I know someone in a similar, but slightly different situation. He worked for a European-based SaaS company; an American competitor offered him a job in the Bay. When he didn't win the lottery, they had him working in Dublin for a year, and now he is in SF on a L1.
Right. That's a common route for those who didn't attend a US university and didn't win the lottery.
If you went to a US university, you would have started working on your F1 OPT. You now have 3 years to win the lottery.
If that were to fail (EDIT: you are an essential employee and you happen to work for one of the large tech companies) you'd likely be moved to a foreign office of that company for a year, then transferred back in on a L-1 visa.
