french - "eligibility to work in the US" - explanations plz

kakikukeko

Hi guys,
in my search for a 1st job in the game industry, I' ve received an answer from an employer asking me:

What is your eligibility to work in the United States?

I've seen this many times, but I don't really understand it 100% .
I' ve got a french passport, no green card, I' m no drug dealer nor terrorist :poly124:,
now if someone can tell me what I should answer to this, that would be nice! thx!

edit: sorry to the moderators for the extra-work, it should be moved to the "general discussion" and not" technical discussion" , my bad..

Rick Stirling

It's a very complicated system, but it boils down to this:

You need an employer to show that you are the only person for the job and therefore are worthy of getting a work permit.

The US H1B visa is a non-immigrant visa, which allows a US company to employ a foreign individual for up to six years. As applying for a non-immigration visa is generally quicker than applying for a US Green Card, staff required on long-term assignment in the US are often initially brought in using a non-immigrant visa such as the H1B visa.



Individuals can not apply for an H1B visa to allow them to work in the US. The employer must petition for entry of the employee. H1B visas are subject to annual numerical limits.

If you are looking for an entry level job, with no experience, it is very unlikely that an overseas company will be interested in you, unless you have a jaw dropping portfolio.

With a French passport however you have a much better chance at getting a job in a European studio.

kakikukeko

thx for taking time to answer Rick, I know it's much easier for me to work in Europe, but that's not my question..
I know I need a working visa as I dont have a green card..
I just don't understand what means " my eligibility to work in the United States? "
Am I eligible to work in the US? how can I know? I' m not am US immigration bureau employee!? :poly142:

vahl

it means you need the inhouse experience and education, the references and acceptations needed to obtain the H1b visa.

you need 10 years of cumulated education and inhouse work experience in the field you are applying for (education counts double, since you come from supinfocom, you already have 8 years with only your education, you just need to have 2 years of inhouse work to complete them and reach 10) so basically, education*2+inhouse work exp. must be equal or above 10, freelancing doesn't count.

references, means letter from your former and future employer, I think the lawyers at the company you'll be applying at will explain exactly what you need.

acceptations : no police record, no medical issues (depending on the state), etc...

if you can have all that, you should be good, bear in mind that the H1b is a very long procedure, and that even if you are eligible for it, you may not end up with one (they are limited amounts of them). The o-visa is harder to get but better too, although not all companies can get it to you.

Saidin311

Rick Stirling wrote: »

If you are looking for an entry level job, with no experience, it is very unlikely that an overseas company will be interested in you, unless you have a jaw dropping portfolio.

Hey Rick, curious followup. Do you think that this is universal in the other direction? Canadian-to-UK visa's are MUCH easier to obtain. Especially since a lot of us here in Canada can apply for an Ancestry visa/passport.

I would consider it easier for me to work anywhere in England (or Scotland as the case may be) than it would be to get a job in The States. That also goes for outside of this specific industry. Also cause I don't have a killer portfolio yet.

Rick Stirling

The rules have tightened up in the UK over the last few years, and a points system has *JUST* been introduced. I think it starts next week.

Disclaimer - I'm not a lawyer.

To get in via a work sponsor (Tier 2), the company needs to be registered, and then you need to score above a certain points score.

To get in without a work sponsor (Tier 1), you also need to score above a certain of number of points, but I'm not sure how the two scoring systems differ.

You get scored on items such as age, qualifications, expected salary, current financial situation.

What would be working against people seeking an entry level position? You'd probably not score highly in the current salary or prospective salary areas.

This might help: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/pointscalculator

almighty_gir

ANYWHERE to UK visas are easy to obtain, hell just turn up with no paperwork, wearing rags, and claim you're a refugee. they'll put you up in a £300,000 house, free of charge. with spending money if you bring kids.

Rick Stirling

You sound a little bitter.

kakikukeko

Vahl> thank you for this clear and detailed answer,
Do you know for what reason Supinfocom's diploma counts double?

Rick&Gir, if you dont mind expanding the UK case in an other thread, thank you guys

Michael Knubben

Gir: I'm sure those people are living the life, yeah. It sounds wonderful.

almighty_gir

wait, you're not one of them? i thought we were gonna go hit up the town, and i'd sleep in your spare bedroom, picked from 3 identical ones.

vahl

kakikukeko wrote: »

Vahl> thank you for this clear and detailed answer,
Do you know for what reason Supinfocom's diploma counts double?

Any post bac education year counts double, not just the supinfocom diploma, means that with bac+5 (french denomination for a 5 years university degree for you non french people) you have the required experience to get the h1b (since 5*2=10)

spyrewolf

I just don't understand what means " my eligibility to work in the United States? "
Am I eligible to work in the US? how can I know? I' m not am US immigration bureau employee!?

I have recently done this, and it sucks, to be completely honest, this process is a long drawn out one, be prepare to spend a long time going through mountains of paper work(and i mean i litterally filled in a stack as thick as a phone book, no joke) and having to deal with the unhelpful staff at the department of homeland security.

I immigrated to the US from New Zealand so i can imagine my ordeal will be a lot worse than what you'll need to go through,

all i can say is if you know a good lawyer, get them on board smooths out the bureaucracy and this is bureaucracy at it's finest. also expect to take at least six months of your time to get every thing done, my work permit took 4 months to reach me from the time i started and it didn't include the green card until another 2 months after I arrived. took about year in total. (which apparently was done very fast which is unusual and probably because i had the lawyer helping me)

I don't mean to discourage you, but the US is very strict on who come in and out these days, granted, I immigrated, and the process was harder, but just getting the work permit alone was a bloody nightmare

PaK

Saidin311: You can apply for a TN visa if you are Canadian and hoping to work in the USA. This is how I have received all of my work permits. I am Canadian and I work in the US.

TN visas are much easier to get than H1-B's

-R

Daz

Whilst there is some useful information provided in this thread, I think you've all missed the mark.

If an employer asks you the question 'what is your eligibility to work in the united states?' what they're actually asking is not 'do you have the on paper credentials to for us to pursue getting you a work visa?' at all. I think you'll find they're actually simply asking 'do you have a legal permit to work here in the US *right now*?'.
Your technically correct answer to their question is simply 'I do not have a us work visa'. From there they'll decide If they want to put the effort and finances into helping you obtain one, but even then the stars are seldom aligned for it to work out. There are many factors at play, not just limited to the applicant's on paper credentials, but also current availability of H1-B's, country of origin, all sorts of complicated stuff. We lost a couple of good applicants recently from that stuff not coming together. It's a drag.

bugo

almighty_gir wrote: »

ANYWHERE to UK visas are easy to obtain, hell just turn up with no paperwork, wearing rags, and claim you're a refugee. they'll put you up in a £300,000 house, free of charge. with spending money if you bring kids.

I should do it instead of trying the company making me a workpermit, because workpermit failed