<p>^Simplistically, yes, that’s what I’m saying. There’s no way, technically, to stay in the US to work - legally.</p>
<p>My wife worked in an immigration law firm for quite a while up until recently (now workes in civil litigation), and she would tell me plenty of stories about foreign individuals thinking they can get a job in the US with minimal education and/or experience.</p>
<p>Truth is that you as the foreign worker do not apply for a work visa (H1-B); a US company applies for one on your behalf. For a company to be granted a work visa for you, they will need to prove to the fderal gov’t that they offered the same position to other qualified US citizens, but either a) no US citizens applied for the position, or 2) those who applied were not adequately qaulified.</p>
<p>The typical jobs that companies can actually prove they offered to the public and that no one would take require high education and experience in science or engineering fields (like technology or science institutes), so H1-B holders typically have an MBA already, a PhD or Master’s in engineering, or like 20+ yeas experience in their respective fields. In all the time my wife worked at that firm, no H1-Bs were granted to an individual with just a BA/S and a few years experience in business. The US has plenty of citizens with those qualifications to take the jobs that specify those qualifications are needed.</p>
<p>Typically, the foreign worker is granted an H1-B and then they can apply for their family members (if they have any) to come to the US with them as well. There are restirictions on which family members can join the H1-B holder (like only spouses, parents, children, etc . . . so no third-cousin-by-marriage, and these relationships must also be proven truthful . . . the gov’t literally asks for correspondence between a husband and wife that goes back many many years and looks into the validity of the marriage before granting a spouse visa approval) and also restrictions on if those family members can work or not.</p>
<p>So, basically, the best way to work, legally, in the US is to get highly educated, gain a handful of years of experience, and then hook up with a company that will sponsor someone for an H1-B because they cannot find a qualified US citizen worker.</p>
<p>Or marry someone who is described as the above.</p>
<p>You can also have a unique world-class talent that qualifies you for a US work visa (i.e. world-class atheletes and entretainment performers etc).</p>