[DrNuke]

> I'm from Europe and I'm currently living in SF on a tourist visa.

> since mid-September I've been applying for software engineering positions across the US.

> Let's assume for a moment that I'm job searching correctly.

You are not indeed. This is a showstopper, even before having a look at your resume to try and figure a fit.

[666b20753a29]

Can you elaborate? I do have _some_ competitive advantage from being a tourist here.

Primarily, I thought more companies would return to in person interviews after everyone got vaccinated. This was mostly wrong. A US mobile #, being in the same TZ, networking irl, have all helped marginally however.

[apohn]

>I do have _some_ competitive advantage from being a tourist here.

You are actually at a disadvantage being in the US.

The H1-B visa process has a very frustrating quirk. Most years, companies apply for H1-Bs in March/April. But the person cannot start working till October. That means there is basically a 5-6 month gap between the H1-B approval and you starting the job. Many years, the quota of H1-B is exhausted quickly and visas ends up being a lottery - so even people who apply for visa lose the lottery and get rejected.

The exception to the above typically happens in a recession, when companies aren't hiring. Then the visas are available the whole year because the quota is not used up, but the jobs are not there.

Most companies don't want to sponsor somebody who cannot start working for 6 months. This ends up favoring people who can already work in the US (e.g. recent BS,MS,PhD graduates with EADs), or people who can work for the company who are outside the US and then come to the US later.

If you were in Europe, a multi-national company could hire you and have you working immediately. Then they could go through the H1-B process while you are working for them whole time until the visa is approved and October comes along.

[DrNuke]

Mind, you do not have any competitive advantage from applying for jobs in the US while staying on a tourist visa. On the contrary, that might expose you to way far more trouble than your enthusiasm and willpower deserve. Why not sending applications from Europe to European subsidiaries of US firms, get hired in Europe, then climb the ladder and get moved to the US? That’s how it works, for many people. EDIT: @gregjor comments above put the matter in the perspective and pretty eloquently.

[666b20753a29]

The idea of climbing a corporate ladder doesn't jump out at me personally, but this is definitly something to consider.

My ideal company size is like 2-10 employees. I thought I could just waltz into SV, join a cool early-stage startup, etc etc. Lol. Startups seems even less likely to sponsor than large companies, as they don't have the capital to spare on a bureaucractic process like that. And European tech hubs just don't have the same culture unfortunately. By the time I'm eligible to simply pick and choose startups to join in SV, I'll (hopefully) have too much responsibility to risk like that.

Thanks for the advice anyhow.

[arp242]

"Climbing a corporate ladder" is not how I would phrase it; instead I'd say something like "proven record of getting stuff done".

Sponsoring a visa is a lot of work and a fairly large upfront investment for an employee. Making that kind of investment on a 20-year old bootcamp graduate is rather risky. It might pay off, it might not pay off. Better pick someone who has at least a few years experience and has demonstrated basic ability in an actual work setting.

You'd have to be very very lucky to get a job in the US on a sponsorship with your current CV. Same for any country really.

[666b20753a29]

I've always thought that because it's not a big monetary investment relative to the TC they're paying, it's more about the lack of legal capital a company has (esp with the startups I targeted), the hard # limits on H1-B's, the time investment, and all the bureaucracy.

But yes, this makes total sense and it's easy to see why filling entry-level positions with local talent is far more rational.

[arp242]

Yes, you pay in time and effort you have to put in to it. At the end of the day, "time is money" for a business.

[908B64B197]

> from living here

I don't think you are living here, I think you are just visiting.

And actually, now that I think about it, I'd be skeptical re-admitting you in the country after having spent several months in one of the most expensive cities in the world with no (legal) sources of income available on your current visa.