How to Explain Foreign Work Experience in a US Interview When They've Never Heard of Your Employer
Your interviewer has never heard of your last employer, so your best years sound like a footnote. Here is how to make them count, accurately.
To explain foreign work experience in an interview when the interviewer has never heard of your employer, give three things in about 20 seconds: what the company is in US terms (sector, customers, size, one scale number), your own scope in units they can picture (people, users, dollars), and what changed because of you. Then tell one specific story. On F-1 OPT, STEM OPT or H-1B, describe each job exactly as your records will, because the same years can later sit behind an H-1B offer or a green-card experience letter.
Status as of 2026-11-01. Wage-weighted H-1B selection is in effect (since 2026-02-27); the FY2028 registration window is not announced; DOL's prevailing-wage rule (RIN 1205-AC30) is proposed, not final. The 8 CFR 204.5 (EB-2) and 214.2 (H-1B) experience rules quoted below are in effect.
How to explain foreign work experience in an interview
Lead with a one-sentence company description: sector, customers, headcount and one scale number. Then give your own scope separately (the people you led, what you owned, the result, money in US dollars) and finish with one specific story. Accuracy beats impressiveness, because reference calls, background checks and any later visa paperwork describe the same job.
An interviewer who doesn't recognize the name is missing a reference point, so "four years at a company I've never heard of" gets sized down, and the discount can carry into the offer's level and pay. That matters more now: Indeed Hiring Lab reported that as of May 2026, senior-level postings were up 14.7% year over year and entry-level postings down 7.5%.
On post-completion OPT, the clock adds pressure. As the SEVIS Help Hub explains, the unemployment limit is 90 days on post-completion OPT and 150 days on STEM OPT, a total that includes days used on post-completion OPT. If you are between jobs, that counter runs while you interview.
Do US employers value work experience from India or other countries?
Yes, when they can size it. On our reading, the green-card regulation asks for letters from "current or former employer(s)" with no location test, and the H-1B rules speak of work experience without limiting it to the US. What interviewers discount is experience they cannot picture. Three things fix that: a frame (what the company is), a scope (what you did, in numbers) and a bridge (the overlap with this job).
How do I describe a company the interviewer doesn't know?
Use one sentence that says what the company sells, to whom, how big it is and how much volume it handles. Say it in under 20 seconds, then move to your role; if the interviewer wants more, they will ask.
The 20-second company-context formula
[Company] is a [sector] company in [city] that [sells what] to [which customers]; about [headcount] people, [one scale number].
| Part | What it answers | Example wording | Leave it out when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sector and product | What does it do? | "an IT services firm that builds and runs software for banks" | Never; this is the core |
| Customers | Who pays it? | "mostly US and UK insurers" | The client list is confidential; give the sector instead |
| Size | Startup, mid-size or large? | "about 9,000 employees" | You can't confirm it from the company's own materials |
| Scale | How much does it handle? | "around 2 million active borrowers" | The figure isn't public and isn't yours to share |
| Bridge (optional) | Where have I seen this? | "a similar model to a US online lender" | The comparison flatters more than it fits |
Names and figures in this post's examples are invented; use only numbers you can stand behind.
Pick a reference point that survives a follow-up
"Like a US online lender, but repayments run through mobile money" is checkable. "The Uber of Kenya" invites a test your company may fail. At a conglomerate, state-owned company or family group, name the part you worked in ("the auto-parts division, about 3,000 people"), because the group's headcount is not your scope.
Should I convert team size or budget to US terms?
Convert money and number units; do not convert people. Give currency in US dollars at that week's market rate, rounded ("about $350,000"), and never adjust for purchasing power, because the interviewer compares it with US budgets at face value. Translate lakh and crore. Keep team sizes exact, but split the people you led from the team you sat in.
Scope translation sheet
| What you have | Say it this way in a US interview | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A budget of "3 crore" | "30 million rupees, about $[X] at this week's rate" | Nobody can price an unfamiliar currency mid-conversation |
| "5 lakh daily users" | "500,000 daily users" | 1 lakh is 100,000; 1 crore is 10 million |
| "My team of 40" | "I led 6 engineers directly, inside a 40-person delivery team" | Interviewers probe it, and reference calls confirm it |
| "Grade C2" or "AM" | "the second engineering level, about three years in; I reviewed others' code" | Grade ladders don't travel; responsibilities do |
| "Worked on a US client project" | "I overlapped four hours a day with the client's East Coast team" | Shows you already work in US rhythms |
| "Handled bench allocation and appraisals" | "staffed people between projects and ran annual performance reviews" | Local jargon stalls the conversation, and "bench" carries a loaded meaning in US H-1B discussions |
How do I explain an IT services background to a product company?
Name the model in one plain sentence, then spend the answer on ownership. A product interviewer is asking whether you will own a problem end to end or wait for a spec, so choose a story where you made a decision, not one where you delivered a ticket. Details that land:
- What you owned in production (a service, a pipeline, a release) and the on-call you carried for it.
- A metric the client cared about that moved because of you: latency, failed transactions, escaped defects, cost.
- A requirement you pushed back on, or a change you proposed that the client adopted.
Many services contracts bar you from naming the client; "a large US regional bank" still gives scale. Don't apologize for the background: shipping at scale, across time zones, for demanding customers is a strength once a story proves it.
Three before-and-after answers
Each "after" keeps the same facts and changes only the framing.
1. Software engineer from Indian IT services, now on STEM OPT
Before: "I worked at Vexta Technologies for four years as a Senior Systems Engineer on a banking project."
After: "Before my master's, I spent four years at Vexta Technologies, a Chennai IT services firm of about 9,000 people that builds and runs software for US and UK banks. I was on a six-person team that owned the payments API for one US regional bank, and I led two of the engineers. The API handled about 1.2 million transactions a day. The change I'm proudest of was a retry redesign that cut failed payments by about a third."
Why it works: one-sentence frame, team and personal scope kept separate, one number, one outcome, no client name.
2. Data analyst from a Lagos fintech, on post-completion OPT
Before: "I was a data analyst at Kudira. It's a really big fintech in Nigeria."
After: "Kudira is a Lagos consumer-lending company, about 400 people, that makes small short-term loans through a mobile app to roughly 2 million active borrowers. Think of a US online small-dollar lender, except repayments run through mobile money. I was one of three analysts on the credit-risk team. I rebuilt the weekly default report in SQL and Python, and a scoring change I proposed from it lowered 30-day defaults on first-time borrowers over two quarters."
Why it works: "really big" becomes numbers, and the bridge is checkable.
3. Mechanical engineer from a German family-owned manufacturer, now on H-1B
Before: "I was a Projektingenieur at Brunnhagen Antriebstechnik."
After: "Brunnhagen is a family-owned German manufacturer of about 1,100 people that makes industrial gearboxes, mostly for wind-turbine and mining-equipment makers in Europe and Asia. My title translates to project engineer, but I owned design changes for one gearbox line from the customer's request to production release, coordinating eight people across design, testing and the plant. The output-shaft redesign I led brought warranty returns on that line close to zero within a year."
Why it works: it translates the title, then replaces it with responsibility and a result.
How to translate a foreign job title in the interview
Say the real title, then its level and function in one breath: "My title was Associate Consultant; at that company it was the second level, about two to four years in, and I ran client workshops on my own." Keep the original visible on paper, because background checks and experience letters will show it. Our guide to converting a foreign job title to its US equivalent covers the resume format, and the Tell Me About Yourself framework for non-native speakers shows where the company line fits in your opener. If part of your time abroad was a break rather than a job, see how to explain a gap year or home-country work period instead.
Does foreign experience count toward H-1B wage level or EB-2?
It can, but not the way most candidates assume. The H-1B wage level follows the job's requirements and the offered pay, not your personal years. For EB-2, experience abroad can count, shown by letters from those employers.
H-1B wage level and the weighted lottery
- The LCA wage level is set by what the job requires, under DOL guidance. DHS's weighted-selection rule describes LCA levels as increasing "to account for a higher-than-usual skill or other job requirements." Your employer and its attorney write those requirements, not you. Our explainer on H-1B wage levels I through IV covers the levels.
- The lottery weight for a cap-subject registration follows pay. Under the weighted selection final rule, in effect since 2026-02-27, registrations are weighted by "the highest OEWS wage level that the prospective beneficiary's proffered wage equals or exceeds for the relevant SOC code in the area(s) of intended employment." A Level IV registration is entered four times, Level I once.
Common misconception: "More years of experience mean more H-1B lottery entries." Correction: DHS says a registration is weighted by the offered wage "regardless of the beneficiary's experience level or the requirements of the position." Your experience matters through the offer it supports, not by itself.
So the link is the offer: if an interviewer files your five years abroad as "basically a new grad," the offer's level and pay can follow, and in a cap-subject case so can the lottery weight. The FY2028 registration is not announced; 8 CFR 214.2(h)(8)(iii)(A)(3) requires USCIS to announce its start at least 30 calendar days ahead, on the H-1B registration page. DOL's wage-level proposal (RIN 1205-AC30) is still proposed, not final.
H-1B degree equivalency
If your bachelor's is a three-year degree, or not in the specialty, experience can enter the degree analysis. One route the regulation lists is a USCIS determination under 8 CFR 214.2(h)(4)(iii)(D)(5): "three years of specialized training and/or work experience must be demonstrated for each year of college-level training the alien lacks," plus recognition of expertise in the specialty. Whether your record meets that test is for the employer's immigration attorney, not something to settle in an interview.
EB-2: bachelor's plus five years
Under 8 CFR 204.5(k)(2), "a foreign equivalent degree followed by at least five years of progressive experience in the specialty shall be considered the equivalent of a master's degree." The evidence is "letters from current or former employer(s)" showing "at least five years of progressive post-baccalaureate experience," and under 204.5(g)(1) each letter gives "the name, address, and title of the writer, and a specific description of the duties performed." USCIS's EB-2 page states the same standard.
Two details matter for experience abroad. Years worked before your bachelor's was finished are not post-baccalaureate. And on our reading, 204.5(k)(2) has no counterpart to the H-1B three-for-one rule, so whether a three-year degree counts as "a foreign equivalent degree" is a question for the employer's attorney. Our EB-2 green card basics covers the category and the India queue.
Where your experience story gets checked (as of 2026-11)
An interview creates no evidence, but a mismatch between how you described a job and what a former employer later certifies raises questions.
| Stage | Document | Who prepares it | What must match your interview answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interview and application | Resume, LinkedIn, the employer's application form | You | Titles, dates, scope |
| Background check | Employment verification with past employers | The employer's screening vendor | Employer names, dates, titles |
| H-1B petition | LCA (Form ETA-9035) and Form I-129 | Employer and its attorney | The job's requirements; your qualifications as evidence |
| Cap-subject lottery | Online registration with a wage level selected | Employer | The offered wage against OEWS levels |
| EB-2 green card | PERM labor certification, Form I-140 with experience letters | Employer, attorney, your former employers' HR | Writer's name, address and title; specific duties; five years post-degree |
How to prepare, step by step
- Collect offer letters, relieving or experience letters, final payslips and HR-portal service history from each foreign employer while you still have log-ins.
- Request an experience letter from each former employer's HR with the writer's name, address and title and your specific duties, the elements 8 CFR 204.5(g)(1) lists. Our employment verification letter template shows a format; a future employer's attorney may want its own.
- Write a company-context line for each employer and time it: under 20 seconds.
- Fill in the scope translation sheet for each role, converting currency the week of the interview.
- Match titles and dates across your resume, LinkedIn and each employer's application portal.
- Rehearse one ownership story per employer out loud, under two minutes each.
- Route status questions once an offer arrives: your DSO for reporting a new OPT or STEM OPT employer, and the employer's immigration attorney for how your experience will be documented for an H-1B or green card.
Common mistakes
- Leading with the name and title, or "big" and "leading," with no number. Headcount and volume end the skepticism that adjectives invite.
- Rounding team size up. If you led 6 inside a 40-person team, the 40 comes apart in the first follow-up or reference call.
- Using home-market jargon. Fresher, onsite/offshore, appraisal, bench and lakh all need translation.
- Telling a different story than the records. Interview, resume, background check and any later petition evidence describe one job.
- Waiting until the green-card stage to ask old employers for letters. Companies merge, managers leave and HR portals close.
Frequently asked questions
Do US employers value work experience from India or other countries?
Yes, when they can picture its size. On our reading, neither the H-1B nor the EB-2 regulation limits qualifying experience to US employers. What interviewers discount is experience they cannot size, so give the company's sector, customers and headcount, and your own scope in numbers.
How do I describe a company the interviewer doesn't know?
Use one sentence covering what the company sells, to whom, its headcount and one scale number, in under 20 seconds, then move to your role. Add a US comparison only if it survives a follow-up, and name clients only if your agreement allows it.
Should I convert team size or budget to US terms?
Convert money to US dollars at the current market rate, round it and say "about," and never adjust for purchasing power. Translate lakh and crore into thousands and millions. Keep team sizes exact and separate the people you led from the wider team, because reference calls confirm the real number.
How do I explain an IT services background to a product company?
Name the model in one plain sentence, then spend the answer on ownership. Pick a story where you made a decision and moved a production metric, not one where you closed a ticket, and describe a confidential client by sector and size.
Does foreign experience count toward H-1B wage level or EB-2?
It can, in different ways. The LCA wage level follows the job's requirements, and the weighted H-1B lottery (in effect since 2026-02-27) weights a registration by the offered wage, not your years. For EB-2, 8 CFR 204.5(k)(2) treats a bachelor's or foreign equivalent degree plus five years of progressive experience as a master's equivalent, shown by employer letters. An immigration attorney assesses how your record fits.
Sources
- 8 CFR 204.5, employment-based immigrant petitions (Cornell LII): https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/8/204.5
- 8 CFR 214.2, including the H-1B degree-equivalency and registration-notice rules (Cornell LII): https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/8/214.2
- USCIS, Employment-Based Immigration: Second Preference EB-2: https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/permanent-workers/employment-based-immigration-second-preference-eb-2
- USCIS, H-1B Electronic Registration Process: https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/h-1b-specialty-occupations/h-1b-electronic-registration-process
- Federal Register, Weighted Selection Process for Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions (2025-12-29): https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/12/29/2025-23853/weighted-selection-process-for-registrants-and-petitioners-seeking-to-file-cap-subject-h-1b
- Federal Register, DOL prevailing-wage NPRM, RIN 1205-AC30 (2026-03-27): https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/27/2026-06017/improving-wage-protections-for-the-temporary-and-permanent-employment-of-certain-foreign-nationals
- SEVIS Help Hub, unemployment counter: https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/sevis-help-hub/student-records/fm-student-employment/unemployment-counter
- Indeed Hiring Lab, The Labor Market Is Tilting Toward Seniority (2026-07-23): https://hiringlab.indeed.com/2026/07/23/the-labor-market-is-tilting-toward-seniority/
How we checked this: we read the regulations, agency pages and rule text listed above on 2026-11-01; names and figures in the sample answers are invented.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Your own I-20, I-94 and USCIS notices govern your situation; ask your DSO about OPT and STEM OPT reporting, and an immigration attorney about how your experience will be documented for an H-1B or green card.
Experience abroad is an asset once an interviewer can picture it. If you want help putting yours in front of employers that sponsor, F1Jobs works with international candidates on OPT, STEM OPT and H-1B.
Frequently asked questions
Do US employers value work experience from India or other countries?
Yes, when they can picture its size. On our reading, neither the H-1B nor the EB-2 regulation limits qualifying experience to US employers. What interviewers discount is experience they cannot size, so give the company's sector, customers and headcount, and your own scope in numbers.
How do I describe a company the interviewer doesn't know?
Use one sentence covering what the company sells, to whom, its headcount and one scale number, in under 20 seconds, then move to your role. Add a US comparison only if it survives a follow-up, and name clients only if your agreement allows it.
Should I convert team size or budget to US terms?
Convert money to US dollars at the current market rate, round it and say about, and never adjust for purchasing power. Translate lakh and crore into thousands and millions. Keep team sizes exact and separate the people you led from the wider team, because reference calls confirm the real number.
How do I explain an IT services background to a product company?
Name the model in one plain sentence, then spend the answer on ownership. Pick a story where you made a decision and moved a production metric, not one where you closed a ticket, and describe a confidential client by sector and size.
Does foreign experience count toward H-1B wage level or EB-2?
It can, in different ways. The LCA wage level follows the job's requirements, and the weighted H-1B lottery (in effect since 2026-02-27) weights a registration by the offered wage, not your years. For EB-2, 8 CFR 204.5(k)(2) treats a bachelor's or foreign equivalent degree plus five years of progressive experience as a master's equivalent, shown by employer letters. An immigration attorney assesses how your record fits.