Sponsorship from work?

I am came to US illegally through the border back in 1997. I am graduating this year with B.S. in Civil Engineering. I took the FE exam and passed. I am registered E.I.T. in state of California.

I am fortunate to have a job of 4 years in insurance agency business after high school. They paid me by paying my college tuition and I've been paying the debt through hourly wages.

Throughout the years, they asked me what I would do after college.
I asked them about sponsorship, but the owner said it would be hard because my degree is irrelevant to his operation. Engineering is not Insurance. I want to know if I am able to get sponsorship and gain my legal work status through the insurance agency business regardless of my degree.

Also in some random research in forums, some say that I can't even get sponsored because of my illegal entry in U.S.
Sponsorship opportunity applies to people who has current valid VISA.

Anyone know the process of sponsorship?

A friend of mine has a degree in Accounting and he is sponsored by TurboAir.inc (they make commerical refrigerators for restaurants)

I applied for the job and had an interview with them a year ago. They told me I couldnt get the job because I only had an associate's degree in business and for H-1 visa, a person has to have 4 year degree or more. I also applied for Kia and hyundai in Alabama before and the answer was the same.

One lawyer told me theres an E-2 Employee visa for people like me but the chance of getting a sponsorship through the visa is very small. Out of many lawyers I talked to, he was the only one told me about it so I assume it is out of option for people like me.

I am not sure about legal status but it sounds like it is required to have valid legal status for H-1 Visa.

Okay another thing do I need to leave the country to file for work Visa? I know there is this thing called 245-i, but I was 2nd grade back then... and had no knowledge of it. so.. I couldn't apply for one before the dead line of 4/30/01. If I leave the country, I am barred for 10 years.

yeah I heard about 245-i also but i think it got shut down long time ago. I could be wrong but heres an article about it after a quick google search.

http://shusterman.com/245ifrequentlyaskedquestions.html

yea I read that too, but the date. For app was back in 2001

so it is shut down then

I dont suggest you leaving the country at all. It should be your last option unless you want to live in Korea. My ex-gf left and she cant come back for 10 years.

Yea. If possible I also want to leave my insurance business if an engineering firm is willing to sponsor me

Maybe you can quietly leave through Mexico, come back on a tourist visa, and try to get sponsorship. I don't know what gets checked when you enter the US but I assume if you've never committed a crime, overstayed a visa, or been detained/deported you're not on any such databases.