visa problem

[Kevin Kim]

Hello!!

I am an udergraduate-math student in Asia and will apply to applied math or statistic phd.
I think I can get admission from top10 at least one. After phd, I plan to get quant job in wall st. However, I heard that it is very hard for foreigner to get job in NYC because of visa problem.

I can't know how much it is hard.
Is it almost impossible to get quant job without visa in NYC?

 

[Hui Huang]

At least you can start with your OPT if the visa policy keeps unchanged in the next 5 years, lol.

 

[eng]

Hello!!

I am an udergraduate-math student in Asia and will apply to applied math or statistic phd.
I think I can get admission from top10 at least one. After phd, I plan to get quant job in wall st. However, I heard that it is very hard for foreigner to get job in NYC because of visa problem.

I can't know how much it is hard.
Is it almost impossible to get quant job without visa in NYC?

I think the hard part is to get the job in the US as a foreigner. Visa difficulty is secondary. Big companies generally have no problems in OPT->H1B changes for their foreign employees. So if you get your phd, and obtain a job on opt, then should not be an issue to convert the status to h1b.

 

[Kevin Kim]

I think the hard part is to get the job in the US as a foreigner. Visa difficulty is secondary. Big companies generally have no problems in OPT->H1B changes for their foreign employees. So if you get your phd, and obtain a job on opt, then should not be an issue to convert the status to h1b.

Thank you

What I am asking you is that is it really hard to get job with OPT.

 

[TraderJoe]

The link below provides accurate, actual data of the Top companies which sponsor H1-B visa and Green Card for their employees.
If you need sponsorship for h1-B visa, you should apply for jobs in these companies, because most probably the other companies are not willing to sponsor the H1-B visa.
This is actual data from USCIS database.
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Top_Visa_Sponsors.aspx?Y=2009

It seems that in the Financial sector the top sponsors of H1-B visas are:
Goldman Sachs - 710 H1-B and 24 Green Cards
Bloomberg - 494 H1-B and 65 Green Cards
Price Waterhouse Coopers - 395 H1-B and 74 Green Cards
Citigroup - 414 H1-B and 18 Green Cards
Credit Suisse - 378 H1-B and 21 Green cards
HSBC - 298 H1-B and 75 Green Cards
Morgan Stanley - 314 H1-B and 23 Green Cards
Merrill Lynch - 253 H1-B and 63 Green Cards
Barclays - 285 H1-B and 4 Green Cards
Bank of America - 239 H1-B and 37 Green Cards
Deutsche Bank - 233 H1-B and 28 Green Cards
Capital One - 176 H1-B and 35 Green Cards

So you should target the jobs at these companies.
From the USCIS data, it seems that the Hedge Funds are not willing to sponsor the H1-B visas and the Green Cards.

 

[Stefan Zota]

The link below provides accurate, actual data of the Top companies which sponsor H1-B visa and Green Card for their employees.
If you need sponsorship for h1-B visa, you should apply for jobs in these companies, because most probably the other companies are not willing to sponsor the H1-B visa.
This is actual data from USCIS database.
http://www.myvisajobs.com/Top_Visa_Sponsors.aspx?Y=2009

It seems that in the Financial sector the top sponsors of H1-B visas are:
Goldman Sachs - 710 H1-B and 24 Green Cards
Bloomberg - 494 H1-B and 65 Green Cards
Price Waterhouse Coopers - 395 H1-B and 74 Green Cards
Citigroup - 414 H1-B and 18 Green Cards
Credit Suisse - 378 H1-B and 21 Green cards
HSBC - 298 H1-B and 75 Green Cards
Morgan Stanley - 314 H1-B and 23 Green Cards
Merrill Lynch - 253 H1-B and 63 Green Cards
Barclays - 285 H1-B and 4 Green Cards
Bank of America - 239 H1-B and 37 Green Cards
Deutsche Bank - 233 H1-B and 28 Green Cards
Capital One - 176 H1-B and 35 Green Cards

So you should target the jobs at these companies.
From the USCIS data, it seems that the Hedge Funds are not willing to sponsor the H1-B visas and the Green Cards.

The numbers of H1B are a good estimate. For green-card, they are undervalued. However it does show the possible issues with green-card application for large banks.
Hedge fund can support easier for green-card but the counts are small here. The main reason is that hedge funds hire largely experienced employees that probably got the green-card already.


Going back to the original question, don't worry about visa at start. H1B will be a formality if you pass the job interviews. This is the one and only thing you have to consider. If you are pursuing certain positions, the competition is fierce.