

Article 15076 of soc.culture.china:
Path: bsu-cs!iuvax!purdue!mailrus!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!watmath!watdragon!violet!rzhu
>From: [email-masked] (Rupert Zhu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china
Subject: Passport Problem: Visa Status & Employment (S-1)
Keywords: The Regulation for J-1ers'/F-1ers' Employment in US
Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
Date: 22 Apr 89 21:40:22 GMT
Sender: [email-masked]
Lines: 182

============= Information From The Author Of Passport Series =============

Hi, folks, summer is coming soon.  A lot of Chinese students are graduating 
in May or August.  Many of them are seeking job for pre- or post-completion 
practical training even for permanent employment in the states.

So, I think it's the time for me to share some relevant information with SCC
netters, concerning the US INS employment regulation for foreign students.

As a supplement to the Passport Problem Series, this article (S-1) includes:

1. Handout: Visa Status And Employment For Foreign Students
2. Notes Taken In The Workshop On Employment Of International Students

The information is collected in the workshop organized by the foreign student 
office of my school last week, so it only reflects the point of view of this 
school's officers and their understanding of INS Code.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                 1. VISA STATUS AND EMPLOYMENT (HANDOUT)
                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1) J-1  -- Exchange Visitor/Student Visa Status:
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
J-1 visa holders may apply for permission to work on campus after completing 
at least one term of full time study in regular academic courses and receiving 
satisfactory grades.  You must be able to show why employment is necessary to
meet basic expenses.

J-1 visa holders may, in emergency situations, receive permission for off
campus employment.  Application is made through the Foreign Student Programs
Office.  You must be able to show what emergency has occurred to make it 
necessary for you to work.

J-1 visa holders may take employment for practical training purpose at the end 
of their program of study, for up to 18 months.  The employment must clearly be
a temporary training position.  In order to apply for practical training 
permission you must have an offer of employment including a job description.

2) F-1 -- Student Visa Status:
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
F-1 visa holders may apply for permission to work on campus after completing
at least one term of full time study in regular academic courses and receiving
satisfactory grades.  You must be able to show why employment is necessary to
meet basic expenses.

F-1 visa holders may, in emergency situations, receive permission for off-
campus employment.  Application is made through the Foreign Student Programs
Office and then through the Immigration and Naturalization Service.  You must
be able to show what emergency has occurred to make it necessary for you to
work.  Such permission is never granted during the first 12 months of a 
student's study here and almost never after that!

F-1 visa holders may take employment for practical training purposes at the end 
of their program of study, for up to 12 months.  The employment must be related
to your field of study and must clearly be a temporary training position.  In 
order to apply for practical training permission you do not need to have an 
offer of employment.  To receive permission for the first 6 months of training
you must submit an I-538 form (completely filled out), and your yellow I-20ID 
card from your passport to the Foreign Student Programs Office.  The first 6 
month period of training can be approved at Foreign Student Programs Office.  
To obtain extension of your permission for the second 6 month period, you must
have an offer of employment including a job description, and submit another set
of application papers, plus a $15 application fee for the first period.  This
application is sent to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

F-1 visa holders may also apply for what is called PRE-COMPLETION practical
training.  This may be for up to a total of 12 months and may be done either
during the summer vacations between academic years or, for graduate students
only, after completion of all course work, but while writing a thesis.  The 
application is made, and approval granted at the Foreign Student Programs 
Office, in the same way as regular practical training.  In some cases, an F-1 
student can do BOTH pre- and post-completion practical training for a total of
24 months.

3) Other Visa Status:
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There are several other types of visa status that permit practical training or
other forms of employment, but such cases should be discussed several months in
advance of graduation with the Foreign Student Program Office.

If the university offers you assistantship, you do not need approval to take
the employment. 

IN ALL CASES YOU CANNOT BEGIN EMPLOYMENT UNTIL YOU HAVE RECEIVED PERMISSION!

You must submit your application for permission through the Foreign Student 
Programs Office at least 15 days before you expect to begin working.

IF YOU ARE FOUND TO BE WORKING ILLEGALLY, YOU CAN BE DEPORTED FROM THE US!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
                  2.  Notes Taken In The Workshop 
                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1) INS officers usually encourage foreign students to take practical training
   as a part of education here in US if they are in good mood when you ask 
   them for that.

2) J-1ers' application for practical training can be processed and approved by
   the university foreign student office.  For F-1ers, their application for
   the pre-completion or first six month period practical training can be
   approved by the school, the second six month period practical training
   must be approved by INS.

3) The application for practical training may be approved the same day if it's 
   made through the school.  If it's the case that it has to be made through
   INS (e.g., the second six month for F-1er), you must submit the application
   at least 15 days before you expect to begin working.

4) For J-1ers who are sponsored by their governments and/or some organizations
   other than the university, they need the approval from their sponsors for
   both on-/off-campus employment and practical training first, then the 
   university will be able to process their applications.

5) J-1ers must have an offer of employment and the description of the job in
   order to be eligible for practical training, while F-1ers do not need a job
   offer for the first six month period.

6) The maximum # of months of practical training is 18 months for J-1ers and 24
   months for F-1ers respectively.   
   However, the time for F-1ers to look for job is counted in the 12 months for
   post-completion practical training.  Officially to say, F-1ers need a job 
   offer to apply for pre-completion practical training (which could be a paid 
   internship), but the university usually doesn't ask for that because INS 
   doesn't check it.
   If a J-1er gets a job in an university, the summer period is counted in the
   18 month period, he/she may take course in summer as TAer or RAer (three 
   months) and continue to teach in following academic year so that he/she may
   have two years to stay here in US after graduation.

7) Undergraduate F-1ers can only work in summer for pre-completion practical
   training, while graduate student F-1ers may take pre-completion practical
   training between Master and Doctor degree or before writing degree thesis.

8) INS is quite flexible about the interpretation of "related area".  If you
   major in Computer Science but get a job at headquarters of Pizza King and
   work on Computer project, they will approve you.

9) Sometimes, some employers do not want to talk with foreign students because 
   they think the students are not eligible for employment in the US, 
   especially J-1ers have such trouble.  My school prepared the standard letter
   of employment authorization for foreign students so that they may present it
   to prospective employers with their application materials.

10) Although in most cases, the school can approve applications for practical
    training, the file will be furnished to INS upon request.

11) It's encouraged that foreign students make use of employment/placement
    office of this school, personal connections and faculty as resource for
    job searching.  Pre-completion practical training is a very good point to
    be put into one's resume. 

12) As for on-campus employment and off-campus employment before graduation,
    this school never seriously follow the regulation described in above 
    handout, they just give you work permit (if they could) or send your
    application to INS as long as your GPA is a little bit higher than the
    minimum requirement of this school (2.0 for undergraduate and 3.0 for 
    graduate student respectively).  TAers and RAers may even work as student
    employee through academic year to make extra money if their GPA is above 
    average (they need approval by graduate school too).

13) If a foreign student (F-1er/J-1er) has run out the specified # of months 
    for practical training, he/she cannot apply any more for practical training
    unless he/she has stayed outside US for one year.  (Switching major or
    working on new degree does not help in getting more months.)

14) The most concern among foreign students is that how to change from 
    practical training status to H-1 status if they get a job.  The officer of
    this school is really reluctant to talk this issue in an official meeting
    since it seems "against INS's policy and will", so the officers suggested
    to talk this issue individually after the workshop.  (This issue seems 
    beyond the topic of this article, let's leave it for future discussion)

OK, it gets too long again, I have to stop here since final exam is coming
in two weeks.  I hope to see you folks in the future on SCC.

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