🌐 What to Expect as an F-1 Student

[AUTHOR’S NOTE: Please take care in reading this article. This has been an emotionally difficult one for me to write, and while I feel strongly that everyone ought to read it, it may similarly be a difficult one to read if you’re an F-1 student.]

The U.S.’s immigration system is a complex series of bureaucratic processes seemingly designed to dissuade applicants and employers, filter out “undesirables,” and render even the most hopeful immigrants into a hopeless heap of insecurity. I know this from firsthand experience.

Most people who have known me for less than a decade are surprised to know that I myself was once an F-1-visa-holding international student, despite the fact that I’ve lived in the U.S. since I was 4 years old. To make a long story short, I’ve fallen through the cracks of the U.S. immigration system time and time again, bouncing around from visa to visa as far back as I can remember. I had a unique privilege working for me: my mom has worked in the Mexican consulate for nearly 3 decades, and for much of my life, that afforded me an A-2 diplomatic visa (and, importantly, in-state tuition). When I graduated from my undergrad program at Arizona State, my immigration lawyer advised me to go to grad school in order to improve my odds in the following steps towards long-term residency, and to switch to an F-1 visa. That would ensure that when I graduated, I’d qualify for OPT (Optional Practical Training), which is essentially a limited, temporary U.S. work permit. I’ll be mentioning OPT a few times throughout this piece, so when you see “OPT,” just think “temporary work permit.”

Now, I didn’t particularly want to go to grad school. After 4 difficult years of design school, I was ready to cut my teeth in industry. But when the immigration lawyer tells you to do something, you do it. So, I enrolled in the Master of Industrial Design program at ASU. I don’t regret that decision — my time in grad school helped me develop some new skills, exposed me to people of various cultural backgrounds, and opened the door for me to work in Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group — but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel salty about having these decisions made for me.

If you’re an F-1 student reading this, I hope this piece will provide some brutally honest (but levelheaded) guidance and help set you on the right path. If you’re not an F-1 student, I hope you’ll read it anyway, and that it will give you some insight as to the hurdles and expectations that the rest of us have to go through.

Choosing a School

All design programs are not created equal. Some schools are better at teaching the hard skills like sketching and surface modeling. Others are better at preparing students for research-heavy roles or human factors focuses. Others still are more grounded in engineering, materials, and production feasibility. Like any other student, you should pick a school based on the direction you feel most strongly about.

Unlike other students, however, you’ll need to consider your OPT options when you graduate. Some design schools offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in ID, while others offer a Bachelor of Science in Design (BSD). BSD programs generally qualify for STEM OPT, which will give you three full years’ eligibility to work in the USA. BFA programs will only qualify for the standard OPT, meaning you’ll only get one year. For graduate programs, there’s a similar distinction between MFA degrees (often ineligible) and MID degrees (often eligible).

I highly recommend F-1 students select a STEM OPT-eligible BSD or MID program. However, note that not every BSD or MID program is eligible for STEM OPT as the school must first go through a certification program, so be sure to check with the school! My university was not STEM OPT certified when I was a student, meaning I only had one year of OPT. (They have since been certified.). You can find more information here.

Hard Truths, Different Standards

As an international student, you must hold yourself to a higher standard than your peers. You’ll have to work harder, spend more time in the studio, take on more ambitious projects, pay more careful attention to your spelling and grammar — and that’s just the design coursework. Most of your American peers will be able to skate by on mediocre projects and take their time to figure things out once they graduate. Unfortunately, this is not the case for F-1 students.

The day that you graduate, an imaginary timer starts ticking. You’ll have 90 days to find a job in your field and start your OPT; otherwise, it’s back to your country of origin. And unlike your American peers, that employer must be willing to navigate the US immigration system to sponsor you, which may include lawyer fees and tedious paperwork and bureaucratic headaches. That means you’ll need to be an extremely attractive candidate to justify the extra work to hire you.

Look, I’ve been where you are, I’ve talked to countless people in the same situation, and I’ve seen close friends have their lives uprooted by this system. So I’ll put it bluntly, because I care about you, and you deserve to hear it: you are swimming upstream. This system is designed to work against people like us. It’s an intentionally hostile, dehumanizing system. I fully believe you can find success if you have the right drive and intention, but you’re probably going to have to work harder than anyone you know.

Okay, we’ve gotten those hard truths out in the open. They’re down in writing, you’ve read them, and you’re probably feeling a pit in your stomach.

I want you to pause here. Take a deep breath in through your nose, hold it for four seconds, then slowly exhale.

(No really, actually do it.)

And one more time.

Okay. Now what?

Preparing for Graduation

As I said, the clock starts ticking as soon as you graduate. You’ll want to set yourself up for success by preparing in advance. There are three things you can do to prepare for graduation:

1. Create a rock-solid portfolio: This one should be obvious, but it’s also the most important point. In this industry, you are your portfolio (at least until you secure an interview and can show more of your personality). Hiring managers will be sifting through dozens, if not hundreds, of portfolios, so you really have to stand out from the rest. Your thinking and process are super important, but your hard skills are the first thing we notice, so they must be stellar. I go more in depth about how to create a standout portfolio here.

2. Talk to people in the industry: One issue with being a student is that there’s just so much you don’t know — what makes a project good? What am I looking for in a workplace? What does a day in the life of an agency designer look like vs. in-house at big tech? And countless other questions you don’t even know to ask! The best way to develop this awareness is to talk to professionals. This does the double-duty of preparing you for post-school life and building connections with people in our industry. Because ID is so competitive, it’s a relatively small community, and it really helps to be part of that community. Reach out to people on LinkedIn or via email, and attend design community events when they pop up.

3. Have a backup plan ready: Sometimes the stars don’t align the way you hope that they will, so it’s important to have a plan to fall back on. For a lot of people, this means doing a graduate program and extending their stay on an F-1; for others, it may mean finding work in another country; for a few, it may mean marrying their American partner to avoid overstaying their visa (note: to avoid any legal issues here, I don’t condone this). I don’t care what your backup plan is, just make sure you have one ready. The last thing you want is to have to figure this out under a ton of stress and within a tight time frame.

Your Options in the US Immigration System

I am by no means an immigration lawyer (though there are days where I feel pretty damn qualified), so please take this section with a grain of salt and talk to a licensed immigration lawyer about your individual situation. Now that that’s out of the way, there are typically only a few options for F-1 students after graduating. Below is a small handful of popular routes (but note that there may be others for your particular situation):

1. The H-1B visa: This is typically the visa that F-1 students hope to get. It’s a temporary work visa, issued for an initial period of 3 years but renewable for up to 6, which is eligible only to highly skilled workers who are sponsored by an existing or prospective employer. This is considered a “dual-intent” visa, meaning your intent could be just to work here temporarily or it could be to immigrate permanently (by applying for a green card). There’s a limit of 85,000 H-1B visas issued per year, of which 20,000 are reserved for applicants with master’s or doctoral degrees. There are far, far more than 85,000 applicants annually, so there’s a lottery system for this visa. This is why STEM OPT is so important: it’s very likely you’ll need to enter the lottery more than once. I entered the lottery 3 times before being selected.

2. The TN visa: This one is specific to citizens of Mexico and Canada. If you’re from one of those countries and your occupation is listed in the Designated Professions List for TN Status (”industrial designer” is, believe it or not!), then you can qualify for a TN visa. You’ll need to have an employer sponsor you for this visa as well, but it’s a much easier, less involved process. The TN visa can be issued for up to 3 years at a time and is (at least in theory) endlessly renewable. I worked on a TN visa for ~7.5 years before making the switch to H-1B.

3. The O-1 visa: This is the "Individuals with Extraordinary Ability or Achievement” visa. For this one, you’ll have to prove that you have at minimum 3 of the following:

   • Extraordinary ability in your field

   • International acclaim for your design work

   • Experience in leading roles in your works (note: technically, a “leading role” in your own personal projects counts for this)

   • Experience holding a key role in an organization of distinguished reputation

   • Letters of recommendation and/or awards

   • A high salary

   This can be a difficult one to navigate. Thankfully, my friend and O-1-holding industrial designer Shubhangi Chuhadia has done some invaluable writing on this, which you can find here. Shoutout to her for doing us all this service — you rule!

4. Get another degree and try again: I know, for most people it’s not ideal. School is already very expensive (especially paying out of state tuition!) and it’ll extend your life plans by a couple of years. That being said, you may see this as an opportunity explore an adjacent field and make yourself a well-rounded, more attractive candidate in future job hunts.

5. Marry an American: Look, this isn’t the solution for most people, but it’s by far the fastest and most permanent one. You should only consider this if you’re actually in a committed, long-term relationship with an American partner. Please don’t say “Carlos told me to do it,” thanks! 👋🏼

Parting Thoughts

The overwhelming majority of people in this country have no idea what being an international student really entails. Those of us who have been through it intimately understand just how complicated, how infuriating, how debilitating, how expensive, and how amazing it can be. I hope this has been useful to you, reader, and that you step away from this piece having a clearer idea of what’s ahead. Like I said, it’s not an easy journey, but I truly believe you can find success in this industry if you get to work and be intentional with your time.

One last thing: please (please!) do me a personal favor and share this with the other F-1 students in your network. I’d love for this to reach as many people as possible.