Last modified 10/09/2023

How to work while you study in the United States of America ? :

Any student can work and study without the authorization of the Immigration Service. The options to work and study are most common in universities that offer Co – Op programs.

F – 1 Visa, J – 1 Visa, Co – Op Program

United States of America is country whose educative offer is so diverse and has so much quality that many foreign students are interested in applying for the F – 1 Visa for Fulltime Students or the J – 1 Visa of Educational and Cultural Exchange, and the ones who accomplish to obtain it find themselves in a situation in which educational costs are high, and if they add the accommodations and the alimentation, it contributes to the fact that many students have economic difficulties not only to install themselves, but also to maintain themselves.

But the ones who try to work without been authorized by the Immigration Service, can be forced to return to their country of origin, because the rules of the Immigration Service say that the immigrant students who obtain the F – 1 Visa for Fulltime Students or the J – 1 Visa of Educational and Cultural Exchange, cannot work as long as they are studying. However, there are ways to be able to study and work without breaking the migratory rules.

It is possible that during the first year of studies, some universities allow the immigrant students to work inside the university campus, performing minimum activities, which are related to giving lessons, helping in the library, managing, keeping the garden, among others, perceiving a pretty reduced salary, which can be, in addition, compensated with a tuition waivers of the courses the international student is taking.

There are also other universities that offer Co – Op programs, which are programs of cooperative education, in which universities and companies participate, allowing the student not only to study, but also, to work outside the campus, gaining a salary that goes according to the market. The ways in which the Co – Op program can be applied, are many, depending on the employer, because you can work for half the day and then study the other half, or you can work during the day and study during the night, or you can, also, work during a trimester and study the following.

The access to the program demands from the students the fulfillment of conditions such as keeping a minimum average of grades, an authorization from the academic counselor for foreign students.

The F – 1 Visa for Fulltime Students or the J – 1 Visa of Educational and Cultural Exchange, allow the immigrant student to request for an authorization to work outside from the university campus for exceptional reasons, before he or she finishes the first year of studies. These circumstances can be related to economic crisis reasons in the country of origin, medical treatments or accidents. The request is presented before the Immigration Service, after the academic counselor for foreign students has approved it and keeping the condition of a fulltime student. The employment search options are not limited to the field the student is seeing, and he or she has the option to decide in which field he or she would like to work in.

One the of most important educational exchange programs, is the Au Pair program, which takes women to work as baby sitters, receiving accommodations, alimentation and a salary in charge of the receptor family, and in their free time, they can study whatever they wish in a college or a university.

Summing up, the students who benefit from the F – 1 Visa for Fulltime Students and the J – 1 Visa of Educational and Cultural Exchange, can work inside or outside the campus, as long as they have the authorization of the Immigration Service.