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Should I consider applying for college if only for visa status?

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Damian Nachman polycounter lvl 6
I currently live in the middle east, far away from any game-industry epicenter, and as I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to a professional level, I've been wondering if I should even bother applying for relocation positions.
As I understand, most studios in Europe and the US won't even consider relocating junior artists, because of visa reasons.

So... Am I basically fucked? Should I just apply for college in Europe, and bear the costs, just so I can get a visa status and apply for jobs once I'm there?

At this point, I feel like I won't get much out of art college, as I pretty much got pretty decent at modeling.
Should I do it anyway, if only for the relocation?
Or perhaps there's a way to relocate to Europe, at my own cost, without a visa?

I'm pretty much bamboozled here, so any help is super appreciated!

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  • Joost
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    Joost polycount sponsor
    You could try doing freelance for a few years instead. I assume the cost of living is lower where you live? So you should be able to save up quite a bit of money instead of being in debt.

    Also it would be really hard to get into the US without a degree, I think Europe is a bit less strict.
  • DireWolf
    Hey I live in south east Asia here. Not sure if this would help but the common practice for people here is to apply for language school in the U.S. You'll get a student visa at a much cheaper price than collage.

    The advantage of actual collage however is that you'll get a full year working visa after you graduated. Be warned however, I know quite a number of friends who got abused this way - got a contract position at (big name) studio while their visa lasted but the studio never cared to extend visa for them as there were unlimited supplies of foreign students graduating every year they can keep hiring cheap.
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    just studying for a piece of paper is stupid. If you study, make sure you learn something useful and consider the paper as a positive side effect.

    In that regard, you could just get the piece of paper in a local school, as long as it is accredited and teaches you something useful for your career.
  • rino
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    rino polycounter lvl 12
    DireWolf wrote: »
    Hey I live in south east Asia here. Not sure if this would help but the common practice for people here is to apply for language school in the U.S. You'll get a student visa at a much cheaper price than collage.

    The advantage of actual collage however is that you'll get a full year working visa after you graduated. Be warned however, I know quite a number of friends who got abused this way - got a contract position at (big name) studio while their visa lasted but the studio never cared to extend visa for them as there were unlimited supplies of foreign students graduating every year they can keep hiring cheap.

    okay, you get student visa through language school, how do you work fulltime then? as far as i know, you can't work fulltime when you are a on student visa only parttime.
  • Damian Nachman
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    Damian Nachman polycounter lvl 6
    komaokc
    Thanks for the tip!
    That's probably the most solid plan...
    DireWolf
    Interesting.... Applying for a relatively cheap degree might do it, if all I'm looking for is a visa status.
    And might as well go study something different and interesting, as game art school won't do me much good at this point.
    That being said, I should probably get some freelance experience first.
  • DireWolf
    rino wrote: »
    okay, you get student visa through language school, how do you work fulltime then? as far as i know, you can't work fulltime when you are a on student visa only parttime.
    Well he'll get the same student visa either way and his working visa would rely on studio all the same. At least he'll be on location and no need to relocate. Wonder if studio consider that.
  • DarkStar
    Go to college. At least you will have an education if you dont get hired right away.
  • rino
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    rino polycounter lvl 12
    DireWolf wrote: »
    Well he'll get the same student visa either way and his working visa would rely on studio all the same. At least he'll be on location and no need to relocate. Wonder if studio consider that.

    no, studios won't consider that, because legally he must fit requirements for working visa to get a job. and to fit those requirements you have to have 4 - 5 year degree and some other stuff that i can't remember.

    being on location doesn't mean anything, taking a vacation and being there for 3 months is still "on location", but legally it's a different story.
  • Damian Nachman
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    Damian Nachman polycounter lvl 6
    rino wrote: »
    no, studios won't consider that, because legally he must fit requirements for working visa to get a job. and to fit those requirements you have to have 4 - 5 year degree and some other stuff that i can't remember.

    being on location doesn't mean anything, taking a vacation and being there for 3 months is still "on location", but legally it's a different story.

    Wait, so getting a working visa in Europe requires a 4 year degree? That's not what I heard :x
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    MeshPotato wrote: »
    Wait, so getting a working visa in Europe requires a 4 year degree? That's not what I heard :x

    Depends. It's probably different from country to country. But one thing most countries have in common is that they have to prove that no local or EU applicant is available. One route to bring in overseas people is to claim nobody with the right education or experience is available. But if you have no relevant education, this won't quite work for you.

    Some countries might have other criteria for ranking people, such as defining professions which are in demand by the industry and this get preferential treatment - e.g. nurses, engineers, IT. But how do you prove you're an IT specialist? Either have a degree or X years work experience, or some other certification.

    Some people start a business. don't need a degree. just need to invest and employ locals. E.g. start your own Chinese/Turkish/whatever restaurant? ;)

    So yes, some people can get in without a degree. Not sure if you can manage to fall into any of these categories though. The reality is just more complex than "get some random degree -> get EU work permission".
  • Damian Nachman
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    Damian Nachman polycounter lvl 6
    Kwramm wrote: »
    Depends. It's probably different from country to country. But one thing most countries have in common is that they have to prove that no local or EU applicant is available. One route to bring in overseas people is to claim nobody with the right education or experience is available. But if you have no relevant education, this won't quite work for you.

    Some countries might have other criteria for ranking people, such as defining professions which are in demand by the industry and this get preferential treatment - e.g. nurses, engineers, IT. But how do you prove you're an IT specialist? Either have a degree or X years work experience, or some other certification.

    Some people start a business. don't need a degree. just need to invest and employ locals. E.g. start your own Chinese/Turkish/whatever restaurant? ;)

    So yes, some people can get in without a degree. Not sure if you can manage to fall into any of these categories though. The reality is just more complex than "get some random degree -> get EU work permission".

    True dat, though this isn't exactly what I meant.
    I know that even if a US company wants to pick yo up, you will still need a degree in order to qualify for a visa.
    In Europe, however, I heard that getting recruited by a company is enough to qualify for a work visa.
    Am I wrong?
  • bugo
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    bugo polycounter lvl 17
    Basically start with freelance, get an AMAZING portfolio and start applying when you feel like ur GOOD! Nowadays is a bit hard to get someone to sponsor you for an H1b visa.
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    MeshPotato wrote: »
    In Europe, however, I heard that getting recruited by a company is enough to qualify for a work visa.
    Am I wrong?

    perhaps. different EU countries have different requirements and immigration schemes, which depend on political and economic climate. You can't really generalize.

    A better way than asking on Polycount would be to pick some target countries and visit their respective embassy's websites to learn what it takes to be eligible to work there. However a good company, which really wants you, will often help you to take one or the other hurdle in the process.
  • rino
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    rino polycounter lvl 12
    MeshPotato wrote: »
    True dat, though this isn't exactly what I meant.
    I know that even if a US company wants to pick yo up, you will still need a degree in order to qualify for a visa.
    In Europe, however, I heard that getting recruited by a company is enough to qualify for a work visa.
    Am I wrong?

    i'm pretty sure it's same, you still need to have a degree to qualify. company wanted to hire me fulltime, i went to an interview, passed the art test, all that jazz, but i didn't have a degree -- long story short, they were unable to hire me. (EU)
  • littleclaude
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    littleclaude quad damage
    Hi, we are looking for someone that would like to work in our research lab in return you will get a free MA, you may even get paid, you could do your own free lance work or work on one of our projects. If you wish to start your own company maybe with your free lance work you may even keep the money you earn, possibly in return for a small slice of IP, we can sort all those details out before you start or before your finish your MA.

    More information here -

    http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=136823
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