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Hey everyone, I got a potentially dumb question. I'm an international (Canadian) and I was just wondering if I can work for the government for example SEC or DOJ (I understand these jobs will be extremely competitive), even though I'm not an American citizen? If it matters, I won't require sponsorship (H1b) since I'm under NAFTA

https://www.sec.gov/ohr/student-honors-page.html

Program requirements
Students must be U.S. Citizens.

yeah, DOJ requires citizenship. I think most if not all federal positions will.

I figured as much. Thanks for the help!

MangoPapi wrote:I figured as much. Thanks for the help!

No restriction on state government work, though, if you're any interested in that.

throwaway_ wrote:

MangoPapi wrote:I figured as much. Thanks for the help!

No restriction on state government work, though, if you're any interested in that.

Don't you have to have a green card though? I don't know the answer to that question.

Npret wrote:

throwaway_ wrote:

MangoPapi wrote:I figured as much. Thanks for the help!

No restriction on state government work, though, if you're any interested in that.

Don't you have to have a green card though? I don't know the answer to that question.

Assuming he's just thinking about summer work then CPT/OPT is fine. Long-term sponsorship is obviously an issue, though.

throwaway_ wrote:

Npret wrote:

throwaway_ wrote:

MangoPapi wrote:I figured as much. Thanks for the help!

No restriction on state government work, though, if you're any interested in that.

Don't you have to have a green card though? I don't know the answer to that question.

Assuming he's just thinking about summer work then CPT/OPT is fine. Long-term sponsorship is obviously an issue, though.

I was asking for long-term, not for the summer. It seems like for long-term I need to be a citizen to work for any level of government, which makes sense. It's safe to assume that governments don't sponsor H1B's right?

Yes, but.

Say you meet a nice American girl/guy and get a green card. You'll still be barred from working for the SEC. But no problem then working for the City Attorney of San Francisco, etc.

throwaway_ wrote:Yes, but.

Say you meet a nice American girl/guy and get a green card. You'll still be barred from working for the SEC. But no problem then working for the City Attorney of San Francisco, etc.

And you'd be able to clerk at the federal level and actually be paid too.

throwaway_ wrote:Yes, but.

Say you meet a nice American girl/guy and get a green card. You'll still be barred from working for the SEC. But no problem then working for the City Attorney of San Francisco, etc.

Thank you for clarifying the fact that I'd still not be able to work for the SEC despite getting a green card. I incorrectly assumed that upon getting a green card, I'd be eligible to work for the SEC or DOJ but it seems that I'd have to be born in the States for that to occur

MangoPapi wrote:

throwaway_ wrote:Yes, but.

Say you meet a nice American girl/guy and get a green card. You'll still be barred from working for the SEC. But no problem then working for the City Attorney of San Francisco, etc.

Thank you for clarifying the fact that I'd still not be able to work for the SEC despite getting a green card. I incorrectly assumed that upon getting a green card, I'd be eligible to work for the SEC or DOJ but it seems that I'd have to be born in the States for that to occur

No you don't have to be born here. You just have to be a citizen; you can be naturalized and it'd be fine. The only thing that's difficult as a naturalized citizen is jobs that require a security clearance, and 99% of lawyer jobs don't. Even then, with a little shuffling around, getting a secret or TS clearance is possible as a naturalized citizen if you have no worrying contacts abroad and tick the right boxes.