A friend of mine who is a Chartered Accountant in Nepal wants to come to US to take CPA exams and upon receiving the certification he wish to work in the United States. I am wondering if any one has done the similar thing or has some knowledge around this. He is mainly concerned about the difficulty in finding jobs after the certification given the non-employment status he will have as he finishes the CPA. Please help and share if you have any experience.

Here's the official website of the Uniform CPA Examination. Here, your friend will find answers to most of his questions regarding CPA certification exams.

http://www.cpa-exam.org/

Ask him to worry more about the board exams now than getting a job (because passing the exams is a lot harder than getting jobs).

Once he gets job, visa shouldn't be a big deal (as many companies offer H1Bs to CPAs).
Good luck !
DP

Thanks for your insight DP. That was helpful. Here are few things that he wonders about:

1) Can one obtain a US visa just to write the CPA exams here? If so, what kind of visa does he have to obtain. How long does that visa allow him to stay here?

2) Does he get some sort of OPT kind of thing once he passes the exams so that he can start looking for jobs right away without having to constrain himself with H1b quotas and its availibility.

3) Lastly, are there any accounting consulting firms that run on the same business model as IT consulting firms? He thinks that way obtaining H1b could be a little easier.

It will be of great help if some one has experience with any of the above and could share here.

Maniac,

1) Can one obtain a US visa just to write the CPA exams here? If so, what kind of visa does he have to obtain. How long does that visa allow him to stay here?

- No. But he can come as a student to do some kind of university degree. Keep in mind, CA is not an academic degree. If he has masters degree in accounting from Nepal , he can sit for the CPA exam. However they have different rules in different states.

2) Does he get some sort of OPT kind of thing once he passes the exams so that he can start looking for jobs right away without having to constrain himself with H1b quotas and its availibility.

- No. But the good thing is, as soon as he becomes eligible ( 150 credit hours) to sit for the CPA exam, he will be offered many jobs.

3) Lastly, are there any accounting consulting firms that run on the same business model as IT consulting firms? He thinks that way obtaining H1b could be a little easier.

- In my knowledge, no. But the chances of being hired with the sponsorship are high.

Lastly, accounting is not only the numbers.

According to an AICPA data, almost 85 % of the CPAs are retiring from their existing jobs by 2013. So we need so many professional accountants.

Hello Manic, I believe your friend should first worry about preparing for CPA and meeting its minimum requirments such as 150 credits, 24/30 credits of Accounting courses depending on the states before worrying about a job. FYI the passing rate of CPA is only about 10% so finding a job once you complete your CPA is not very tough but passing definietly is. Good Luck to your friend.