international student and max hours

Posts 14 · Viewed 7211 · Go to Last Post

· Snapshot 0

Like · Likedby · 0

Hey All,
As an int'l student, we can work 20 hrs a week while school is in session and full time in summer.
Are you working on-campus this summer? How many hours do you work?
I'm intetested to know if we can work more thn 40 hrs/wk (when available) in summer. I am little confused by the references provided by my department and int'l office.
please share your experiences.

guchcha chor

· Snapshot 105

Like · Liked by · 0

Anybody? Please

Nepalchambercommerce

· Snapshot 124

Like · Liked by · 0

20hrs man.

GajabChhaBa

· Snapshot 154

Like · Liked by · 0

40 Hrs max during summer time. Any more and you will be working illegally. So be aware.

ratoragat

· Snapshot 188

Like · Liked by · 0

its up to you how many hr u can..............no limit .....they can do nothing .....just most unlucky and over smart people get caught....so be safe and work as much as u can bro...

guchcha chor

· Snapshot 252

Like · Liked by · 0

Thanks for the replies.
During school 20 hrs is clearly stated everywhere. During breaks, it says full time. I know full-time is 40 hrs. But I haven't seen anything that says it's illegal to work more than 40 hrs. Payroll and dept have conflicting views, so I'm confused.
If any of you have similar situation or some kind of official documents, please share.
I don't to get in trouble if it's illegal. But don't want to let the overtime pay go if it's legal.
Your participation is appreciated.
Guchcha chor

sab_nepaliko_sathi

· Snapshot 285

Like · Liked by · 0

Retracted: I couldn't find any official website that defined what "full-time" work meant with regards to this law.

Last edited: 18-Aug-10 08:52 PM

guchcha chor

· Snapshot 318

Like · Liked by · 0

Thanks SNS, i appreciated your reply.

KnockKnock

· Snapshot 348

Like · Liked by · 0

Having first-hand experience with this issue, I thought I'll share my experience.

Technically speaking it's 20 hrs during semester and 40 hrs during break. Working any hours in excess will put you in work violation and you would be out-of-status. I would strongly recommend do not work more than these hours, just to be on the safe side. Especially since you are planning to work in the college.

I used to work more than 20 hrs during semester and 40 hrs during summer. I had talked to the DSO and interestingly he charged me couple hundred dollars cash to work more than the specified hours, saying that to work these extra hours I need to have some "immigration" paperworks done. Our DSO got into fraud issues and was fired. People from the main college came to our college and opened all the records of the international student.

More than half the international student got into immigration violation issues. Me too. I was under the work violation. I realized there was no such immigration paperworks and the USCIS explicitly states that "it's ultimate student responsibility to maintain his/her status", so telling it was DSO fault was no-use. I could have sued the college, but I was not in a position to hire a lawyer or anything.

My fault was I worked in the college and my entire work history was in the record. Off the table, my new DSO told me I would have been better-off if I had (illegaly and silently) worked off-campus for whatever hours, but since they have my work history with "unauthorized hours" I am off-status. I have personally read the USCIS guidelines, and the 40 hrs thingy is pretty much a grey area, it's not clear, so colleges have their own interpretation of the 40 hr cap. Point is, do not take the risk, if your DSO is strict, you might get into trouble.

The main thing here is no employer likes to pay over-time. And the HR would probably be pissed off and get to the international student office with this issue. Then it's your luck.

I got in to a mess. Had to leave the country. Fortunately, I re-applied for visa and was able to come back. However every time I enter the port of entry, I am called for questioning, which is dumb cause after this violation I have traveled three times to nepal and back....

I would suggest don't take risk, and if you are taking it..make sure you have an email or written permission from the DSO and the Human resources.....

Gohtalo

· Snapshot 369

Like · Liked by · 0

20/40 is the rule of law according to my understanding.

I don't think there are enough resources to monitor these rules you can take your chances at your own risks.

sab_nepaliko_sathi

· Snapshot 369

Like · Liked by · 0

Retracted

Last edited: 18-Aug-10 08:49 PM

GajabChhaBa

· Snapshot 401

Like · Liked by · 0

Sab_Nepaliko_Saathi,

We are talking about on-campus work in general. CPT's and OPT's are considered off-campus work (source: http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=e34c83453d4a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e34c83453d4a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD). If you have proper paperwork (like you did when you were able to do two internships), then of course you can work off-campus and the restrictions are different than for on-campus.

Guchcha_chor,

Like KnockKnock has emphasized, talk to your DSO and make sure you have written permissions. If your DSO does not have the answer, try to find someone at USCIS (might be hard) to answer your question. Don't do anything stupid based on what people in "sajha" tell you. At the end of the day, if something goes wrong, you have no one to point to finger to. Better safe than sorry.

guchcha chor

· Snapshot 445

Like · Liked by · 0

@Knockknock, Thank you very much for your time and effort. And in detail information.

@Gothalo, thanks.

@Gajab, you clearly understood my problem. And I take your advice. I won't do anything only based on 'someone said'. But it's a platform that I can get info from. Like you guys.

More inputs are appreciated..

thanks again for those who replied.

Guchcha Chor

guchcha chor

· Snapshot 599

Like · Liked by · 0

To all who were interested in this issue:

I went to see DSO today. And I asked about the issue. She said that we could work as many hours as available during summer... That we could work overtime if available. That's not a problem with immigration. (Sometime, departments don't want to pay overtime). That's different case. And If you work more than 20 hrs during summer, that's a problem.

Thanks.

Guchcha chor

Please log in to reply to this post

You can also log in using your Facebook