Exchange Student Question

Factual Questions
1

If an exchange student from Germany (high-school age) wanted to stay (or come back) to the US to attend one of our colleges, would she need a green card?

If the answer is no, and she wanted to take a part-time job to help with expenses,would she need one then?

Need kind of a quick answer on this one, sorry!

Thanks

Quasi

2

i can’t answer for germany… but i can say that an indian student would need a student visa to attend college in the u.s. and probably (i’m not sure, but i think it’s correct) a work permit to work part- or full- time. i don’t see the need for a green card in these circumstances…

3

She needs a student visa to attend school here. Holders of student visas are forbidden from working. She would need a green card or some other type of work permit in order to work legally. However, it is inconceivable that she would qualify for one. To get a work permit you generally need to have some sort of special skills and a college degree.

4

That can’t be totally true, chula. Foreign University Students routinely hold campus jobs–there must be some exception or permit or something that lets them hold student work-study positions. I do know that they lose their jobs if they withdrawl from classes.

5

Thanks, Manda JO - I missed an exception. The INS can grant a waiver of the prohibition on employment for on-campus jobs, after one year. That’s applies to F-1 visas, which is what I assume she would be applying for. An F-1 is for studying at universities and other academic institutions, and an M-1 is for non-academic institutions and does not allow the student to work under any circumstance. Keep in mind that they’re cracking down on student visas holders post-9/11, so they might be more strict about enforcing the requirements.

6

I held a job, actually a paid internship, when i studied in Chicago. I was only there for a school year. The problem was that the internship I got paid minimum wages. Some union thing there.
So, I had to battle with INS, and got a stamp in my passport, that said that “Work permit granted to complete education.”
I paid taxes, that I’ll never see again…

So, yes, there are some loopholes.