It is a condition of the F1 visa that international students cannot accept employment while they are on a student visa in the United States. However, it is quite expensive for international students to study in the USA and it is not always possible for their parents to cover the full costs of education and living expenses. There are a number of ways that international students can work and make some money legally to help cover some costs of their US college education.

On Campus Employment

This is the most common and easiest method for international students to earn money. Big schools usually have a lot of on campus jobs which are mostly filled by international students. This is the easiest method because international students do not need to fill out any special paperwork or get any authorization to work on campus. They are legally allowed to work 20 hours per week during semesters and 40 hours per week during breaks in on campus jobs. All they need to work on campus is a Social Security Number (SSN). International students can get the SSN at their local Social Security office. Click here to read my article on getting on campus jobs.

Work Permit for Economic Hardship

This is probably the least known method of how international students can work while they are studying in the USA. This method allows for international students to work legally off campus at any job while they are a full time student. This off campus employment authorization is meant to help international students that face unforeseen financial difficulty. An unforeseen financial difficulty may be the death of a sponsor, political instability, natural disaster, substantial fluctuations in currency exchange rates, etc. To be eligible to apply for this work permit from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) international students must be on F1 status for one full year and must be able to prove their unforeseen financial difficulty. The Economic Hardship Employment permit is given for one year and must be renewed each subsequent year. It becomes invalid if the student switches school.

Curricular Practical Training (CPT)

International students can get a work permit from USCIS to work in a job related to their program of study. This is an internship and international students can take advantage of this opportunity any time after they have been in full time status for one full year and before the end of their program of study. The internship must be in a field related to the field of study. Students in English language programs are not eligible for CPT. Another condition for the CPT is that it must provide credits that will be counted towards graduation. Students on CPT can work full time during the summer. Awarding of CPT work permits during semesters depends on the policy of the school the student is enrolled in. To be granted a CPT work permit, the student does not need to apply directly to USCIS. Rather, this permit is granted by the school itself.

Optional Practical Training (OPT)

International students have the option of working full time for 12 months after graduation. Again, as in the CPT, the job during OPT has to be in a field directly related to the students field of study. As the name suggests, the job during OPT is to give international students practical training in their area of study before they go back to their home country. UCIS recently made major changes to the OPT program. Some of these changes are:

• Extension of OPT to 29 months for students in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) majors
• Additional reporting requirements of address change and job change
• Students cannot be unemployed more than 90 days while they are on OPT

The following are the STEM majors:

• Engineering
• Engineering Technologies
• Biological and Biomedical Sciences
• Mathematics and Statistics
• Military Technologies
• Physical Sciences
• Science Technologies
• Medical Scientist

These are the all the ways international students can work in the United States while maintaining their status as F1 visa students. If you know of any other methods that might help international students gain employment legally, then please add it to the comments area.