new so it is entirely possible that I'm wrong, so if you could point out what exactly I screwed up on, I'd be grateful.

I based my calcs on the very latest stuff from the Home Office, and have re-checked it since.
You get points for
being young
having $5000
a masters degree of pretty much any kind, not just finance
speaking English as least as well as George W. Bush

Markchan's position seems to depend upon how much money he has earned, since there are points for this. I'd give him a 75% chance, but that depends upon where he earned the money.

As Andy says "top 50 college" MBAs get in nearly automatically.

Sadly, the system is controlled by arts graduates who currently refuse to admit that a MFE or MSc is more useful than masters in languages, poetry, history et al.

There is also going to a new "sponsoring" system as well, largely designed to be as unlike the US system as one may possibly devise.

As for London vs NY...
You can make the case that NY isn't that far behind by using geography.
Europe does not have a single monolithic finance centre, it has 3. The City of London, Canary Wharf in East London, and Mayfair in West London. If you exclude the Mayfair hedge fund locus, then indeed NY is breathing down the neck London centres. But yes, lots of Chinese and Russian money is flowing around London.

 

[Yuriy]

Depends on the metric you use.
By options and derivatives, NY is Number 1 and London is Number 2
By shares volume and IPOs, London is Number 1 and NY is number 2.
A lot of the Russian, Chinese, European and Indian money is now pouring into London.

Some Russians joke that Chelsea is a Russian football team and should play in Russian Premier League

 

[atito]

speaking English as least as well as George W. Bush

As I said before, you don't get points from "English + maintenance funds". you must satisfy these two conditions before computing the points and thus you don't get 20 points for these conditions:

This is not true: " 10 For speaking English (doing the Baruch masters proves this)
10 for having £2,800 in the bank (about $6K)"

there is a point calculator on the net and you can check this (I have already done it)

Thanks