IT Internship In the US For a Foreigner?

grk writes "I am from Europe, studying Business Informatics. I have plenty of IT-related work experience (from my part-time job and summer jobs) ranging from Project Management and Software Planning to Programming. In the 5th semester my curriculum has scheduled an internship for February 2009 preceding bachelor examinations and bachelor thesis. It will last for about three months. I would like to do my internship in the US, but I do not know how to start. Is it common to send unsolicited applications to companies in the US? Try the big corporations? Should I go for an employment agency? Which ones to choose from? What about the pay? Where I come from it is common to pay only a fraction of what your work is actually worth if it's called an 'internship.' Does this apply to the US as well? Any other recommendations?"

Comments

Re:I'm guessing...

[lgw]

I hear this often that no Americans apply for internships, but in reality they are never externally posted domestically, so no US citizens know about them.

Its the usual ploy for more excuses to fire Americans for dirt cheap I-9 labor, when complete outsourcing can't be done in a department.

I think your tinfoil hat is on too tight. We pay interns the same whether citizens or not, same for new college hires (I don't know about other positions). Our college recruiters go through the normal channels to post jobs. All of our interns came from external postings.

The point of an intership program is to find smart young engineers, not cheap labor. Interns are never worth what you pay them, so they don't count as cheap labor - they're an investment in hiring top talent.

There are certainly companies that focus on H1-B labor, especially on exploiting young workers who don't realize how easy it is to change jobs and how much they're underpaid, but those seriously aren't companies you'd want to work for, even to break into the industry.

Meanwhile, look at the population of CompSci masters students in the California system. I did. It's almost entirely foreigners here on student visas. That's not some conspiracy of evil companies, it's just reality.