Int’l students struggle with hiring process for on-campus jobs

Getting a job as a Warren Towers dining hall food service worker was not impossible for Akanksha Aurora, a Boston University international student from Mumbai, but it was not easy.

Aurora, a College of Communication sophomore, said she holds an F1 student visa but had to miss class one day to apply for a social security number.

“It was fairly tedious and a little bit scary traveling to a government office for my social security-related issues,” Aurora said.

Some of BU’s international students said they face issues when applying for on-campus jobs.

Bethany Sheldon, the Student Employment Office’s Student Job Service manager, said that students who only hold an F1 student visa cannot get jobs off campus.

“According to the regulations of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, individuals who are on an F1 visa are limited to working on campus only,” she said.

Students may be able to convert the visa into a temporary work visa, but only after they complete their studies, according to federal rules on the student visa.

Most international students rely on on-campus jobs. More than 1,400 international students were paid by BU during the 2010-2011 school year, Sheldon said.

Students must then apply for social security numbers in order to keep their on-campus jobs. This can be done by visiting the International Student and Scholars Office and filling out required paperwork, such as the I-9 tax forms, Sheldon said.

“As a full-time student and a part-time employee, it was hard for me to find time to visit the office and get started with the application process,” Aurora said.

After doing so, international students are limited to working 20 hours per week at their campus jobs while classes are in session under the USCIS regulations, Sheldon said.

College of Arts and Sciences freshman Sidhanta Mehra, however, said that the jobs are generally skill-based or too time consuming for the average college student.

“The whole process is a little confusing. I have tried to look for jobs but haven’t really pursued any assertively,” Mehra, an international student from India, said.

Allegra Thaler, a freshman in the College of General Studies, said that because international students are ineligible for financial aid from BU, they miss out on off-campus jobs for which they would be qualified.

“I think [the system] makes it more difficult for international students to afford the school,” Thaler said. “They already do not get financial aid from BU.”

Thaler said that international students might steer away from studying abroad because of the difficulty in obtaining a job off campus and affording school.

“I think that this de-incentivizes students from these backgrounds to come, which makes our campus more homogeneous [and] not diverse,” she said.

In spite of the challenges of finding a job, Aurora said that it is just a downside that students attending school outside their native countries will have to face.

Mehra said she agreed. He believes that the system is fair.

“A student visa does not imply that a student is allowed to work,” Mehral said. “It is fair for an international student to apply for a social security number before working in spite of it being cumbersome and sometimes frustrating.”