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I am a person outside USA who looks for a job in USA. I am not green card holder. Someone advised me for increasing chance in my application, I can write my friend's address in USA,( she has permitted me) and an American phone number in my resume. Is that OK? The main reason is, many of employers do not invite people from outside of USA for interview to avoid paying their ticket prices.

While I'm applying for work I may actually be living at my friend's home. If they want to interview me I'm willing to pay for my own flight. So my main goal is to get an interview without any concern about flight expenses. Is there any way that I tell truth and also make the employer sure that there are no flight expenses for them?

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  • Comment from OP on my now-deleted answer: "Actually, I do not want to tell a lie because during the process of application, I might be in my friend's home in USA and it is truth and it is not a lie . In fact, I want that they invite me to interview and I want to be there with my own money. I donot want that they pay me anything. I want to encourage them that they invite me to interview without any concern about flight expenses. Is there any way that I tell truth and also make the employer sure that there is no flight expenses for me,if they invite me for interview?
    – Lilienthal ♦
    Commented Dec 18, 2016 at 12:43
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    Fiona, to be clear: you would still require an H-1B visa to work in the US? And do you qualify for such a visa?
    – Lilienthal ♦
    Commented Dec 18, 2016 at 12:45
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    By the way, one big problem with your suggested approach is that it is almost certainly illegal, though I'm not qualified to say for sure. You'd presumably be entering the country under a tourist visa with the intent of looking for work. That kind of thing is what visas are pulled for and what gets you blacklisted.
    – Lilienthal ♦
    Commented Dec 18, 2016 at 12:50
  • Yes, you right. I am still need H-1 B visa and I do not want to hide it from employers. I will be qualify for this visa , if the employer wants to employ me after a successful interview but the problem is, if they see my address is outside USA, they will not invite me out of fear of paying travel expenses. I just want to let employer know that if they invite me, they do not need to spend their money for me. Is that ok, if I write in my cover letter that I do not need any travel expenses, if they invite me for interview? Thanks for guiding me.
    – Fiona
    Commented Dec 18, 2016 at 13:18
  • Okay, I've edited your question to make it clear what you're looking to accomplish. Keep in mind that this website is much less busy over the weekend so it may take some time for people who can contribute an answer to find it.
    – Lilienthal ♦
    Commented Dec 18, 2016 at 14:10

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The biggest problem with what you hope to accomplish, and the main reason why your deception will almost certainly backfire on you, is that the main reason why a US company will discard the resume of someone who is located overseas and who doesn't have the right to work in the country is not the located overseas part. It's that you don't have the right to work in the US and they don't want or even - especially in smaller companies - know how to go through the H1B Visa process for a potential hire. Concealing that you need a visa by using a US address might get you an interview, but when the deception comes out will only reduce the likelihood of a company being willing to try to get a work visa for you.

A company that is willing to sponsor you for a visa will also be willing to pay for international airfare - or more likely conduct the majority of the interview process over Skype or an equivalent.

In addition, as @Lilienthal has pointed out in a comment, interviewing for a job needs a different visa type than just coming for tourism. If you have a passport for a country in the Visa Waiver Program, it's not a big deal because the VWP covers business travel (such as interviewing for a job) as well as tourism. If you're not, you need to get a B1/B2 visa instead of a tourist one. In either case you need to be prepared to convince the immigration officer than you're only coming to the US to interview and not to start working on this trip.

If still you want to do this, you can state in the cover letter that you're planning a trip to the US to visit a friend and could coordinate the timing so that you'd only need them to pay for domestic airfare. Don't expect it to help much though.

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  • +1 Explaining the situation and that you're available for interview at no expense to the employer in a cover letter, is the best way to be upfront about the situation. If they don't want to sponsor and visa, not much you can do about it.
    – user8365
    Commented Dec 20, 2016 at 19:49

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