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Relocation and the MBA graduate
Ross Geraghty looks at the world’s top two destinations for MBA candidates and graduates and finds out how easy, or hard, it is for MBAs to live and work there.
According to the QS TopMBA Applicant Survey 2008, international flexibility is one of the most compelling reasons for getting an MBA. Most business school graduates want to spend at least part of their careers working overseas, improving their language skills and gaining invaluable experience of foreign cultures.
Visa regulations differ from country to country and it is worth spending time looking closely at the requirements of the countries that interest you. Breaking these rules is a serious offence and, in some cases, can result in permanent expulsion.
For MBAs, the situation is often easier than for non-MBAs. After all, most governments are interested in bringing top level business expertise into their economies. However, a word of warning: regulations can change quickly and unexpectedly. It is up to you to be informed. Most top business schools allow students - and usually alumni - access to their careers services and they are worth contacting.
We take a look at the two most attractive countries in the world for MBAs to see what the visa situation is like.
USA
Non-citizens may find the tough visa situation and credit crunch affecting their employment opportunities in the US. This is combined with the Bush administration, in 2002, slashing the number of visas offered to international students, including MBAs, from 195,000 to 65,000. An MBA from an American business school still provides the best opportunity for non-US nationals to find the role they seek states-side, though it is possible to earn an MBA elsewhere and still work in the US.
Julia Bykhovskaia completed her MBA from NYU Stern and wanted to begin her career in either London or New York. She was armed with a world recognised qualification, but that wasn’t enough. As a Russian, Julia still needed to obtain proper work authorization to work in the US.
“For me, the visa process was quite painful. I had to wait several months before I could start working and am very grateful to my employer that they did not withdraw their job offer. Then I had to delay the start date because of the need to travel outside the US to validate my visa!”
Julia is not alone in her experiences. The US, has some of the strictest visa and immigration regulations in the world. It is the number one choice of destination for MBAs because of its mature finance and banking markets. In some cases employers will sort out the entire process for you. However for those who do not have such an advantage, the process can be a lot trickier.
MBAs hold the upper hand in such negotiations – after all, the US, like everywhere, needs talented managers and leaders – but there are major factors standing in the way of non-nationals getting into the US: visa status, internal competition and the credit crunch.
MBA graduates need employers to sponsor them for an H1-B visa and there is a limit on how many can be issued each year. In 2008 it is projected that the diminished numbers of visas will be taken up within a month of the allocation becoming available, which presents big problems for some top non-national MBA talent wanting to stay within the country. Currently, unless MBAs want to resort to pot luck, the best policy is to get your overseas company to send you to the US or, to put it bluntly, work somewhere else.
A foreign student looking for a job after their MBA needs to find an American company which will agree to apply for an H1-B visa after the 12-month period ends. For large companies who regularly hire MBA students (Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers,) this is usually not a problem. However, it is possible that visas might become a major issue for smaller companies, which tend not to have in-house expertise in hiring foreign nationals.
