Anyone ever hire interns on F1 student Visas? or been in that boat?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
Have an awesome candidate, but want to know how much of a headache it could be to hire him for a 6-month internship. I know sponsorship for permanent employment can be a ton of work for an employer; is that true for interns? What extra do you need to do for a non-citizen intern?
In a functional workplace I would ask HR, but we're a small shop and have never done this before, so I'd love to hear peoples' experiences before I even broach the topic with the director. Hoping to head off the automatic knee-jerk reaction of "Absolutely not, too much work," if indeed that's not the case. (And if anyone knows a good forum to ask this kind of question, let me know!) |
Anonymous
| If it's a student visa, then they can only work on campus for 20 hours a week paid, and since it's off campus, they aren't supposed to be paid. There are OPT rules that the student can find out about at his/her university. You can google the INS site on "FI visas" to see the "ins and outs". Each university has an international student office...call them. |
Anonymous
It's possible to get authorization for off-campus paid work after the first academic year, but not easy. |
Anonymous
| There is nothing you need to do since they are allowed to get unpaid internships on that visa. So you wouldn't have a headache at all. He/she should know the rules and the experience is probably more important than getting paid (or at least it should be). I was on F1 visa and interned at a government organization (but they didn't pay me). |
Anonymous
| Call the University Foreign students office. It is their job to figure it out for you and make sure there are no problems for all concerned (you, student, university, INS). |
Anonymous
| If the internship is related to his/her study, a student with a F-1 visa is allowed to work with payment under OPT for no more than a year (accumulatively). If the university can provide the needed documents (mainly on why the internship is related and helpful to the student's study), the process of getting an OPT is a piece of cake (as compared to hiring someone under H1 B). There's no limit on how much the student can be paid. |
Anonymous
|
Yes the foreign student on OPT can be paid. Long time back I was on OPT and was hired by a company that agreed to sponsor my visa. They hired me and paid me regular salary for about 6 months I think before the H1B was filed and approved. I just continued with the same salary and job duties except that I was an H1B worker instead of student on OPT after the approval.
On the other hand if the foreign student is still in school and does not have an OPT, they are not allowed to work outside the campus for pay. They can work for free, just to gain experience. |
Anonymous
| The student can use CPT authorization for off campus employment as long as it is related to their major. They can work 20hr/week during class period and full time during the summer and get paid. You would not need to do anything the student should take care of it at their school! |
Anonymous
| You do not have to do anything. They can work 20h/week and full time during summertime. Youa re not sponsoring them, so you don't need to file anything |
Anonymous
| Why are you giving away jobs to foreigners when there are so many unemployed Americans? |
Anonymous
Maybe because they are better qualified? |
Anonymous
This is an internship for Pete's sake. It's not like there are no qualified college students who also happen to be US citizens. |
Anonymous
Why discriminate? 
|
Anonymous
Excuse me. Individuals with valid work authorization in the US. My company hires many workers of foreign origin but only those authorized to work in this country for any employer, which means Green card holder or naturalized US citizen. Very, very few candidates are worth the trouble of getting an H1 visa for them. Companies mostly do it so they can pay them very low wages. |
Anonymous
It's amazing to me that people like you are still unapologetic about your views. |