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As I'm planning to attend US law school next year, I was wondering how the process works for international students to participate in OCI, as well as accepting & working in positions during the summers?

Thanks!

acknbeen wrote:As I'm planning to attend US law school next year, I was wondering how the process works for international students to participate in OCI, as well as accepting & working in positions during the summers?

Thanks!

It basically works the same. Most big firms don't care if you're international or not. The only factors are if you school offers CPT or if you have to use OPT (your F1 visa will come with one year of work time(OPT), if you have to use this for the summers that is subtracted away so by graduation you would only have either 6 months if you work for money for both summers or 9 if you just work the second one). It is a lot easier to use CPT as that leaves you with the full year and effectively two shots at getting an H1B, so check if your school offers it. Then its a matter of getting the H1B. The cap hasn't been reached on the first day since fiscal year 09 I believe, so there hasn't been much trouble with that but in theory that could change.

Outside of firms though it is a lot trickier.

Agreed, it's pretty easy to get firms to sponsor H1Bs. The biggest thing during your 1L summer (or 2L, if that is what you're interested in) is that you can't work in federal government positions, which rules out a lot of interested government options.

Anonymous User wrote:Agreed, it's pretty easy to get firms to sponsor H1Bs. The biggest thing during your 1L summer (or 2L, if that is what you're interested in) is that you can't work in federal government positions, which rules out a lot of interested government options.

Also if it would be something you would be interested in, you should know this restriction also rules out federal clerkships post grad.

Be careful, there is a federal cap on how many foreign nationals can be hired, and there must be a showing that an American could not fulfill that position. If you bring special skills, knowledge of local market, mandarin etc... maybe, but otherwise, I think you might have some trouble.

Anonymous User wrote:Be careful, there is a federal cap on how many foreign nationals can be hired, and there must be a showing that an American could not fulfill that position. If you bring special skills, knowledge of local market, mandarin etc... maybe, but otherwise, I think you might have some trouble.

Incorrect statement of standards. You stated the standard for permanent residence, rather than that for H1B.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Be careful, there is a federal cap on how many foreign nationals can be hired, and there must be a showing that an American could not fulfill that position. If you bring special skills, knowledge of local market, mandarin etc... maybe, but otherwise, I think you might have some trouble.

Incorrect statement of standards. You stated the standard for permanent residence, rather than that for H1B.

There is no cap for permanent residents as far as I can tell, nor is there a requirement for high education and "specialty occupation." I am a permanent resident. If you think that if both John Smith and Vlad Vladivostok has a 3.3 at a T-14, and Vlad needs to be sponsored, then I guarantee you that John Smith will get the jerb. If Vlad is applying to a firm with clients in Vladivostok, then maybe a different question, but see "the American could not fill the position part." I am not sure why people seem so certain about this, I have no experience with law firm hiring of foreigners, but I can tell you that many of my friends with other advanced degrees could not stay here because they were not being sponsored. Why would it be different for lawyers? Is there a lawyer shortage out there that I am not aware of?

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Be careful, there is a federal cap on how many foreign nationals can be hired, and there must be a showing that an American could not fulfill that position. If you bring special skills, knowledge of local market, mandarin etc... maybe, but otherwise, I think you might have some trouble.

Incorrect statement of standards. You stated the standard for permanent residence, rather than that for H1B.

There is no cap for permanent residents as far as I can tell, nor is there a requirement for high education and "specialty occupation." I am a permanent resident. If you think that if both John Smith and Vlad Vladivostok has a 3.3 at a T-14, and Vlad needs to be sponsored, then I guarantee you that John Smith will get the jerb. If Vlad is applying to a firm with clients in Vladivostok, then maybe a different question, but see "the American could not fill the position part." I am not sure why people seem so certain about this, I have no experience with law firm hiring of foreigners, but I can tell you that many of my friends with other advanced degrees could not stay here because they were not being sponsored. Why would it be different for lawyers? Is there a lawyer shortage out there that I am not aware of?

Well that's exactly it, you need to be sponsored to stay. But provided you are working in a legal job and have a US JD and your employer is sponsoring you, there is no issue in terms of your qualification or special knowledge that a US person doesn't have in order to get an H1B. What you mention only comes into play when you are looking at something more permanent than an H1B.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Be careful, there is a federal cap on how many foreign nationals can be hired, and there must be a showing that an American could not fulfill that position. If you bring special skills, knowledge of local market, mandarin etc... maybe, but otherwise, I think you might have some trouble.

Incorrect statement of standards. You stated the standard for permanent residence, rather than that for H1B.

There is no cap for permanent residents as far as I can tell, nor is there a requirement for high education and "specialty occupation." I am a permanent resident. If you think that if both John Smith and Vlad Vladivostok has a 3.3 at a T-14, and Vlad needs to be sponsored, then I guarantee you that John Smith will get the jerb. If Vlad is applying to a firm with clients in Vladivostok, then maybe a different question, but see "the American could not fill the position part." I am not sure why people seem so certain about this, I have no experience with law firm hiring of foreigners, but I can tell you that many of my friends with other advanced degrees could not stay here because they were not being sponsored. Why would it be different for lawyers? Is there a lawyer shortage out there that I am not aware of?

What you are unaware of is the difference between sponsoring for an H1B and sponsoring for a GC. A firm will typically only do the GC sponsoring if they've already sponsored you for an H1B and now plans on making you a partner. For the h1b, though, the standard is much lower.