At the outset, let me clarify, the intent of sharing this story on GMATclub is not to deter b-school applicants from applying to US universities, rather provide them with a ground-level view of the US work visa rejection and related challenges. Work Visa rejection is not an MBA specific thing, but since visa rejections have started happening more and more frequently, hence posting it here.
My story in brief:In 2014, My wife's work visa extension was denied , BTW she is not an MBA. By then, My wife and I had already worked in the US for some years. Even while filing for her extension there was an apprehension that it may be rejected, as the rejection had started to happen. Three months after filing the extension, the RFE(Request for evidence) came up. We replied to the RFE but one day the dreaded thing happened; the company's attorney forwarded the rejection letter.
Below are some related FAQs
Q. Do you have a fixed date for receiving the H1B approval/Rejection status?
Ans. No. The Approval/Rejection status can be updated any day and time. In our case, the rejection decision came out a couple of days before my wife's birthday and we had made some plans for her birthday (no points for guessing how the birthday celebration went post visa denial).
Q. Post visa rejection, How much time did my wife had for leaving the country?
Ans. Legally, Zero. She was already overdue her last date for a legal stay, as her extension was filed one month before her visa was supposed to expire. It is perfectly legal to stay and work while the extension petition is under processing. she left 1 week later as that much time is needed to wrap things up. Thankfully she had her job as her company already had a center in India.
If you are on OPT and H1B RFE is denied before approval then you need to check with an immigration attorney for the legal stay duration.
Q. What happens to the rental house lease, furniture, and car etc.
Ans. In most cases, the leases have to be pre-closed which calls for a monetary penalty (1-2 month rental). The furniture and car have to be sold at dirt cheap prices since you won't be able to take it with you. I have seen people taking a loss of $5k-10k because of such an untoward situation. In my case, I stayed back for 3 months (My work visa was still valid) and sold everything, though it wasn't an easy thing to do.
Q. Do the chances of getting through the H1B lottery system improves if you do your MBA from a top US b school such as HBS/Stanford/Kellogg/Wharton?
Ans. No. The initial H1B lottery process doesn't take into consideration your b-school. Your whole file has an application number attached to it and apart from the application number, nothing else enters the lottery. People who have done Masters from US have a separate lottery initially and if you don't make it through it ,you will be put in the normal lottery. It does increase your chances of selection by 16% as compared to those who go through a normal lottery.
Here is an article from the Stanford alumni on his first-time visa rejection :
https://gmatclub.com/forum/stanford-mba ... 54185.htmlBut with a top B-school MBA, the effort of finding a job outside the US is lowered. There are people in India who have come back post-Stanford/Cornell MBA and have been offered some great roles with competitive salaries. But overall, some effort still has to be put in for finding a job in your home country.
Q. Should you not apply to US schools after reading such H1-B rejection stories.
Ans. No. I don't think it should deter someone from applying to US B schools. The only thing to be kept in mind is that you need to have a plan B, in case things go south. Honestly, Some people go through this Visa Hoopla-hoop easily, some don't. There is no thumb rule to this whole H1-B situation.Q. What is asked in RFE Or Request for evidence?
Ans. RFE asks for various set of documents, depending on the application. In our case, we were asked to justify how did the position justified as the one involving "specialized knowledge".
My personal advice, Plan for the worst and hope for the best
Good luck.
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Updated on: 09 Jul 2020, 22:14
