Students on F1

[Parwana 0]

Hi,

Guys please give me some information about work permit or authorization when you are on a F1 visa. Is there ANY way a student can book an appointment with a local uscis office and apply for a work permit, or it has to be done at the POE? How about volunteered work, still a F1 holder student needs work permit?

Edited November 29, 2012 by Parwana

[Harsh_77 718]

Hi,

Guys please give me some information about work permit or authorization when you are on a F1 visa. Is there ANY way a student can book an appointment with a local uscis office and apply for a work permit, or it has to be done at the POE? How about volunteered work, still a F1 holder student needs work permit?

There are couple of the ways it can be done:

1 – would be obtaining CPT ( You will have to work with your International Office for that)

2 – If you can demonstrate undue hardship in your home country and your parents or sponsor from home country is not able to pay your tuition e.g. Your family had some business and they were helping you pay the tuition and now for some reason they lost the business and cannot help you. ( Again you will have to go thru your International Office for that and they can guide you as well as your advisor has to approve as well)

3 – Volunteer work depends….. what you call volunteer cannot be always seen by immigration as volunteer work.

Lets say your major is Engineering and you are working with some organization for animal welfare and helping in feeding the animals and cleaning the cages etc. it is volunteer work but lets say your major is computer science and you are working for some IT company as unpaid developer than that is not considered as volunteer work.

[Parwana 0]

There are couple of the ways it can be done:

1 – would be obtaining CPT ( You will have to work with your International Office for that)

what is an international office?

2 – If you can demonstrate undue hardship in your home country and your parents or sponsor from home country is not able to pay your tuition e.g. Your family had some business and they were helping you pay the tuition and now for some reason they lost the business and cannot help you. ( Again you will have to go thru your International Office for that and they can guide you as well as your advisor has to approve as well)

3 – Volunteer work depends….. what you call volunteer cannot be always seen by immigration as volunteer work.

what if I walked into an IRS office and offer them to help them with sorting their files in their cabinets for free 3 hours a day?

Lets say your major is Engineering and you are working with some organization for animal welfare and helping in feeding the animals and cleaning the cages etc. it is volunteer work but lets say your major is computer science and you are working for some IT company as unpaid developer than that is not considered as volunteer work.

Edited November 29, 2012 by Parwana

[Harsh_77 718]

There are couple of the ways it can be done:

1 – would be obtaining CPT ( You will have to work with your International Office for that)

what is an international office?

2 – If you can demonstrate undue hardship in your home country and your parents or sponsor from home country is not able to pay your tuition e.g. Your family had some business and they were helping you pay the tuition and now for some reason they lost the business and cannot help you. ( Again you will have to go thru your International Office for that and they can guide you as well as your advisor has to approve as well)

3 – Volunteer work depends….. what you call volunteer cannot be always seen by immigration as volunteer work.

what if I walked into an IRS office and offer them to help them with sorting their files in their cabinets for free 3 hours a day?

Lets say your major is Engineering and you are working with some organization for animal welfare and helping in feeding the animals and cleaning the cages etc. it is volunteer work but lets say your major is computer science and you are working for some IT company as unpaid developer than that is not considered as volunteer work.

International office is your school’s international office who handled your I-20 and application.

As I said that would depend on what your major is and where you are volunteering…. There are non profit agency where ppl normally volunteer their hours.

Any volunteer work that is done with a notion of benefiting you is not considered volunteer work.

[jaycali 415]

There are circumstances in which you can work on an F-1 visa.

1. CPT - Curricular Practical Training. The job has to be directly related to your major field of study. Like Harsh said, work with your international student office on that. Your contact (DSO) in the international student office should be whoever endorsed your I-20.

2. As Harsh said, you may receive temporary work authorization if you can show extreme financial hardship which occurred outside of your control. Simply being short on money does not qualify, as you had to prove sufficient funds to even obtain your F-1 visa in the first place. Your financial hardship has to be a result of events which 1. you could have not foreseen when applying for the visa, 2. are outside of your control, and 3. has lead to you experiencing severe financial hardship. Examples of this would be a natural disaster or economic collapse and subsequent rapid inflation in your home country, rendering your student funds essentially worthless or extremely difficult to live off of.

3. On campus employment. As an F-1 student, you may work up to 20 hours a week (while class is in session) and 40 hours a week (during holidays) on campus. The employer must be your school. No work permit is needed to work on campus, and the international student office will help you obtain a social security number.

As for volunteer work, this is a gray area at best. there is a common misconception that as long as you don't get paid, it's legal. This is not true, a half truth at best. Any work, paid or not, for which a US worker could get paid is considered work, and thus not allowed on your student visa. Would the IRS normally pay a person to sort their files? Yes. Thus, this would be considered work. Volunteering for a church group or in a strictly volunteer humanitarian organization for example, is ok.

Edited December 1, 2012 by Jay Jay

[Parwana 0]

There are circumstances in which you can work on an F-1 visa.

1. CPT - Curricular Practical Training. The job has to be directly related to your major field of study. Like Harsh said, work with your international student office on that. Your contact (DSO) in the international student office should be whoever endorsed your I-20.

2. As Harsh said, you may receive temporary work authorization if you can show extreme financial hardship which occurred outside of your control. Simply being short on money does not qualify, as you had to prove sufficient funds to even obtain your F-1 visa in the first place. Your financial hardship has to be a result of events which 1. you could have not foreseen when applying for the visa, 2. are outside of your control, and 3. has lead to you experiencing severe financial hardship. Examples of this would be a natural disaster or economic collapse and subsequent rapid inflation in your home country, rendering your student funds essentially worthless or extremely difficult to live off of.

3. On campus employment. As an F-1 student, you may work up to 20 hours a week (while class is in session) and 40 hours a week (during holidays) on campus. The employer must be your school. No work permit is needed to work on campus, and the international student office will help you obtain a social security number.

As for volunteer work, this is a gray area at best. there is a common misconception that as long as you don't get paid, it's legal. This is not true, a half truth at best. Any work, paid or not, for which a US worker could get paid is considered work, and thus not allowed on your student visa. Would the IRS normally pay a person to sort their files? Yes. Thus, this would be considered work. Volunteering for a church group or in a strictly volunteer humanitarian organization for example, is ok.

Hi,

What if someone is on a F1 visa and he/she has to return home due to some family emergency . Is this will void F1 visa and He/she has to re-apply? So here is the story, this friend of mine who is on his first 5 or 6 month of his F1 visa and his family member is in critical health condition and he is the only one who can go and help . He doesn't know how long but it could be 2 or 3 months... He just wanted to know what will happen ( He will discuss this with his school counselor)? BTW he is Canadian. Can he come back and ask to re-enter and start from where the school is obviously if he stays 3 months he will be starting in the middle of his next semester. Please advise. Thanks!!

[Penguin_ie 5,994]

It depends on whether his school will keep him enrolled

[Parwana 0]

It depends on whether his school will keep him enrolled

So if the school keeps him enrolled ... Do they normally issue some type of document and he needs to present that when he re-enters US?

[Harsh_77 718]

So if the school keeps him enrolled ... Do they normally issue some type of document and he needs to present that when he re-enters US?

Yes before he leave he need to talk to the DSO and DSO would stamp his I-20 for re-entry.

Discuss the situation with the DSO and they can advice you the best based on your situation.

[Parwana 0]

Yes before he leave he need to talk to the DSO and DSO would stamp his I-20 for re-entry.

Discuss the situation with the DSO and they can advice you the best based on your situation.

This means he has continue to pay for classes while not in school to keep his record updated with SEVIS?

[jaycali 415]

This means he has continue to pay for classes while not in school to keep his record updated with SEVIS?

Yes, because the DSO won't endorse his I-20 if he's not currently enrolled or registered for classes.

If the I-20 is endorsed, but his visa is expired, there are circumstances in which CBP will allow him to apply for a waiver at POE, and admit him, even with an expired visa. The waiver is called I-193. It costs $585 to file, and is by no means a guarantee. It will not be a smooth entry.

I would discuss it with the DSO at his school. DSOs are generally very experienced with F-1 visas.