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Discussion

Working with student visa

Hi Suzanne, my husband has a friend that came over on a student visa, and he has been working in a nursing home as a CNA from since July of 2006, he will finish nursing school in December, is he going to have any problem for working like that, he has been working every friday, saturday and sunday evenings, 24hrs per week, will he has any problem when he apply for green card after, thanks

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  • Expert

Student visas only permit 20 hours of work per week, and that needs approval to be able to do so. Anything over that and he is working illegally as far as the government is concerned.

And it will cause him difficulties later on, they do check records. When you apply for the green card, you need to show any and all EADs that you have been issued and we have seen them ask for paystubs as well.

  • Author

Suzanne, should that 20 hours per week has to be on campus or out of campus, far as I know he had an EAD for 6 months in july of 2006, and I see he is still working for the same nursing , am just curious

  • Expert

He needs to have a current EAD in the first place, the one that he had from then is no longer valid in most cases.

As far as where he is working, depends on the type of permission that he has to work. But right away if he is working 24 hours per week, he is not doing that legally. And if they have any raids at the nursing home, they will be checking documents on everyone and he could find himself getting deported as he does not have permission for what he is doing.

There are no exceptions made to this 20 hour rule, al they need to do is check records at the facility and he can find himself on a plane back home.

  • Author

thanks, Suzanne, I thought people on F1, only has 1 year opt, and he is working for more than one year now, so I think he is putting himself in hot water, but when he apply for gren card after nclex, how will they get to know that he had been working, thanks

  • Expert

OPT actually goes into effect when the person has finished their training, not when they are in school. He may have qualified for the CPT, which can be used during school, but again, that still limits the amount of time that one can work.

And when he wishes to apply for the green card, they are going to review his EADs and his paystubs as well to make sure that he was doing what he should have been doing.

And working more than the hours allowed will get him into trouble.

I am sure that there are those that will come here and argue with me over this, but immigration has changed considerably in the past year or so. And nursing homes are getting raided all of the time, he is putting himself in jeopardy if they start reviewing his work records there as well.

  • Author

Thanks , I appreciate that, take care

uhm just wondering what if you're an F1 student, but gets petitioned as a nurse?

uhm just wondering what if you're an F1 student, but gets petitioned as a nurse?

You see it's like this. Whatever visa you are in the US, whether it be F1 Student visa or on tourist visa, if you want to be petitioned as a nurse while in the US the visa category needs to be current.

This topic has been discussed already on the M1/F1 thread and the International Student thread, extensively.

Even students on F1 visas now (on nursing courses - ADN or BSN) and graduating now or about to graduate will not be able to file for an Adj. of Status (I-485) since the visa category that a nurse is in currently (EB3) is retrogressed. Once they graduate, they need to leave the US within 60 days. The only way they can remain in the US after graduation and if they cannot file for AOS is to be in a 12 month OPT. This will buy them time to stay in the US and wait until they can file for AOS. Which, of course, may or may not come within that 12 month OPT. If after the 12 month OPT has expired and they still can't file for AOS (still retrogression) they really have to leave or stay a student by doing an ADN-BSN program or doing an MSN if coming from a BSN already and if the student is already a BSN holder from their home country and on an MSN course under their F1 visa then there is nothing more to go up to.

Getting in an MSN course in the US is not easy in the first place for those foreign-educated nurses since majority still have the x years of US exp. req't to be accepted in one and one has to be accepted first before an F1 visa is to be considered to be given to an applicant. Like I said from the M1/F1 thread, they are getting strict in giving out F1 visas now as there are many factors on being able to get one. It is not just the financial capability anymore. If they find out that it is being used as a loophole to just stay in the US more than anything else, then there is a strong chance that it won't be granted. And there are quite a few now that are doing that and this is making it hard for other F1 or M1 applicants that does not have ulterior motives to get one.

All of the above are what some foreign students do if the visa category they are in is in retrogression and it is a very, very expensive way (except if in OPT) to buy time and esp. since there are no guarantees that when they exhaust all those means that things will be current.

Also, not all hospitals are offering OPTs now if a foreign student. They are getting picky because they want to give OPT slots to those who can be integrated after the OPT is up and if it's a foreign-borned student they know that there is retrogression and therefore would rather give the slot to those that will not have problems with immigration.

And last but not least, everything is upon the assumption that one has passed the NCLEX-RN exam. Every possible scheme goes to the trash can if one cannot pass the NCLEX-RN exam and two, even an NCLEX-RN passer cannot do anything if the visa category in in retrogression.

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