Corrinne

Hi,
My husband is about to start a PhD (Chemical Eng-Biotechnology) at MIT and he has the choice of a J visa or an F visa. The J means that when he finishes we would have to leave the country for 2 years but I would be able to work. The F visa means he could stay if he were offered a job upon finishing, which we would like to do, but I would not be able to work for the 4 years of the PhD.

I am wondering if anyone knows how difficult it would be for me to get a job offer which changes my status to H1B if we went with the F visa. I am a British citizen and I have a university degree in Development Studies, I am bilingual Spanish-English, and I have 6 years work experience in bilingual customer services and I am presently an Office Manager. Is it very hard to get a potential employer to do the paper work? Or would it be better just to go with the J visa?

I would really appreciate any advice anyone had to offer on this subject.

thanks

LucyMO

if you are planning to immigrate after he gets his degree, go with F visa. Even though you can't work, you might be able to find a job and get a work visa later, and just change your status.

If you go with J-1 and you are subject to HRR (home residency requirement), then besides not being able to apply for a green card, work visa or L visa until you have spent 2 years at home, both of you will NOT be able to change your status to any other immigrant or non-immigrant status in the U.S. (except for A and G status). You will have to leave the country and get a new visa. ANd who knows how difficult that's going to be...

On a personal note, I had J1 in 1994, and now I have to go home for 2 years and be away from my entire family (my parents already immigrated and I am married to a USC) who are in the U.S., before I can even apply for a green card. Waivers are almost impossible to get. 5%success chance..

If you have a choice, go with F visa.

Ingo Pakleppa - see web site for email

Tricky question. You already identified the options and the advantages of
both - basically, you'd need to weigh the two advantages against each
other.

As for getting an H-1B: the quota is exhausted for this year, so you would
not be able to get one until October. My guess is that next year's quota
will be exhausted even earlier; I wouldn't rule out that it will be
exhausted by November.

Unfortunately, being bilingual usually does not count for anything, unless
you have a very strong business reason to need it (for instance, as a
translator, you could make such a case). The rationale is that a foreigner
would have an advantage over an American, while the whole immigration law
is designed to give Americans all the advantages.

That would be mostly a concern for getting a Green Card, though. For H-1B,
basically all you'd need is an employer.

On Sat, 01 May 2004 00:08:58 +0000, Corrinne wrote:


    > Hi,
    > My husband is about to start a PhD (Chemical Eng-Biotechnology) at MIT
    > and he has the choice of a J visa or an F visa. The J means that when
    > he finishes we would have to leave the country for 2 years but I would
    > be able to work. The F visa means he could stay if he were offered a
    > job upon finishing, which we would like to do, but I would not be able
    > to work for the 4 years of the PhD.
    >
    > I am wondering if anyone
    > knows how difficult it would be for me to get a job offer which changes
    > my status to H1B if we went with the F visa. I am a British citizen and
    > I have a university degree in Development Studies, I am bilingual
    > Spanish- English, and I have 6 years work experience in bilingual
    > customer services and I am presently an Office Manager. Is it very
    > hard to get a potential employer to do the paper work? Or would it be
    > better just to go with the J visa?
    >
    > I would really appreciate any advice anyone had to offer on this
    > subject.
    >
    > thanks

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