Strategy/Prospects for Illegal Immigrants Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm an II (brought here by my parents around the age of 8 ) who will be entering law school this fall. I have several nice offers from schools which include UVA, Duke, Michigan and others.

I'm anticipate being able to gain lawful and legitimate employment by the time I am finished with law school, but currently, I am not authorized to work in the United States.

What would you advise doing as far as internships are concerned? My ambitions are for biglaw.

Thank you

[ChattTNdt]

.

[MrKappus]

What would you advise doing as far as internships are concerned?

Apply for them.

hth

[Kohinoor]

I'm an II (brought here by my parents around the age of 8 ) who will be entering law school this fall. I have several nice offers from schools which include UVA, Duke, Michigan and others.

I'm anticipate being able to gain lawful and legitimate employment by the time I am finished with law school, but currently, I am not authorized to work in the United States.

What would you advise doing as far as internships are concerned? My ambitions are for biglaw.

Thank you

Any paying job will require you to demonstrate your authorization to work here.

[Anonymous User]

I'm an II (brought here by my parents around the age of 8 ) who will be entering law school this fall. I have several nice offers from schools which include UVA, Duke, Michigan and others.

I'm anticipate being able to gain lawful and legitimate employment by the time I am finished with law school, but currently, I am not authorized to work in the United States.

What would you advise doing as far as internships are concerned? My ambitions are for biglaw.

Thank you

Any paying job will require you to demonstrate your authorization to work here.

Right. So assuming that I cannot do this before graduation from law school, what can I do while in law school as far as internships are concerned to position myself for a good job once I graduate?

[jasonc.]

Only us citizens and permanent residents are allowed to take out loans.... So how are you paying from law schools?

[vanwinkle]

BigLaw hiring is done at the start of 2L year. At some point, if you get an offer, they will do a background check on you during 2L. You must do BigLaw over the summer after 2L to have any realistic shot of doing BigLaw when you graduate, which means you must be able to pass that background check. If you can't secure work authorization by the start of 2L then you're not likely to get BigLaw.

[Anonymous User]

BigLaw hiring is done at the start of 2L year. At some point, if you get an offer, they will do a background check on you during 2L. You must do BigLaw over the summer after 2L to have any realistic shot of doing BigLaw when you graduate, which means you must be able to pass that background check. If you can't secure work authorization by the start of 2L then you're not likely to get BigLaw.

Thank you. There is no way to do an internship after you graduate which could lead to an offer? How soon will they do that check in 2L? First or second semester?

Thanks

[Anonymous User]

BigLaw hiring is done at the start of 2L year. At some point, if you get an offer, they will do a background check on you during 2L. You must do BigLaw over the summer after 2L to have any realistic shot of doing BigLaw when you graduate, which means you must be able to pass that background check. If you can't secure work authorization by the start of 2L then you're not likely to get BigLaw.

Thank you. There is no way to do an internship after you graduate which could lead to an offer? How soon will they do that check in 2L? First or second semester?

Thanks

First semester. Your situation is further complicated by the fact that government jobs require you to be a citizen when you apply so if you're not able to get biglaw for that reason, you're also locked out of gov. Moreover, even jobs that aren't biglaw would require you to fill out a form requiring you to demonstrate your eligibility to work in the US.

[nealric]

Thank you. There is no way to do an internship after you graduate which could lead to an offer? How soon will they do that check in 2L? First or second semester?

They will probably check on your first day of work as a summer after your 2L year. It could cause serious problems if they ask before that point and you lie. Some firms had me fill out employment apps (which asked about work authorization) and some did not.

Sorry about your situation. It's unfortunate that this country can't figure out how to handle immigration policy.

[Renzo]

Only us citizens and permanent residents are allowed to take out loans.... So how are you paying from law schools?

This leads me to say...



FLAAAAAAaaaaaAAAAAME!

[Anonymous User]

Thank you. There is no way to do an internship after you graduate which could lead to an offer? How soon will they do that check in 2L? First or second semester?

They will probably check on your first day of work as a summer after your 2L year. It could cause serious problems if they ask before that point and you lie. Some firms had me fill out employment apps (which asked about work authorization) and some did not.

Sorry about your situation. It's unfortunate that this country can't figure out how to handle immigration policy.

Thank you. So I guess the best case scenario is that I continue to apply and interview for jobs and hope they do not check until the 2L summer? By then I will have everything straight (I hope). If this is the case, what should I do 1L summer? Just take a break? Look for an unpaid internship?

[piccolittle]

Can't believe no one has posted this yet:

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/26 ... r-20101126

OP, do not do go to law school unless you ALREADY can work in the US legally. It's not something that's worth gambling a quarter of a mil on.

[vanwinkle]

Your situation is further complicated by the fact that government jobs require you to be a citizen when you apply so if you're not able to get biglaw for that reason, you're also locked out of gov.

If this is true, and I assume it is, then OP would be completely and totally screwed if he did not have work authorization by the first day of 2L OCI.

[Anonymous User]

Your situation is further complicated by the fact that government jobs require you to be a citizen when you apply so if you're not able to get biglaw for that reason, you're also locked out of gov.

If this is true, and I assume it is, then OP would be completely and totally screwed if he did not have work authorization by the first day of 2L OCI.

Can someone who has been through OCI tell me exactly when they ask for a SSN or anything like that?

Thanks

[romothesavior]

Can't believe no one has posted this yet:

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/26 ... r-20101126

OP, do not do go to law school unless you ALREADY can work in the US legally. It's not something that's worth gambling a quarter of a mil on.

+1. Also, how are you going to pay if you can't take out loans?

[op-ti]

Can't believe no one has posted this yet:

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/26 ... r-20101126

OP, do not do go to law school unless you ALREADY can work in the US legally. It's not something that's worth gambling a quarter of a mil on.

+1. Also, how are you going to pay if you can't take out loans?

And how on earth will you pass the C&F for the bar?

[Anonymous User]

Your situation is further complicated by the fact that government jobs require you to be a citizen when you apply so if you're not able to get biglaw for that reason, you're also locked out of gov.

If this is true, and I assume it is, then OP would be completely and totally screwed if he did not have work authorization by the first day of 2L OCI.

There may be a few exceptions but yes I was crushed when I realized that most competitive civil service positions are not open to permanent residents.

[fatduck]

OP, why don't you ask for a deferral from your school of choice? that would give you a year to get your shit straightened out

[MrPapagiorgio]

Out of curiosity, how do you sign up for LSAC without a SSN? And OP doesn't have any type of visa so that's not it.

Also, even if you did somehow sign up for LSAC without a SSN, law schools ask for it. And like others say, in order to get any financial aid, you need some type of residency that an illegal would not have.

What am I missing here?

[TheStrand]

Your situation is further complicated by the fact that government jobs require you to be a citizen when you apply so if you're not able to get biglaw for that reason, you're also locked out of gov.

If this is true, and I assume it is, then OP would be completely and totally screwed if he did not have work authorization by the first day of 2L OCI.

There may be a few exceptions but yes I was crushed when I realized that most competitive civil service positions are not open to permanent residents.

Additionally, federal background checks are very very rigorous in terms of asking about any lawbreaking, about your potential to be blackmailed, and about not just your citizenship/residency status, but that of your family (which includes extended family overseas even if you do not maintain regular contact) and even those you would consider acquaintances/old friends. A number of the background check questions also concern loyalty to the United States, including a question asking you to forsake citizenship of other countries if you are asked (it seems like you want to be an American though, so this might not be a big deal for you). This is also obviously just anecdotal, but I am aware of multiple instances where people had their start dates deferred for months because of low-level drug charges (caught smoking pot) and something like illegal immigration would in my opinion be cause for even greater delays. So, if a government job was going to be your backup, even if you were able to obtain a position, I would count on the background check taking a long enough time that it might cause financial hardship.


*edit: OP are you a lawful permanent resident? If you are then Biglaw might not be that much of a stretch. Firms don't only hire US citizens. It might be more difficult for you but not impossible if you have a green card.

[rose711]

You need to figure out your plan very carefully because any mistakes you make will not be able to be cured later. You need to talk to some experts in this area before you do anything. If you need to do so, you might try getting in touch with the CUNY immigration project. The lawyers there have been through law school and the whole process so they may be able to advise you. I would talk to them at least - or email them - or something.

http://www.cuny.edu/about/resources/cit ... ntact.html

I can't emphasize this enough - you need to talk to experienced experts.

[romothesavior]

Retake.

[dresden doll]

Apparently half this thread is unaware of the fact that there's something called private loans which require neither citizenship nor permanent residence. How do you figure students from other countless ever manage to study in the US otherwise?

[fatduck]

Apparently half this thread is unaware of the fact that there's something called private loans which require neither citizenship nor permanent residence. How do you figure students from other countless ever manage to study in the US otherwise?

all the illegal immigrants i know have great credit