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Studying in the US: Foreign Graduates and Jobs

December 25th, 2009 at 03:53am Under Education report

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

We answered a question last week about how American college students find jobs after they graduate. Now, we discuss foreign graduates. The process for employing foreign workers in the United States is long. It involves different government agencies. It also involves a hot political issue.

President Obama signing the $787 billion federal stimulus bill into law on February 17

For example, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that President Obama signed into law in February dealt with this issue. It included conditions against foreign workers displacing qualified Americans at companies that receive federal stimulus money.

Job cuts have slowed in some industries. But the economic downturn has cost millions of jobs and recovery will take some time.

Foreign graduates need a job offer to get an H-1B visa. This is a non-immigrant visa for work in the person’s area of specialty. The employer is the one who applies for it. The visa is good for three years and may be extended for another three years.

Cheryl Gilman directs visa services at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She noted that H-1B visas were still available for next year. This tells her that the recession is preventing employers from sponsoring as many foreign nationals as they have in the past.

Sixty-five thousand H-1Bs are awarded each year to graduates with a bachelor’s degree. Bill Wright at the Department of Homeland Security says fewer than forty-five thousand applications for these visas had been received as of this week.

There was more demand for twenty thousand other H-1Bs for those with advanced degrees. In addition, thousands of the visas are awarded to other groups, such as university researchers.

Amy Ramirez is an administrator at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. She says foreign students who work for their school or at an internship probably have the best chance for a job after graduation.

She points out that many foreign graduates ask to stay for what is called optional practical training. This lets them accept temporary employment in their area of study for twelve months after graduation.

Many times, the employer will then apply for an H-1B. But Amy Ramirez and Cheryl Gilman both say foreign students should understand that visa rules change often. That can make it difficult to plan ahead for what to do after graduation.

And that’s the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Earlier reports in our Foreign Student Series are at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.

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Studying in the US: Science Students Are Promised No More Visa Delays

December 7th, 2009 at 12:30pm Under Education report

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

American officials say they are working to reduce visa delays that have affected foreign science students, researchers and others. The delays involve a security clearance process called Visas Mantis. Through this program, different government agencies try to identify visa applicants who could threaten national security.

A guard inspects the documents of visa-seekers outside the United States embassy in Beijing in 2005

The aim is to protect American military technology or technology with possible military uses to other countries or to terrorists. A two thousand five report said that seventy percent of Mantis requests came from China, Russia and Ukraine.

The United States strengthened its visa requirements after the terrorist attacks in two thousand one. But the Visas Mantis program already existed by then. The State Department combined several programs dating to the Cold War into the current program in nineteen ninety-eight.

There have been delays before. Officials said the average processing time in October of two thousand three was seventy-five days. The wait was cut to fifteen days under pressure from Congress. But the wait time has increased again over the past year.

Andy Laine, a State Department spokesman, says the program now has more workers and new procedures. He says the changes went into effect on May twenty-ninth with the goal to process all requests within two weeks.

But he also says many visas are delayed because foreign students do not bring all their paperwork when requesting their travel documents. He advises students to make an appointment at an American embassy or consulate as soon as they are accepted to a school. They should take all their acceptance materials with them.

Higher education groups complained about the delays for foreign science students and scholars. So did professional groups that hold international conferences in the United States.

The delays may be one reason why graduate school applications from international students have slowed for the third year. Early findings show that applications rose just four percent from two thousand eight to two thousand nine.

The Council of Graduate Schools says this followed an increase of six percent last year and nine percent the year before that. International applications increased by twelve percent from two thousand five to two thousand six.

And that’s the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. Earlier reports in our Foreign Student Series are at voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Bob Doughty.

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