Will applying for an on campus job affect my chance of getting a F-1 Visa renewal?

I’m interested in working as a school tutor for my campus and it would be an on campus job. I came here my sophomore year of high school and have never gone back since because I never felt like it as my family come and visit me frequently. I’m a freshman in college now and my visa has been expired for 3 years, but I’m still legal since I still have an effective I-20. I’m planning on going back next summer or next winter but I’m afraid that applying for a job would affect my renewal as it’s stated that the sole purpose of F-1 visa students is to study and not work.

Ugh, be careful with that. My high school boyfriend was British. He got a job at a supermarket deli, figuring that nobody would find out. Well, they did. I can’t remember the details, but it wasn’t good. If it were me, I wouldn’t take a chance on jeopardizing my visa. But we’re just strangers on the internet and probably aren’t the best people to ask!

Uh, what? You need a valid F1/J1 visa(or be an eligible US non resident) BEFORE enrolling in US colleges in first place. Do you mean you’ve been in US for 3 years without a visa?! What visa did you have before?

I don’t know exact details about your situations, but it looks like you ARE out of status. I-20 itself doesn’t grant you any legal status, it just proves you are an international student at a US college. So no, do NOT work anywhere.

By the way, F1 visa DOES allow on campus work at max 20hr/week (or 40hr/week for summer) and off-campus work such INTERNSHIP/CO-OP, or Optional Practical Learning that are related to your major. Even those need to be approved by your school’s international office.

Many F-1 students work on campus. A majority of international undergraduate financial aid recipients do. Virtually all PhD students.

It’s super rare for a current student to get denied an F-1 visa renewal. When it happens, there’s usually an obvious reason. Working on campus (within the parameters of the student visa) is not one of them.

Here’s another example: It’s not the purpose of an F-1 to seek medical treatment, but you are still allowed to see a doctor and that wouldn’t cause your future visas to get denied. There’s a difference between coming to the US mainly for medical treatment and signing up for classes on the side in order to get a visa, and coming to the US to study and seeing a doctor occasionally as needed.

Ditto for employment. Nobody will look at your tutoring job and think that you faked being a student so you could work for 5 or 10 hours a week as a tutor. Just stay within the parameters of your student visa, obey all applicable laws, and it won’t be a problem.

I had the same vise, my SEVIS just got transferred from high school to college. I’m not out of status.

Don’t trust this question to a bunch of online people. Find out from USCIS or from your university job center. It is too important to make a mistake.

@AndyDo Didn’t you write your visa has been expired for 3 years?

@paul2752 I thought you asked about my Visa. I’ve been in the US for 3 years with an expired VISA and it’s considered a valid VISA as long as I continue my education right after high school.

Oh, then it’s not really “expired”. good!

Totally different scenario. On-campus employment is explicitly allowed on an F-1 visa. Off-campus employment is prohibited with very limited exceptions, all of which require prior approval (OPT, CPT, hardship employment).

Here’s the official guidance on F-1 students and on-campus employment: https://www.ice.gov/sevis/employment

Before you can start working, you will need a social security number. Obtaining one on an F-1 visa is a bit annoying. You will need a written offer of employment and a letter from your Designated School Official confirming that the job qualifies as on-campus employment. You take those (and your passport and visa documents) to the nearest social security office.

Btw, in the future I would recommend that you direct your visa-related questions to the international student office at your university. Most of the time, they will be your best resource. (I assume they did already tell you that on-campus employment is allowed, and you are turning to the internet to find out if anyone has ever experienced negative consequences from on-campus employment despite it being legal. I have never heard of such a case, and I have known many international students with an on-campus job.)

@paul2752: There’s a technical distinction between an F-1 visa and F-1 status. Once the expiration date on the visa sticker is up, the visa has in fact “expired.” As you know, F-1 status is tied to the SEVIS record, not the visa sticker.

https://internationalaffairs.uchicago.edu/page/visa-vs-status

Different thought regarding F-1 visa denials: You are aware that an F-1 visa is a non-immigrant visa that requires you to maintain a “residence in a foreign country which [you have] no intention of abandoning”? And that visa officers are required by law to assume that you do intend to immigrate, until you convince them otherwise?

Suspected immigration intent is by far the most common reason for an F-1 denial. Non-immigration intent gets harder to establish the longer you have been in the US. Completing both high school and college in the US does raise suspicion. If you don’t have a compelling argument that you intend to return home, you may want to consider if travelling abroad is a risk you want to take.

A few other reference points: Visa applicants from countries with [high over-stay rates/url or a large number of immigrants to the US seem to face more scrutiny. There’s anecdotal evidence that student visa applicants who attend very selective universities are less heavily scrutinized than visa applicants at non-selective universities, but I haven’t seen any formal statistics on this matter. The [url=https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Statistics/Non-Immigrant-Statistics/RefusalRates/FY17.pdf]visitor visa refusal rate](https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Entry%20and%20Exit%20Overstay%20Report%2C%20Fiscal%20Year%202016.pdf) for your country of origin may be another proxy for how much scrutiny you may face.

@b@r!um yes, you are right. I have intended to go back a few times so they wouldn’t suspect. Stuffs always came up for the summer and my parents come and visit so frequent that there was no need for me to come back for the past 3 years. I really don’t want to get my college education be disrupted by my VISA but I kinda want to go back sometimes next year. It’s always harder for us internationals.