Foreign MBAs: Boost U.S. Job Odds

Chilean Stanford Graduate School of Business 2015 MBA Alvaro Alliende at the GSB – Ethan Baron photo

You still need to apply for Optional Practical Training (OPT)! If you get lucky right away, imagine this, you start your job in June or July, for example, on OPT, knowing that you already have your H-1B. If you don’t get lucky this first go-around, your employer can try again the following year. So in this year, you have two shots at competing for an H-1B visa. This is one possible way for international students to increase their odds. But remember, for this strategy to possibly work, international students need to:

• Receive a job offer before April 1

 • Complete their degree requirements – essentially graduate – before April 1

• Confirm with the attorney filing your H-1B petition that it is possible to execute on this strategy. Citizenship and Immigration may be willing to accept an international student application under these circumstances. This is a really nice situation to be in, but again check with your attorney.

 Laila, an MBA international student from Bangladesh, was able to utilize this strategy and expedite the filing of her H-1B. She received a job offer from Citigroup in the fall of her second year as an MBA and she completed her MBA requirements and graduated early, before the April 1 deadline. Citigroup correctly took advantage of this situation and was able to file and secure Laila’s H-1B visa before she started working for them.

 However, situations such as Laila’s are much more the exception than the rule. When you look at the cadence of placement of international MBA students in the U.S., the reality is that international students tend to get placed late into their second year, sometimes over the summer, once they have graduated. If that is the case, with 12 months of OPT available for them, they will only have one chance at the H-1B visa lottery. 

Do visa issues deter people from applying for a U.S. MBA?

Interesting question. I think about this. The U.S. invented the MBA degree. This is our recipe and we have become over the years quite good at managing and designing MBA programs. We are the best at it. The rest of the world has copied our model. We have, therefore, the attention of top MBA applicants from around the world. We have the best schools and the best system, but for how much longer? Unlike many years ago, we are not the only game in town anymore when it comes to quality business education.

Because of tools such as LinkedIn and the work that I do with international job seekers, many prospective international MBAs find me on LinkedIn and ask me, “How’s the job market in the U.S. for international students? Should I risk getting an MBA in America knowing I want to stay and work there – I know the H-1B reality is tough – or should I perhaps consider getting an MBA in Canada, for example, which is a country that seems to have an easier and more welcoming path to citizenship after graduation? Whether it is Canada or another country, my point is that our international students are taking into account the likelihood of finding employment in their host country when choosing what country they want to get an MBA in. That’s happening. I can assure you of this. We should be worried about this. 

Does a foreign MBA student need two detailed plans – one for if they get a visa, one for if they don’t?

It really depends on the profile of each international MBA job seeker. This should not be a one-size-fits-all type of recommendation. From experience I can tell you that many international MBAs that I have worked with in the past displayed just the right characteristics to command the attention of top U.S employers that are open to sponsorship. Should an MBA with this kind of profile manage a Plan B-type of job search, such as searching for a job at home, concurrently, in addition to managing a job search for a U.S position? No, that would be a mistake. I am currently working with international MBAs whom I am quite certain will receive multiple offers from top U.S employers. I don’t want these students managing multiple job searches.