1.H 1B
The most common work visa for international students is H 1B visa. In order to obtain H 1B, applicants need to have a bachelor's degree or above. If it is not an American degree, it is necessary to evaluate justice. If it is a three-year college degree or below, it needs to be supplemented by working hours in the same field. The average American university's three-year working time is ≈ 1 year. Most international students should meet the academic requirements. If you want to apply for H 1B, you must first find a job, and the employer is willing to help students apply for H1B. This process is relatively simple for us, that is, submitting some materials such as passport degree certificates. But it is still a bit troublesome for employers, especially some startups. It is necessary to submit an application for working conditions (LCA) to the US Department of Labor to prove that hiring a foreigner will not affect the work of American citizens (for example, students will not be hired for unfair competition at too low a salary, and the minimum wage standard for students' workplace and job type can be found at /oewizardstart. aspx). Then submit the student's H 1B application to USCIS.
The application for H 1B can be started six months before the actual entry into force. The application is open in April 1 every year, and then takes effect in 1 October1. The H 1B visa is capped every year. At present, there are 65,000 general places (including 6,800 places reserved for Singapore and Chile) and 20,000 postgraduate places with master's degree or above. But the reality is that the number of applicants every year far exceeds this figure. Generally, within one week of opening the application, the upper limit will be full and USCIS will stop accepting applications. For example, the application for H 1B of 20 15 was capped by USCIS on April 7 and refused to accept new applications. How much is the full amount? 172500 copies! So if you want to apply for H 1B children's shoes, you must pay attention to the communication time with the company. For children's shoes that have just graduated, they generally can't catch up with this time. They have to work with OPT for a while and wait for the next year's application. Well, even if it stops accepting applications after a week, USCIS still receives twice as many applications as H1B. So there is the so-called instant spelling character, H 1B lottery. When drawing lots, USCIS will put all people with master's degree or above in a pool and draw 20 thousand. Then, the unsuccessful applicants were put together with the remaining ordinary applicants for the second round of lottery, and 65,000 were drawn. Students who have been drawn can apply for H 1B visas at the consulate ~ Students who have not been drawn can only wait until next year to try their luck.
The initial validity of H 1B is up to 3 years. After 3 years, you can apply for an extension, which can be extended to 6 years at the longest. It should be noted that if students applied for and obtained H 1B before, they need to apply for a new H 1B when they change jobs, but this does not occupy the annual quota. Moreover, if students work in universities or scientific research institutions, their application for H 1B does not occupy the cap quota (no need to shake the number). However, once students leave school and switch to ordinary H 1B, unfortunately, students still have to take part in the lottery again. . .
2.J 1
In addition to H 1B, there are many students who choose to graduate from Ph.D. to be postdocs and apply for J 1 visas. Class J visa, also called exchange visa, is mainly aimed at short-term exchange visits. The validity period is 18 months. In theory, you need to return to China for 2 years after completion. But in fact, you can apply for exemption after the expiration, and then seek to transfer to H 1B or other channels. Compared with H 1B, J 1 is easier to apply for. In fact, many cattle schools only use Responder J 1 instead of responder h1b. And J 1 pays little (even tax-free) tax. But the disadvantage is that the validity period is short and you can't apply for a green card.
3.O
Maybe many students don't know there is an O visa. O-visa is for foreigners with foreign abilities and their support teams. If students are good enough, they can try to apply for O instead of squeezing tens of thousands of H 1B places every year. I heard that a senior student applied for O directly after OPT, got a visa soon, and then turned green soon. . .
4.L 1，E
In fact, there are other types of work visas in the United States, such as L 1 for employees of multinational companies and E for import and export traders, but international students do not need them.
In short, as a foreigner, it is not easy to work legally in the United States. This is why OPT is so important. During OPT, try to find a job and apply for a visa. "