Voluntary work prior to getting work authorisation?

[helwardman 1]

Hello again,

I realise that as a UK citizen entering the US on a K1 visa I wont be able to work (legally) until I get married then file for AOS and get authorised for employment.

My question is, before I am authorised will I be legally able to do work without pay (ie voluntary work)?

Just wondering what the legal situation is with that.

Thanks.

[pnd629 0]

If you are not getting paid, then it is not work. You could call it a hobby--then there couldn't be a problem.

My friend's husband (UK citizen) volunteered for a few months at a company that eventually hired him. It didn't cause any problems.

[John & Annie 1]

Hello again,

I realise that as a UK citizen entering the US on a K1 visa I wont be able to work (legally) until I get married then file for AOS and get authorised for employment.

My question is, before I am authorised will I be legally able to do work without pay (ie voluntary work)?

Just wondering what the legal situation is with that.

Thanks.

We looking into this.

If the job is a job that is normally a paid position the answer is no, if it is truly a volunteer position, yes.

[*JG* 2]

If you can find it, I suppose you could. Some places may be more lax then others. Would probably look pretty good on your resume if you had something US on there.

However, some places now require a police check of some kind and/or a child abuse check. You would not be able to have either without a social security number. Even though Andre had a recent police check from Jamaica, they still wanted to do a US one for everything he tried to do.

[YuAndDan 153]

A person entering the USA on a K-1 is considered "Work Authorized" for the 90 days of the I-94 card in passport, especially if they enter at a POE that still stamps the I-94 with Temp EAD stamp, like JFK Airport NYC.

A K-1 Can also get SSN within 75 days of entry, but should wait at least 2 weeks before trying to get the SSN, for the databases that SSA officer looks at for confirmation.

[*JG* 2]

Well, that works in theory. I read so many people tell me he could get his SSN, temp. work permit, etc. etc. etc. upon arrival. In the end, it just did not work that way.

[Nancy2015 2]

You can volunteer. You don't need any work authorization, US work experience or references for most volunteer positions. You can even be illegal and volunteer all you want