Hi Everyone, Does anyone out there know anything about Canadians becoming employed in the states without being transferred within their current organization? I’m specifically interested in asset management or private equity on the west coast (San Fra, LA, wherever). I’m fairly qualified. (5 years industry experience, Master of Finance will be done in April, writing L3 in June 2013, FRM complete) If anyone has made that move or knows anything about it, I’d love some insight on the below: - Is there an appetite for US investment managers to hire highly qualified Canadians? - How significant are the barriers in terms of green card/sponsorship? - Is the asset management/banking industry on the west coast strong with a lot of opportunity? If you have any additional insight or pieces of advice on how to best to explore this option I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks
I have the feeling they’d only go through the headache of importing labor if you’re really, really qualified
if you really want to live on the west coast (California) youre best bet it to move there first and then start looking as a local candidate. A work-around for visa issues is that if you enroll at a community college as a student so you can get work authorization. (obviously) you would be interested more in the work authorization than studies so basically you are paying the community college to issue you a student visa, will cost you maybe 5k.
I think… now is not a good time to find a finance job on the west coast.
When I lived in LA I was very surprised by the high number of McGill grads working at Oaktree Capital. Might be worth an email, eh?
Thank you! Very interesting indeed!
Don’t do this. I spent my entire undergrad and grad school in the US on student visas so I know student visa work authorization requirements very well. Not to mention what this guy is suggesting could arguably be fraudulant, even if you got a student visa (and believe me, tuition for international students is pricey, even at a community college), you would only be eligible for 12 months of work authorization and then your employer would need to sponsor an H1B visa.
I would never consider that route. Thanks for the info though. I’m not going to be in a position where I can make any sort of move for about 8 months to a year, just trying to do some research right now. I know it’s a tough task but it can be done if the right connections are made.
How is this “fraudulent”? it’s not. I dont appreciate that accusation. you come to this country as a student and you have the right to work. your jimmies are ruffled because instead of an overpriced graduate program, community college students have the same rights for a lot less. 12 months may be enough time to get your foot in the door and convince your employer for sponsorship. coming to the country legally as a student is an option.
Student visas are for exactly that, being a student, not for working around employment visa rules. An argument could be made that doing this would be an attempt to circumvent work visa rules and get you in hot water down the road. I mean seriously, somebody with a graduate degree coming to the US to go to a community collge? And no, you don’t have a right to work anywhere you want while on a student visa. There are limited instances where your school can authorize employment, but other than that, you have to submit a petition through the government. that could be denied by them. That doesn’t qualify as a right to work. I don’t care that all student visas have the same access to employment. I have an H1B and a path to a green card, I just care when people start giving misguided advice about a topic that I know a lot about.
Anyway that’s it for this tangent since I don’t think we’ll agree on it, but you’re entitled to your views on the topic. The OP said he wouldn’t do anyway, so I’m done with this.
To the OP, getting a company to sponsor an H1B visa is difficult, but not impossible. It was hard for me coming straight of school, but since you have experience it may be easier.
I wouldn’t say the community college thing is “fraudulent”. It’s a loophole for sure, but it’s not fraud unless you lie about your status.
^^ as long as you don’t omit or falsify information its not fraud. i dont know how the approval process works.
Haha there will be no more college! CFA/Masters is where this education nonsense stops for me. Do you know anything about the TN Visa? The jobs listed are somewhat vague and I’m not sure if investment management or analyst would fit in anywhere. Perhaps under “consultant”? Otherwise the requirements seem somewhat easy to meet. What it seems it’ll come down to is convincing an employer that I’m worth the additional hassle/time delay of dealing with sponsorship. I have begun the process of networking south of the border and I firmly believe persistence will pay off, just a question of how long it could possibly take.
Not to be the lone skeptic on this thread, but considering the unemployment situation in this country especially among West Coast finance professionals, I think you would be hard-pressed to convince an employer to sponsor you for a visa when there is so much underutilized “talent” in the U.S…
Of course, I wish you all the best, but I do know a friend that went to business school with me who’s Canadian, and she’s definitely been having trouble finding private equity work in the U.S. (her work experience is a bit on the light side, but she has worked in PE and investment banking for a couple years before school)
Valid statement.
+1 on what Numi said. Unless you have some kind of rare/extraordinary talent, you will have a very very difficult time finding a U.S. financial services employer that will sponsor you for an H-1B visa in 2012. Forget about going the TN visa route; that is for scientists and the like, and is not an option for financial analysts. But give it a try and report back.
I’d say that numi’s basically correct here, but there is something to be said for the ability to make personal connections with people.
People will be more interested in jumping through visa loopholes if they meet you and like you and decide you’ll fit in well with their office and work culture. If people are just lining up one resume with another from online sources, then the domestic guys will win out pretty much by default, but if you are in front of them, competent, and charming, there’s a real chance that they may be willing to sponsor you. So you’ll have to make special efforts to get in front of people, and not just apply through ads or online.