Visa squeeze for foreign MBA students in US

23.05.07

Visa squeeze for foreign MBA students in US

Find out why increasing numbers of international students are choosing MBA study in Europe and Canada due to work permit legislation

When international students enrol on MBA programmes in the USA, many of them hope to gain work within the country after graduation. As students with US Master’s degrees are usually given special preference for the H1-B work visas, many US business schools ‘sell’ the MBA to international students on this basis.

Many applicants rejected
However with only 65,000 H-1B visas made available across all sectors for the 2008 fiscal year, the US Citizenship & Immigration Services had already received 123,480 eligible applications by last month. After a computer lottery, about half the applicants were rejected.

Now, after investing in an American education, this year’s cohort of US MBA students can either use what's left of their student visas and apply for an H-1B next year or take their degree elsewhere. ‘It's heartbreaking,’ says Michael Hasler, assistant director of MBA career services at McCombs School of Business in Texas. ‘These students are the best and the brightest.’

Europe and Canada attracting MBA students
The upshot is that MBA students may now choose to study an MBA in another country. Under Britain's Highly Skilled Migrant Programme, MBA grads with degrees from the top 50 business institutions are immediately allowed into the country for a year after graduation, and it seems that an increasing number of international students are choosing MBA study in Europe and Canada on the basis of work permit legislation.

Further information
Read the full article at Business Week Online

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