Hi: does anyone know if I want to find an investment banking/equity research type of job in US, are most financial companies willing to sponsor me with TN visa or H1B visa? Thanks.
Tn would be a tough sell since its only for a year. H1B is hard to get.
It depends… I know that big IBs do H-1s. I knew a guy at Citigroup. They applied for his H-1. Poor chap, got rejected.
The H-1B is extremely difficult to get. I thought NAFTA afforded us some labour mobility.
Nope…only good labor mobility a la NAFTA was Celine Dion. BONUS!!!
yes nafta affords professionals work mobility. look into a TN visa. must be renewed yearly, and you must have an offer of employment. you can go down for job interviews w/o needing a visa.
it’s very hard to get as your employer essentially has to prove that you have a unique set of skills that they are unable to source in the US. I went through this in a previous job and got rejected because the job was too generic/low level for them to convince anyone otherwise, so essentially this is only really doable if you’re high up enough for them to make the case.
that sucks balls. i’ve had my eyes set on working in the states for a loooong time. what are the qualifications for H1B? How do they judge the applicant?
As far as I know, there are no min qualifications for an H1B. (You need to have a college degree or an equivalent work experience). Its all about market dynamics. I am not sure at what point in your career you are, but an H1B costs roughly around $10-12K to the company. If you are looking for an entry level position that pays 40K, it’s a tough ask for the company to justify an additional 25% in recruiting expenses. It becomes relatively easier if you are in the 65K+ bracket.
Also, there are very stringent rules in place to protect American workers. The company has to prove that the skill set that they are looking for are hard to get amongst the Americans. As always, the salary level is a good proxy for the skill set requirements for the job. If the skill set is tougher to obtain, it generally costs more (40-50K would not do it). Before they can hire you, they have to actively look for an American citizen who has a similar skill set. Now let’s say, you are determined to work in the US, are highly skilled and are willing to take a pay cut in order to make it financially viable for the company to hire you and spend those extra dollars on the H1B. This would be ok, except that there are min salary requirements for each Job code set forth by the US government. The company cannot hire you for less than that. All these rules have been set to make sure that US gets the best bang for its buck. As with any government program, there are people who are willing to cut corners and find loop holes within the system. If you look hard enough, you’ll find some smaller outfit, which will get around these rules and would apply for H1B for you. But if you go that route you will be doing a major disservice to your career and there is also a small matter of ethics. Now lets say, you qualify for an H1B, find an investment bank that loves you and is willing to shower you with the riches, and the role is just what you dreamed of all your life, the next step to clear is the visa lottery. Your citizenship has no bearing on the H1b. There can only be a certain number of H1B per year (forgot the exact number, something like 60K). So you will be competing for the quota with thousands of my country men and with our neighbors to the east and of course with people from that other NAFTA country. Generally the H1B applications are oversubscribed 3-4 times and then a random draw decides who gets to come in. Don’t mean to discourage you, just stating the facts. The best course of action for you is to get your foot in via a TN visa, get some experience for a year and go from there.
Or just marry an American. Find a girl in Buffalo. That shouldn’t be too difficult.
Buffalo girls… hehe (go round the outside)
you can apply for TN which is relatively easy to get; the only trouble is that you have to renew your TN visa once a year. However, I heard that they may extend TN visa up to 3 years in the near future.
another thing to mention about a TN visa. you are only allowed in the country so long as you have a job. the second you quit or lose your job, your expected to head back to canada and start applying for new jobs, starting the process over again. still, by far the easiest way into the states…
the TN visa only for canadian citizens ?
^ | any citizen of a NAFTA country with a university degree and a job offer in the field of their degree.
I’m not altogether certain how useful this information will be to the posters ten years after the fact, but . . . um . . . thanks.
America does not need more Canadians