Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions about International Students Working on Campus

1. Can an international student on an F or J non-immigrant visa work more than 20 hours a week?

No, generally they cannot because the federal regulations governing their statuses actually state that they are limited to work on campus for no more than “20 hours a week”. There are, however, a few circumstances under which students CAN work on campus for more than 20 hours a week.

Reminder: No student employee should ever work more hours than their pre-approved work schedule without first obtaining approval from their supervisor. No graduate assistant should work more than 20 hours a week without requesting authorization through their academic department and the Office of Graduate Studies.

2. Is it possible to average hours across several weeks? For example, could a student work 15 hours one week and 25 the next if he/she had a test they wanted to study for?

No. Federal regulations governing non-immigrant statuses are very clear on this point. The maximum amount of work allowed in a one week is 20 hours, except during the periods described in the response to question one. Therefore, you should not average hours across several weeks. There are several additional issues to consider depending on whether an international student is paid as a monthly employee or a biweekly employee because there is some ability to define what is meant by a “work week”.

Monthly Paid International Student Employees - Most monthly paid employees think of their “work week” as starting on Monday and ending on Friday, but the Department of Labor defines the "work week" as 7 consecutive 24 hour periods or 168 hours. If a work week for a monthly paid employee begins on Monday, it will end 7 days later on Sunday. So, a monthly international student employee would need to work their 20 hours a week (as per federal regulations governing their non-immigrant status) within a pre-defined work week established by their employer. This pre-defined work week should guide international student employees and their employers in planning how to make up work. For a monthly paid international student employee, making up work would have to take place within the pre-defined work week. It cannot carry across work weeks, and should not equal more than 20 hours per work week unless there is a period in which an international student employee is able to work more than 20 hours a week as described in the response to question one.

Biweekly paid international student employees -- For biweekly paid employees of Texas A&M, a "work week" starts on Thursday and ends 7 days later on Wednesday. This "work week" follows the same Department of Labor standard of 7 consecutive 24 hour periods or 168 hours.

A "work week" should not be confused with the term "pay period". A "pay period" can be defined as the consecutive time period for which a person's compensation for services is based. For a biweekly paid employee at TAMU, a "pay period" is made up of 14 consecutive days or 2 "work weeks".

The 20 hour rule is applied to each "work week" in a "pay period" independent of each other. Therefore, even though a person is paid for two weeks at a time, the international student is limited to no more than 20 hours in each week. For example, if an international student works 15 hours in week one of a "pay period", he or she can only work 20 hours in week two of that "pay period". It is important to note that the 20 hour standard looks strictly at the "work week" and not the "pay period". Some examples help to illustrate this.

Example 1: The time period is several weeks into a spring semester. Anita is an international student worker paid biweekly who has a test on Friday and wants to take off on Thursday instead of working for her normal 4 hours on Thursday. She would like to make up those hours by coming in the following Monday for 2 hours and Tuesday for 2 hours. This is a good solution because the "work week" gives her until Wednesday of the upcoming week to add additional hours and make up the 4 hour work time she wants to miss to study for the test. This way, her biweekly timesheet will still only show a total of 20 hours worked during the first 7 day "work week" for the “pay period” shown on the timesheet.

Example 2: The time period is several weeks into a spring semester. Oskar is an international student GANT paid biweekly. He has a trip out of town to present a poster at a conference that will last from Monday to Wednesday. He wants to make up the 12 hours he will miss when he is at the conference by coming in during the weekend after the conference and working on Saturday for 6 hours and Sunday for 6 hours in addition to his normal 20 hours during that "work week" . This is not a good solution because the biweekly timesheets will show that Oskar worked only 8 hours during the first "work week" from Thursday to Wednesday and 32 during the second "work week" from Thursday to Wednesday. A better solution would be for Oskar to work additional hours before he leaves on the trip, if his employing department is agreeable to this arrangement.

3. What happens to a student who works more than 20 hours a week when they are not legally able to do so?

According to federal regulations, the international student loses his/her status and is now considered an illegal alien in the US. The Department of Homeland Security has little tolerance for employers who employ illegal aliens or international students who lose their status due to unauthorized employment. In fact, there is a zero tolerance policy for international students who lose their status due to unauthorized employment. It is unlikely that such an international student would be able to remain legally in the US to complete a degree in this situation.

4. What happens if one of my biweekly paid international student employees is working in a vacation period legally over 40 hours a week on campus (see the response to question one for clarification) and then must switch to 20 hours a week because classes have started? Is the student in trouble because the columns on the biweekly timesheet will add up to more than 20 hours a week since the “pay period” will include some days that the student worked “full time” and the rest when the student worked “part time”?

No. The student was eligible to accrue a higher level of hours during those days he/she worked 40 hours a week. Just record them on the timesheets as they were accrued. The official University academic calendar will serve as evidence of why the student worked more hours on those days in the work week. This situation will commonly occur when the biweekly timesheets contain time periods when students ARE legally eligible to work more than 20 hours a week. For clarification of when these time periods occur, see the chart described in the response to question one. Also see the example below:

Example: Li is an international student employee paid bi-weekly who was enrolled in Spring 2004 and took only one class in Summer Session I. Li is pre-registered for Fall 2004 and is in a legal non-immigrant visa status. Li arranges with his employer to work 8 hours a week in the summer, moving to full time employment. Because Li is a student technician, not a graduate assistant, he does not have to have the approval of the Office of Graduate Studies to work above 20 hours a week in the summer. Li is legally employed in the summer. Once fall classes start, Li drops back to 20 hours a week employment for the fall semester. His timesheet will show that he worked 40 hours a week before the start of classes for Fall 2004 on August 30 and that he dropped back to 20 hours a week as of the start of classes.

5. What if a student wants to volunteer hours or work more than 20 hours a week and just not put it down on the timesheet?

Under Federal Regulations, volunteering is regarded as employment. Employing departments who allow employees to do this are in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Immigration Regulations. Students must be paid for hours worked and therefore would lose their legal status. In addition, sanctions against an employer may be possible.

6. Must an employer allow a student to make up missed hours?

No. That is a decision that has to be approved by the employer. Even the choice of days to make up work must be something that is agreeable to the employer. In one of the examples given above, time was made up on a weekend, for example. This may not be possible in some employment situations.

7. If I have bi-weekly international student employees, do I have to explain on the biweekly timesheets how they are making up hours?

No. Only the hours worked should appear on the biweekly timesheets.

8. If an employer requests that an international student work more than 20 hours a week but only wants to pay the student for 20 hours a week, to whom should the student report this?

This violates the Fair Labor Standards Act in addition to Immigration Regulations. Students should report this to the appropriate individual in the authority structure within their employing department. If the problem continues, the next individual in the hierarchy should be contacted, and so on. Students who are not confident in their ability to approach this problem can bring it to the International Student Services Office or to the Office of Graduate Studies.

9. I have additional questions about these regulations. Who should I contact about this?

You should contact the International Student Services Office at 845-1824 or 845-1825.