<p>I was just wondering if international applicants to undergraduate colleges apply with the intention of working in the US after graduation and becoming a citizen? Or do most of them go back to their home countries?</p>
<p>I would think most internationals apply with a open-minded approach to the future. The driving force to apply for a US undergrad degree has more to do with academic dominance of US colleges than the prospect of living in the US. So…whether they stay or move back home in the end has less to do with intentions and more to do with career options after they graduate.</p>
<p>What limnieng says may be true for a lot of countries but not all. In Europe American universities are often regarded as inferior to European universities at the undergraduate level and so career options after graduation are more limited with an undergraduate degree from the States.</p>
<p>Anyway, I think most international students do not stay in the States after graduation because the US government only issues about 60,000 H-1B (working) visas per year, but there are way more international students at US universities. Of course some visas are not counted against the cap (e.g. if you get a PhD and start working for a university), but I doubt many internationals go that route.</p>
<p>i want to earn US citizenship eventually should i be given the chance to do my undergrad studies there. i hope to continue working and living in the US afterwards. i have no qualms about giving up my citizenship in my country because they dont allow dual citizenships. but the visa thing seem to be the problem because that 60 000 that the US gives out annually includes the one they have to give out to people already working out there, unlike fresh undergrads who may not contribute as much as professionals. it seems that getting PR status is very hard.</p>
<p>natbam… don’t even bother… it’s mostly based on luck</p>
<p>i know. sadsadsad. but it amazes me how the US gives you an education and not expect anything more from you besides paying up your loans etc. in my country, if you study here and accept loans, you’ll have to sign a bond agreeing to work here for several years(depending on what kind of courses you’re study) after graduation.</p>
<p>natbam: Are you Singaporean? You sound like one. If you are, just thought I’ll let you know that Singaporeans don’t have to “fight” with others for the 60,000 H1B visas. There’s a separate pool of 5,400 H1B1 visas for Singaporeans and it’s definitely easier to get. Read up more here: <a href=“http://singapore.usembassy.gov/fta_visas.html[/url]”>http://singapore.usembassy.gov/fta_visas.html</a> (emphasis: “you must demonstrate non-immigrant intent”). If you are fresh out of uni, gain some experience using your H1B1 visa, while you try your luck with H1B visa :)</p>
<p>Singapore expects foreigners to sign a bond because the loan is funded with tax money from the citizens, unlike the fin-aid offered by US schools which are often funded by college endowments. Anyway, it is way too easy to break the bond but that is another story for another day.</p>
<p>preciouspurple11: holy cow. when you said i sounded like a singaporean, what gave it away? i didnt detect any singaporean-ish writings in my post. needless to say, my nationality is a complicated issue. i mean, i am classified singaporean because my parents are both sporean but i was born elsewhere and lived in other countries before settling down in spore in secondary school. i dont see myself as a sporean but more of a TCK.</p>
<p>in any case, i know that the loans come from the govt through tax. but the thing is, the govt require those ppl who accept loans to work here for several number of years before they can proceed to other options like going back to their native countries or even to other countries. why make them stay and work here when these ppl can pay back their loans from other countries? it would seem that the govt have other reasons to make them stay here after graduation besides monetary reimbursement. i guess the tiny population of singapore warrants foreign talents more than anything else unlike the US which probably have enough ppl already.</p>
<p>If you go to your F-1 (student) visa interview and tell the officer that you have immigrant intent, they will reject you right away and you will be blacklisted from ever coming to the U.S.</p>
<p>F-1 is a NON-DUAL-INTENT visa. You cannot plan to apply for permanent residence while you have the F-1. The only visa I know of where you can apply for permanent residence while on it is the H1-B, and those are hard to get.</p>
<p>It is VERY DIFFICULT to legally immigrate to the U.S. unless you have family or you find a husband/wife there. You are only allowed to work for one year on your student visa (“optional practical training”), after that if you can’t get an H1-B, then you’re forced to go home or move to Canada where virtually anyone can get into.</p>
<p>Regarding your first point: If I had the intention to immigrate, why would I tell my visa interviewer?</p>
<p>Concerning your second point: It is possible to apply for permanent residence while on a F-1 visa if you you are qualified for permanent residence through other means (you could win the green card lottery, marry an American, give birth to a baby on American territory etc). It is not that hard to get a H-1B - you just need some luck because of the limitation on the number of visas and timing is a critical issue if you want to stay and work in the States right out of college. But there are really only two criteria that determine if an employer can sponsor you for a H-1B: you must hold at least a Bachelor’s degree, and the job that the visa is for must require at least a Bachelor’s degree. (In particular the employer does not have to prove that there is no qualified American worker to do the job!) If you have a graduate degree from the States, getting a working visa becomes even easier because there are additional visas available.</p>
<p>natbam: Sorry dude, try telling your TCK story to the people at the US embassy and you’ll be lucky if they don’t roll their eyes. </p>
<p>“why make them stay and work here when these ppl can pay back their loans from other countries? it would seem that the govt have other reasons to make them stay here after graduation besides monetary reimbursement.”</p>
<p>–> If you can afford $29,120/year of tuition fees, you don’t have to sign the bond. Simple as that. Go home straight after graduation. Lots of Thai and Indonesian students do that. Or if you are really that hard up with the bond, take out a bank loan to pay your fees.</p>
<p>–> If you want your $22,400/year discount (emphasis discount, not loan, big diff), well, there’s no free lunch in this world. The bond is there coz you’ve gotta pay back the “discount” that MOE gave you 
And the government has never been embarrassed to admit that this policy is part of its grand scheme of social engineering. </p>
<p>Paying the remaining $6000+/year from other countries is a privilege reserved for citizens. I think it would be rather politically-unwise to allow foreign students to pay from overseas. And not to mention, financially-risky (what is there to prevent them from NOT paying?).</p>
<p>On a side-note, staying in Singapore is not a strict requirement. If you get employed by a Singapore-based employer and get sent overseas, it can still be counted towards your bond. For a Singaporean, I’m definitely amused at how much you’re concerned with the bond.</p>
<p>even with H1B visa, you only have 6 years to get yourself a green card before the visa expired (and can’t be renewed until the next year). The first step in green card process is obtaining a labor certification which indicates there is no USC or permanent resident worker qualified or interested in doing the job that you’re currently having. this probably takes 1 year. Then your company have to sponsor you for the green card application. This process has about 4-5 years backlog, depending on your degree and qualifications. A friend of mine who’s in the process told me the backlog is increasing every year and the USCIS is currently processing application from 2002. Imagine what would happen when you graduate 4-5 year from now… get it? so if you intent to immigrate here using the education/work means… forget about it. It’s silly that this is country prefer to give amnesty to illegal immigrant yet make the path of legal immigration difficult to traverse.</p>
<p>Well, 6 years would also be plenty of time to find a spouse :)</p>
<p>
You have to keep in mind that the number of H-1B visas issued every year was just recently reduced from ~180,000 to ~60,000 per year (I am too lazy to look up the exact numbers right now), so I would expect the backlog to decrease in the future. Of course that also means that it became significantly harder to get a H-1B in the first place…</p>