Any F1 students able to obtain an H1 Visa/Green Card after passing bar? Forum

[eightythree]

I have a friend who has an LLM from a school here in CA and is looking to take the bar next year. If they pass, what are the chances of being able to obtain an H1B or green card so they can practice law here?

[heythatslife]

Your friend will have to use the OPT for the first year after graduation while he/she applies for the H-1B. The OPT is an extension of the student visa that normally gets approved if you can find employment.

H-1B applicants enter a lottery, which is capped at 85,000 H-1Bs every year - 20,000 in the advanced degree pool, and 65,000 in the regular pool. This year, over 230,000 people applied in total. There's no data for the advanced degree pool by itself. Advanced degree holders such as LLMs are entered into the lottery twice, as they get a shot at both the advanced degree pool and the regular pool, so their chances are better than that of college graduates, but you have to understand that the risk of losing the lottery is very real. I know people who had to leave their jobs in the US because they struck out on the lottery.

Many big firms have foreign nationals working for them, and they usually have the resources to handle the H-1B sponsorship process. Green card is a different story, though. Only a few firms are known to sponsor green cards, and they'll do that for you only after deciding that they really need to keep you around in their US offices. Bear in mind, however, most people do not last long enough in big firms to even get to this stage of consideration. Therefore, realistically you should not expect to get a green card working for a law firm.

All of the is contingent on your friend getting a job in the US, of course. From what I know, it's much harder for LLM students to find employment in the US compared to JD students who are foreign nationals, and LLM students do not have access to the usual channels of job search available to JD students. Success in finding US jobs for LLM students seems to depend largely on the desirability of their prior experiences by US firms, and it's very much on a case-by-case basis.

[eightythree]

Wow, what a detailed response, thank you so much. I should have clarified more. They already graduated with the LLM and also finished their OPT, however they have not PASSED the bar yet so they are kind of in a limbo zone. They applied for H1B last year but didn't get picked in the lottery (frustrating). The law firm they did OPT with was the one that sponsored the H1B application. They took the bar last July but were unable to pass.

So basically the plan was to enroll in school to stay in F1 status and study for the bar and attempt to pass it. Since they are unable to work I am supporting them, which is no big deal. I'm just looking towards the future and trying to help figure out the risk/reward of their situation.

[heythatslife]

Hmm I see. So they're picking up another LLM degree or doing an SJD?

I think some firms will also rotate you to an overseas office for a period and then try to bring you back to the States through an L-1 visa, which is not capped, if you fail the H-1B lottery or when your H-1B extensions run out (which is maximum 6 years). This practice varies by firm, though - some will do it, others will place you abroad but make no effort to bring you back once you're staffed overseas, and still others will simply let you go. But from the sounds of it, it looks as though you're supporting this person as an SO (I'm just wildly guessing), and obviously I don't know if relocating abroad for a period is an option on the table or not.