Hacker News Reader

Comment by Osmium | Hacker News Reader

Apologies for being somewhat off-topic, but does anybody know if there are citizenship requirements for working at a place like SpaceX?

I have a solid background in materials science and metallurgy from a world-class university, and find what Musk is doing very inspirational. After I finish my PhD, I'd love to be a part of it, but I'm British and I know with some companies in the industry there're citizenship requirements for security reasons. As he mentions in the interview, they wouldn't want China stealing their ideas, for example. And I know a lot of the job postings on SpaceX list "US citizen or permanent resident" as a requirement, but I didn't know if this was a hard and fast rule, or whether exceptions are possible.

View on HN

I think the limitation is actually put in place by the US government because rocket technology is basically weapons technology. I may be wrong about that though.

That's what I feared.

It very much is a government thing, yes. I've looked into this in the past when looking at internship opportunities.

It's not that hard to become a US permanent resident. SpaceX doesn't hire many PhD's though, they're quite manufacturing/design oriented. The guys I knew who got in were all bachelor's and master's holders with hands-on experience building stuff that flies (mostly via student projects) and high gpa's (3.7+) from good schools.

Thanks for the info and the advice. I know my PhD isn't going to help me, at least not directly, because it's only peripherally related but my undergrad background is very solid. I've also interned at Rolls-Royce working on jet engines, and I know the kind of materials design issues they'll be running up against. e.g. in the article he mentions stir welding, something I've studied (and had the pleasure of visiting the organisation that developed it, TWI). So while I don't have actual "hands-on" experience building stuff that flies, I still think I could be useful.

Dude go for it! Sounds like the opportunity of a life time and you sound like you know your stuff. Send some emails!

Don't forget that Elon Musk was born in South Africa and became an American citizen. You would definitely have to move to the US and plan to stay, but Musk won't hate immigrants.

It's a hard and fast rule. You must either be a US citizen or permanent resident. ITAR is the reason.

That's a real shame, but understandable. It's too bad they have to artificially restrict their talent pool like that.

Get on the track for citizenship. We in the aerospace industry have a long and glorious tradition of Americanizing engineers for space program.

Try applying and find out. You have nothing to lose but a little time.

I won't be in a position to apply for another two years, but if I thought there was even a chance of being accepted there're things I could do in the meantime to make myself a much more attractive applicant.

If you want potentially revolutionary, reusable space projects with some ninja materials science, there is a project rather closer to home for you, which you might be interested in:

www.reactionengines.co.uk

Thanks, the link's appreciated. I've heard of REL before, but I didn't realise they were doing quite so well at the moment!

Then ask them that. Really, competent potential hires showing early interest for that reason is the dream of every engineering/R&D HR person. They'll be very happy to tell you what you want to know if you're at all interesting for them as a potential hire. Spontaneous passionate applicants are usually much more interesting to a high tech company than nearly anyone a recruiter can come up with.

Yes, you must be a U.S. citizen. It's an ITAR restriction (google it) because essentially you'd be working on an intercontinental ballistic missile.

OR permanent resident.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com