Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • March 9, 2020 • Hartford Business Journal 7 Ignite your employees' interest with a modern retirement plan design. hhconsultants.com/ignite worldwide sales? Family values & our bank." "The secret ingredients to worldwide sales? Member FDIC / Preferred SBA Lender TM Ragozzino Foods grew from the family basement to a sales powerhouse, thanks to first class products, great service and support from commercial bankers at Ion Bank. For businesses of all sizes, we make banking all kinds of easier. See the rags-to-riches Ragozzino story at IonBank.com/stories or call us at 203.729.4442. Nancy Ragozzino, President RAGOZZINO FOODS Meriden, CT full-time MBA students are from outside the U.S. But the Trump administration's tightening of cer- tain worker-visa rules and broader anti-immigrant sentiments have made it more difficult for for- eign students to remain in the U.S. after graduation and discouraged others from ap- plying to pro- grams here. A 2019 study by business school con- sultancy Car- ringtonCrisp found that only half of international business school applicants consid- ered U.S. schools, down from 62% in 2018 and 67% in 2017. In October, the Wall Street Journal reported that applications to U.S. MBA programs have fallen for five years in a row, in part due to immigration policies and U.S.-China tensions. Meanwhile, employers have shown less interest in hiring international MBA students in recent years, ac- cording to surveys by the MBA Ca- reer Services & Employer Alliance. Shah, who hails from India, was one of many international students attending the UConn event last month. He said concerns about being able to get employer sponsorship for a more permanent work visa after graduation linger in his and his fel- low international students' minds. "It's getting harder for interna- tional students," he said. In response, Shah said colleges are pushing their MBA students to seek connections with job recruiters as much as possible, so they can find a company willing to sponsor a federal work visa application. "It's more of a connection," he said. "You can explain your situation better." TsuHuan Lei, 34, is another Ba- ruch MBA student. He hails from Taiwan, where he managed two hardware retail stores. Lei, who taught himself English after graduating high school by watching television shows, has seen the brick-and-mortar model continue to struggle against online competition, just like stores here in the U.S., so he decided to expand his horizons with an MBA. At UConn, he was interested in finding an internship, perhaps at Amazon or CVS. "We'll see, if I get a good opportu- nity, I might try to work here [in the U.S.]," Lei said. He's well aware that it could be a challenge to land a work visa after he graduates. Officials at schools he applied to warned him about the situation, he said. But there are always other options. Lei recalled something mentioned during a recent immigration work- shop he attended in New York: "Don't worry, if you don't get to stay in the states, Canada is always open." Mark Gelinas, vice president of talent management for Virtus Investment Partners, said a university inviting competing programs to a career fair is unusual, but as an employer, he liked the results. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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