Thanks Ivan!
Sad to think that 90 % of that deal is all about papers...but I know from the personal experience how important that all is. Once I was intern at the UN in 2005, I made a very good contact with one of the partners of a relatively big US law firm...who told me..."job is yours..just give me your papers". Hmmm, this F-1 aspect is really something to think about.. I thought that after the US school LL.M, big internationals are willing to sponsor, but see that it is all very problematic...
Thanks again!
Kira, I think your recollections are right. The thing is: if you are on an F1 visa in the US, obtaining a 1-year work permit in the US (the so-called OPT) depends on the submission of a request to the US immigration authorities. They usually do not take long to grant it, and it authorizes you to start working immediately after the completion of the LLM and until July of that year. If you are not on an F1 visa, things are much more complicated: first, you have to find a firm that is willing to hire you; second, you will not be able to work for them immediately - they will have to request an H1B visa for you. The problem with the H1B visa is that there is a cap for the annual number of visas allowed. Since there are much more requests than visas available, there is a lottery to determine who can get a visa. Finally, in the event you get an H1B visa, it is not activated immediately - the activation date is usually some time in October. It is definitely a more complicated process, and a potential employer may prefer to hire an F1 visa holder who might be available to start working right away. Therefore, I guess you should take this into account in order to reach a decision. By the way, do the courses you take at NYU@NUS qualify for the purpose of the NY Bar Exam? I think this is an important factor as well.
Mikifromitaly, pursuing an LLM can be a very rewarding experience both from a personal and professional perspective. However, and to the extent it does require a significant investment in time and money, it is a very important decision. Since I arrived in the US, I have met people and heard stories of LLMs that came to NY in the years immediately after 9/11 (2002-4) whose plans to stay in the US after the completion of the LLM did not turn out well, due to the job market. In their case, their LLM experience was not as sweet as they expected it to be (although many of them got jobs in US firms back home and managed to come back to the US after a couple of years). My comments may sound pessimistic to you, but I am only trying to give some candid insight of the situation in the US right now (I do not understand why you say I am discouraging people to pursue LLMs anywhere in the world), since I studied, live and work in New York. I don't claim to be the holder of the universal truth - and you should read my advice (and any advice on internet) with a grain of salt. You seem to be an optimistic fella - good for you. But maybe you should inform yourself better, as it sounds awkward to read observations about the NY job market prospects of LLM grads and the hiring policies of NY law firms from someone who is presumably in Europe and presumably works for a UK law firm (not a US one). Having said that, I think we should not engage in further personal discussions in this forum, as they do not provide any useful information to the guys who read these posts.
