Helle everyone 
Before starting, as it is my first subject here, I’ll present myself 
I’m a French student studying in France in a first year of undergraduate. However, I’m looking for changing and in another country.
For now, I have 3 offers in chemical engineering:
University College London - 9000 pounds a year and a really good worldwild reputation
University of Edinburgh - 2000 pounds a year and good reputation but less than UCL
Polytechnique Montreal - 5000 pounds a year but possibilty to get 3 degrees from 3 differents school. Indeed it has partnership to do the half of the studies in another university, for example Polytechnique Lausanne. I could also get a 1 year Meng in a British University, I’m thinking at Imperial College London which take me for an interview but my application got rejected.
As I wanna spend a part of my life in the US, I would like to know what’s the best to work as a Chemical Engineer.
What do you think of it ?
Thank you for reading me !
Thomas
I am not a lawyer, but I am familiar with foreigner employment in US. Getting a job in US is not a cakewalk. There are several ways, but I will talk about the most common one: H1B.
.You will need to find a company that will hire foreigners, which is the first hard part. Employers are reluctant to hire foreigners because they are often daunted by the processes and the fee. It cost THEM a few thousand dollars.
The second hard part is the process itself. There are about 70K allocation per year(10k extra if you are a Ph.D or masters) and they are totally random. No matter how competent you are, if you are not lucky, you will have to apply next year. The exception is if you are going to work in public sectors such as government owned associations or education facilities like colleges. If you are hired by a public sector, the visa is handled separately from the quota.
Another employment based visa is EB-1 for “foreinger with extraordinary talent.” This one is for researchers mostly, so I m not sure this will apply to you
Thank you for your answer.
I’ll note this part:
“There are about 70K allocation per year(10k extra if you are a Ph.D or masters) and they are totally random. No matter how competent you are, if you are not lucky, you will have to apply next year.”
It’s something there are 70K allocation, but how many foreigners try it every year ?
Thank you
I’m indeed planning a Master
There are AT LEAST three times as many applicants as the number of available H1B.
Honestly, most engineers in the US won’t have heard of any British colleges outside Oxford/Cambridge/Imperial College London. So for US name recognition, you might be better off going to Montreal.
For foreigners, the easiest way to get a job in the US is to study in the US. That’s because you get a short visa that’s valid for work (OPT/CPT) along with the F1 student visa.
The number of companies asking for H1Bs is insane. The quota is filled within a month into the new year, if not earlier. The only way around this is if you work for a non-profit or academia which is not subject to quota, but these are generally for very top level hires like professors/MD & PhD-trained researchers and charity directors.
Maybe the best option for you is to do your B.Eng. at one of the schools you mentioned, then go to the US for a Masters. That would give you OPT with STEM extension so you can have a better shot at bring hired by a US company. Then you spend the time on OPT working your butt off to prove to the company that you’re worth sponsoring for H1B or maybe one of the EB visas if you’re really good.
I’m not going to knock your goals, but trying to work/live in the US is going to be an uphill battle. In your industry there is no lack of domestic candidates and India and the Middle East flood the visa market in engineering by the dozen.
I don’t know what the prospects in France are like, but I think you may have a lot easier time there/the EU vs the US.