I have a short question: which kind of architectural firms would most likely sponsor H1B Visa to their international employee? If you could, please give the name of the firm.
Besides, I may imagine Pritzker/starchitect firms would not be in the "yes" list?
Thank you in advance. This should help international graduate students like me a lot to look for a job.
kjdt
Apr 12, 15 2:26 pm
Large corporate firms in secondary cities or those located in suburban outposts of major cities are your best bets.
To be allowed to hire someone on an H1B the firm has to be able to prove that it can't find a qualified citizen for the position, and that the H1B candidate is being offered the prevailing wage for the position, as determined by the Department of Labor. The prevailing wage is the 50th percentile for all people in that position and experience level, in that regional market.
The problem with smaller firms is that often they can't pay the prevailing wage - it's higher than what they would offer a local candidate (they're the firms that are making up much of the lower 49 percentiles.)
The problem with "starchitect" firms is that they get far too many qualified applicants to be able to establish that they can't find a qualified citizen to fill most positions. The only way these firms can hire H1Bs is if they write a job description for a very highly specialized position (sometimes if they have a particular person they know they want to hire this way, they'll write a job description for a position that requires that the candidate has published work on a highly-specific topic that they know this particular candidate has done, for example.) Unless they already know you and desperately want you, they're not likely to play those kinds of games to sponsor you.
I'm not comfortable giving out names of firms, but the ones that I'm familiar with that have been known to sponsor H1Bs are larger firms with multiple branch offices, some in comparatively difficult areas of the country to find enough qualified applicants (parts of the midwest, parts of the south, particularly far outskirt suburbs of DC) - mostly those are firms specializing in big-box retail, chain hospitality, and corporate office buildings, for repeat clients. Keep in mind: if they can't find qualified local candidates, there may be reasons that don't reflect negatively on the firm directly (I can think of a firm in West Virginia that does this because it's located somewhere with a very small pool of architects, and has a hard time recruiting from elsewhere in the US because it's just not an appealing destination) but other times there are worse reasons (like a firm has a reputation as an unpleasant place to work, and they've already burned through everybody local who will risk it.)
TED
Apr 12, 15 6:57 pm
If you wish to work in the US, go to school in the US. Very unlikely that US practice would hire anyone unless overly highly qualified = many years of practice. If you are working in a country where americans are actively doing their business, go the back door route: go work for AECOM or the like and work your way through the system - too many architects in the US to come in as an outsider unless you're really special:-)
empea
Apr 13, 15 11:52 am
rrnkenshin - this is good advice you're getting but in my opinion you should not take all of it too literally (no offense to my fellow posters but most of the above claims go against my own first hand experience).
As someone who is part of the visa work force in the US and with many contacts in a similar situation, I can tell you that I have no practical experience that supports neither of the above claims. Neither that small offices more rarely give out visas, nor that they somehow should be unable to pay prevailing wages. Also about half of these people went to grad school in the US, and half came directly from abroad with a job offer.
As a matter of fact, many times between large, medium and small offices (counting real AEC firms here, i.e. those that build things) you would make more money in a small to medium place as someone with little experience, since these places 1. more easily can spot your value, if there is any, and 2. usually can't bank on their brand name alone to get people to work for them. A small firm also has lower overhead and a more nimble organization and if it's run well, often as high or higher profit percentages than a large firm.
As far as the job description and uniqueness of the position goes, this is pure formality. I have yet to hear of one case where that has been a principal obstacle to someone getting an H1B. This is something that is done by lawyers together with the hiring manager and is not harder or easier for a small or a large firm. If someone wants you specifically there is always a way to write that description so that only you fit the profile. This is commonly done also in academia where similar rules exist not just for foreign workers, btw.
With all this said, the main problems you are likely to have are:
Small firm: may be reluctant to get someone a visa simply based on inexperience with the whole visa apparatus, which by design is complicated, full of fees and generally intimidating. In actual fact it's not that difficult, but it's done this way in order to create work for lawyers and civil servants (if you do manage to get to the US you will learn the meaning of "busy work" in this domain quite quickly. Not saying such a thing doesn't exist in other cultures - it does - but in the US as a foreigner you are particularly exposed to it.).
Large firm: may have higher percentage of visa holders already working for them and therefore have reached their "cap" (a business may only have so many visa workers per domestic employee at any one time, to prevent imbalance and exploitation). May be unwilling to pay "prevailing wage" for junior staff, because they can.
All architecture firms: there are those that believe that one should work 40 hours per week and there are those who think 100 is reasonable. This you will find all across the spectrum of firm sizes and all over the world. Possible the crazy hours culture is worse in big cities as they can count on more fresh candidates to come through for every burnout that leaves. This I don't know. But: with a bad firm culture this is a real problem for any visa holder though - your employer, if he or she is wired that way, will know that you have invested significantly more in this job (moving here across the ocean with all that entails) than your co-respective US colleague, and that it is more difficult for you with your visa to change jobs in general. This may or may not lead to them taking advantage of your situation by making unreasonable demands.
So, in conclusion, if you want to come and work in the US you should totally go for it but I wouldn't focus too much on trying to scout out the "right" firm for visa purposes. If they have a good or a bad rep that's likely to apply to everyone who works there indiscriminately. If they really want you - and all business owners will exactly know the difference between a "good" and a "great" hire regardless of provenance - they will make what effort needed to get you a visa. (An H1B costs about US$5000 with all filing and legal fees, which is not really a cost that anyone with honesty can say is impossible to put up if needed.) Your main problem right now is likely to be that just having passed April 1st, which is when new H1Bs are released for the following fiscal year, you won't find anyone willing to hire you as quickly as needed before the visas run out, so you're likely to have to go for next year (thereby starting work on October 1, 2016).
Good luck.
sameolddoctor
Apr 13, 15 1:48 pm
empea is right. I started working for a small firm after graduation and they sponsored me.
You might find better luck with starchitects, precisely because they use the pretext of the H1 visa to underpay staff.
But why the F would you want to come to the US anyways?
3tk
Apr 13, 15 3:11 pm
Another obstacle in my experience is the time cost for a staff member to help put the package together (takes away from marketing/HR/general office administration); so I would be very clear that you'll spend the time to assist them as much as possible (offering to help cover expenses if they hesitate to cover costs also helps). Smaller offices definitely will consider visas (especially in some of the 'hot' cities as general high quality labor isn't as readily available of late).
ihabfam
May 31, 16 6:45 pm
THERE ARE ENOUGH ARCHITECTS IN USA WITH SKILLS , CAN NOT FIND JOBS.
PLEASE GIVE US A BRAKE
ihabfam
May 31, 16 7:21 pm
USA CITIZENS CANT NOT FIND JOBS NOT BECAUSE OF LAKE OF SKILLS
BECAUSE THE EMPLOYER DOES NOT WANT TO PAY GOOD SALARY, AND THEY DO NOT PAY OVERTIME, I MEAN WORKING LONG HOURS WITHOUT PAY.
DO YOU THINK THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE STUPID???
WE USE AUTO CAD AND REVIT AND 3D MAX , BUILDING CODE, FIRE CODE, ..............
cadomestique
May 31, 16 7:57 pm
House is full, look elsewhere.
USA citizens have hard time finding a good job why in the hell do you think it should be given to an outsider??
I really hope Trump pugs that nasty H1B hole.
empea
May 31, 16 8:52 pm
rrnkenshin - if at this point a year and change down the line you're still committed to coming to the US, these couple of recent comments should not be seen as representative of the majority of US citizens. People for chrissake if you can't find a job on account of "outsiders" maybe you're not all that qualified in the first place..?
no_form
May 31, 16 9:42 pm
to the OP, role the dice. if you get in, get ready to be offended. but don't worry. that's just america for you.
jon ammer
Jun 1, 16 9:22 am
theres a discussion thread recently that suggests there are 600 architect vacancies advertised in NY. And LA also has many many positions. are there still thousands of highly skilled talented US born Design Architects and Project Architects looking for work ?
no_form
Jun 1, 16 10:59 am
@roark, yes there still is. These jobs are probably not great ones. Maybe they are cheap and don't pay a lot. Or the companies have terrible management. Etc.
Volunteer
Jun 1, 16 11:15 am
Several firms, not in the architectural field, have laid off their US employees and made their severance dependent on them training their H-1B replacements. In other instances the jobs are shipped overseas; the foreign nationals are brought to the US for a training period by the laid-off US employees before returning to their native country.
This explains the hostility that may arise. I don't think it would be directed as a specific individual such as the OP.
Nationally the unemployment rate is said to be 5%. When you factor in the people with part-time jobs who would like full-time jobs with benefits the rate is 10%. When you do the math with the long term unemployed who have exhausted benefits but are still within the working-age category (33,000,000) the rate is 22%.
jon ammer
Jun 1, 16 12:28 pm
if I was a young able bodied US born Architect Id be off to Nevada a few yrs back or Alberta to make thousands per week doing grunt work in Oil Booms...at least for a year or 2 while the going was good. you guys are lucky to have had those kind of options available in the midst of the Architectural recession. Certain US states are like separate countries economically speaking
Jun 1, 16 1:11 pm
There are factors that makes just moving around the country difficult. Most people just don't have that money set aside. Cost of living and the pay to too close together for quite a few employees.
tduds
Jun 1, 16 1:22 pm
Interesting how the replies in this thread railing against H1B are the least eloquently written.
Maybe immigrants aren't the reason those people are having trouble finding employment.
Purnia
Jul 29, 17 3:31 pm
The truth has been spoken.
sameolddoctor
Jul 30, 17 2:21 pm
The bad spelling and grammar in the responses on this post are a good reason why we need educated people on H1Bs from other countries to come here. We got enough of the SCIARC type Rhino monkeys.
Hi everybody,
I have a short question: which kind of architectural firms would most likely sponsor H1B Visa to their international employee? If you could, please give the name of the firm.
Besides, I may imagine Pritzker/starchitect firms would not be in the "yes" list?
Thank you in advance. This should help international graduate students like me a lot to look for a job.
Large corporate firms in secondary cities or those located in suburban outposts of major cities are your best bets.
To be allowed to hire someone on an H1B the firm has to be able to prove that it can't find a qualified citizen for the position, and that the H1B candidate is being offered the prevailing wage for the position, as determined by the Department of Labor. The prevailing wage is the 50th percentile for all people in that position and experience level, in that regional market.
The problem with smaller firms is that often they can't pay the prevailing wage - it's higher than what they would offer a local candidate (they're the firms that are making up much of the lower 49 percentiles.)
The problem with "starchitect" firms is that they get far too many qualified applicants to be able to establish that they can't find a qualified citizen to fill most positions. The only way these firms can hire H1Bs is if they write a job description for a very highly specialized position (sometimes if they have a particular person they know they want to hire this way, they'll write a job description for a position that requires that the candidate has published work on a highly-specific topic that they know this particular candidate has done, for example.) Unless they already know you and desperately want you, they're not likely to play those kinds of games to sponsor you.
I'm not comfortable giving out names of firms, but the ones that I'm familiar with that have been known to sponsor H1Bs are larger firms with multiple branch offices, some in comparatively difficult areas of the country to find enough qualified applicants (parts of the midwest, parts of the south, particularly far outskirt suburbs of DC) - mostly those are firms specializing in big-box retail, chain hospitality, and corporate office buildings, for repeat clients. Keep in mind: if they can't find qualified local candidates, there may be reasons that don't reflect negatively on the firm directly (I can think of a firm in West Virginia that does this because it's located somewhere with a very small pool of architects, and has a hard time recruiting from elsewhere in the US because it's just not an appealing destination) but other times there are worse reasons (like a firm has a reputation as an unpleasant place to work, and they've already burned through everybody local who will risk it.)
If you wish to work in the US, go to school in the US. Very unlikely that US practice would hire anyone unless overly highly qualified = many years of practice. If you are working in a country where americans are actively doing their business, go the back door route: go work for AECOM or the like and work your way through the system - too many architects in the US to come in as an outsider unless you're really special:-)
rrnkenshin - this is good advice you're getting but in my opinion you should not take all of it too literally (no offense to my fellow posters but most of the above claims go against my own first hand experience).
As someone who is part of the visa work force in the US and with many contacts in a similar situation, I can tell you that I have no practical experience that supports neither of the above claims. Neither that small offices more rarely give out visas, nor that they somehow should be unable to pay prevailing wages. Also about half of these people went to grad school in the US, and half came directly from abroad with a job offer.
As a matter of fact, many times between large, medium and small offices (counting real AEC firms here, i.e. those that build things) you would make more money in a small to medium place as someone with little experience, since these places 1. more easily can spot your value, if there is any, and 2. usually can't bank on their brand name alone to get people to work for them. A small firm also has lower overhead and a more nimble organization and if it's run well, often as high or higher profit percentages than a large firm.
As far as the job description and uniqueness of the position goes, this is pure formality. I have yet to hear of one case where that has been a principal obstacle to someone getting an H1B. This is something that is done by lawyers together with the hiring manager and is not harder or easier for a small or a large firm. If someone wants you specifically there is always a way to write that description so that only you fit the profile. This is commonly done also in academia where similar rules exist not just for foreign workers, btw.
With all this said, the main problems you are likely to have are:
Small firm: may be reluctant to get someone a visa simply based on inexperience with the whole visa apparatus, which by design is complicated, full of fees and generally intimidating. In actual fact it's not that difficult, but it's done this way in order to create work for lawyers and civil servants (if you do manage to get to the US you will learn the meaning of "busy work" in this domain quite quickly. Not saying such a thing doesn't exist in other cultures - it does - but in the US as a foreigner you are particularly exposed to it.).
Large firm: may have higher percentage of visa holders already working for them and therefore have reached their "cap" (a business may only have so many visa workers per domestic employee at any one time, to prevent imbalance and exploitation). May be unwilling to pay "prevailing wage" for junior staff, because they can.
All architecture firms: there are those that believe that one should work 40 hours per week and there are those who think 100 is reasonable. This you will find all across the spectrum of firm sizes and all over the world. Possible the crazy hours culture is worse in big cities as they can count on more fresh candidates to come through for every burnout that leaves. This I don't know. But: with a bad firm culture this is a real problem for any visa holder though - your employer, if he or she is wired that way, will know that you have invested significantly more in this job (moving here across the ocean with all that entails) than your co-respective US colleague, and that it is more difficult for you with your visa to change jobs in general. This may or may not lead to them taking advantage of your situation by making unreasonable demands.
So, in conclusion, if you want to come and work in the US you should totally go for it but I wouldn't focus too much on trying to scout out the "right" firm for visa purposes. If they have a good or a bad rep that's likely to apply to everyone who works there indiscriminately. If they really want you - and all business owners will exactly know the difference between a "good" and a "great" hire regardless of provenance - they will make what effort needed to get you a visa. (An H1B costs about US$5000 with all filing and legal fees, which is not really a cost that anyone with honesty can say is impossible to put up if needed.) Your main problem right now is likely to be that just having passed April 1st, which is when new H1Bs are released for the following fiscal year, you won't find anyone willing to hire you as quickly as needed before the visas run out, so you're likely to have to go for next year (thereby starting work on October 1, 2016).
Good luck.
empea is right. I started working for a small firm after graduation and they sponsored me.
You might find better luck with starchitects, precisely because they use the pretext of the H1 visa to underpay staff.
But why the F would you want to come to the US anyways?
Another obstacle in my experience is the time cost for a staff member to help put the package together (takes away from marketing/HR/general office administration); so I would be very clear that you'll spend the time to assist them as much as possible (offering to help cover expenses if they hesitate to cover costs also helps). Smaller offices definitely will consider visas (especially in some of the 'hot' cities as general high quality labor isn't as readily available of late).
THERE ARE ENOUGH ARCHITECTS IN USA WITH SKILLS , CAN NOT FIND JOBS.
PLEASE GIVE US A BRAKE
USA CITIZENS CANT NOT FIND JOBS NOT BECAUSE OF LAKE OF SKILLS
BECAUSE THE EMPLOYER DOES NOT WANT TO PAY GOOD SALARY, AND THEY DO NOT PAY OVERTIME, I MEAN WORKING LONG HOURS WITHOUT PAY.
DO YOU THINK THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE STUPID???
WE USE AUTO CAD AND REVIT AND 3D MAX , BUILDING CODE, FIRE CODE, ..............
House is full, look elsewhere.
USA citizens have hard time finding a good job why in the hell do you think it should be given to an outsider??
I really hope Trump pugs that nasty H1B hole.
rrnkenshin - if at this point a year and change down the line you're still committed to coming to the US, these couple of recent comments should not be seen as representative of the majority of US citizens. People for chrissake if you can't find a job on account of "outsiders" maybe you're not all that qualified in the first place..?
to the OP, role the dice. if you get in, get ready to be offended. but don't worry. that's just america for you.
theres a discussion thread recently that suggests there are 600 architect vacancies advertised in NY. And LA also has many many positions. are there still thousands of highly skilled talented US born Design Architects and Project Architects looking for work ?
@roark, yes there still is. These jobs are probably not great ones. Maybe they are cheap and don't pay a lot. Or the companies have terrible management. Etc.
Several firms, not in the architectural field, have laid off their US employees and made their severance dependent on them training their H-1B replacements. In other instances the jobs are shipped overseas; the foreign nationals are brought to the US for a training period by the laid-off US employees before returning to their native country.
This explains the hostility that may arise. I don't think it would be directed as a specific individual such as the OP.
Nationally the unemployment rate is said to be 5%. When you factor in the people with part-time jobs who would like full-time jobs with benefits the rate is 10%. When you do the math with the long term unemployed who have exhausted benefits but are still within the working-age category (33,000,000) the rate is 22%.
if I was a young able bodied US born Architect Id be off to Nevada a few yrs back or Alberta to make thousands per week doing grunt work in Oil Booms...at least for a year or 2 while the going was good. you guys are lucky to have had those kind of options available in the midst of the Architectural recession. Certain US states are like separate countries economically speaking
There are factors that makes just moving around the country difficult. Most people just don't have that money set aside. Cost of living and the pay to too close together for quite a few employees.
Interesting how the replies in this thread railing against H1B are the least eloquently written.
Maybe immigrants aren't the reason those people are having trouble finding employment.
The truth has been spoken.
The bad spelling and grammar in the responses on this post are a good reason why we need educated people on H1Bs from other countries to come here. We got enough of the SCIARC type Rhino monkeys.