Seniors struggle to get visas

International students who wish to work in the United States after graduation often run into bureaucratic red tape — both from the University and from the federal government — due to the academic calendar's incompatibility with visa-application schedules.

Foreign college graduates are not allowed to be employed in the United States unless they have a valid H-1B visa, which is issued to professionals who wish to work in the country for an extended period of time. To be eligible for the visa, graduating seniors must provide their future employers with a letter from the University in April saying that they have fulfilled their graduation requirements.

Since Princeton does not consider its students to have fulfilled their graduation requirements until May, however, international seniors must miss the letter's deadline.

"Princeton is unable to provide such a letter as course completion is contingent upon the submittal of final examination grades and projects to the Registrar's Office [in May]," Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Students Rachel Baldwin said in an email last week to international students in the Class of 2007.

The federal government places a quota on the number of H-1B visas it gives out each year — this year, the number is 65,000 — but the incompatibility of the University's calendar with the federal timetable results in graduating seniors not gaining spots in the current year's quota. Often, they must wait until a year after graduation to apply for a work visa.

International students said it is frustrating for them to be left in a holding pattern. "There is going be a six-month gap when I can't work in the U.S. before I can get my H-1B visa," Venezuelan citizen Tomas Blanco '07 said.

"Princeton doesn't give any certificates or special letters [before May]," Blanco explained, "because they fear if you fail senior year, you won't return to finish your coursework because you have that letter."

Without an H-1B visa, international students hoping to stay in the United States cannot work indefinitely under the provisions of the student F-1 visas they obtain after admission to college. The F-1 visa includes Optional Practice Training (OPT), which is defined by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service as "temporary employment for practical training directly related to the student's major area of study."

Students with an F-1 visa are thus granted 12 months in the workplace, which many international students use for summer internships. Any time remaining from the 12-month period can be used after graduation.

Baldwin said that since few students use their entire OPT allowance before graduation, she did "not know of any cases where students have turned down jobs or been subject to long delays before beginning employment ... though some graduates are now working for their companies overseas temporarily."

This is the case for Blanco, whom JPMorgan will send abroad for the six months between the end of his OPT period and the beginning of his H-1B.

"In my case, it works out perfectly," Blanco said, "because in my program there is an international rotation. JPMorgan will definitely sponsor me for the H-1B."

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Some students, like Julia Neubauer '07, don't have to worry about the H-1B quota filling up. Neubauer, who has interned at the Princeton University Investment Company (PRINCO) for the past two years, will continue as a full-time employee upon graduation.

"I can still get a visa because I will work for the University and don't fall within the quota," Neubauer said.

For students not exempt from the quota, the University does its best to ease the process, though "if there were options to make adjustments to the University's policies," and provide certification of completion of coursework earlier, "we would do so," Baldwin said in an email to The Daily Princetonian. She added that "it is not in our best interest to make exceptions as our policies must be consistent for all students."

Baldwin's office brings immigration lawyers to campus to educate international students about their post-graduation options, and hosts various information sessions to help students apply for OPT.

"In my opinion, it is not fair that the workforce in the U.S. may be subject to losing valuable students/future employees from institutions like Princeton, Harvard and Stanford every year because the government will not increase the H-1B visa cap or regulate the application process to better accommodate new graduates," Baldwin said.