‘The End of Internationalization?’
June 3, 2011
VANCOUVER, B.C. – Is the internationalization of higher education suffering from a midlife crisis? Jane Knight, a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, posed that question during a standing-room only session provocatively titled “The End of Internationalization?” Thursday at the NAFSA: Association of International Educators conference.
More: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/06/03/international_educators_debate_the_why_behind_their_profession
A Primer on International-Student Visas, by Jim Castagnera
10.1 A Short Overview of International-Student Visas
The USCIS issues three general types of non-immigrant student visas:
1. The F-1 visa is issued to international (alien) students who typically intend to study in the United States for several years and earn a degree.
2. The J-1 visa is issued to international students who are exchange visitors to the United States, studying at an American university for a semester or two and then returning to their home institutions to complete their studies.
3. The M-1 visa is similar to the F-1 but is issued to international students studying at post-secondary trade schools.
All post-secondary schools that admit international students must track these students on the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a computer database accessible only to designated school officials and responsible officers. In the words of ICE, “Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) acts as the bridge for varied government organizations which have an interest in information on foreign students. SEVP uses web-based technology, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) to track and monitor schools and programs, students, exchange visitors and their dependents throughout the duration of approved participation within the U.S. education system.
“SEVP collects, maintains and provides the information so that only legitimate foreign students or exchange visitors gain entry to the United States. The result is an easily accessible information system that provides timely information to the Department of State, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
http://www.ice.gov/sevis/
Under SEVIS, non-immigrant aliens seeking to attend a U.S. college or university as a degree-seeking student must pass through a five-step process:
• Apply to and be accepted by an SEVP-certified school.
• Be able to pay for the cost of schooling and living expenses while in the United States and furnish proof of sufficient funding to the school. Nonimmigrant students have limited work opportunities, so unless the school has promised an on-campus job, nonimmigrant students should not expect to work to pay expenses.
• Attend school full-time (except for Mexican or Canadian residents who live at home and commute to a United States school within 75 miles of the U.S. border.)
2. When a school accepts a nonimmigrant applicant, it issues a Form I-20 for initial attendance. Prospective nonimmigrant students may apply to more than one SEVP-certified school but must choose one and use the Form I-20 from that school when applying for a visa.
3. After receiving the Form I-20, the prospective nonimmigrant student must pay the SEVIS I-901 fee at www.fmjfee.com.
4. The prospective nonimmigrant student must then obtain a student visa from an embassy or consulate abroad or, if from a visa exempt country such as Canada or Bermuda, apply for admittance at a U.S. POE.
5. After obtaining an F-1 or M-1 visa, the prospective student may apply for entry into the United States through a U.S. POE no more than 30 days prior to the program start date on the student’s Form I-20.
Post-secondary schools covered by F-1 visas include:
• Kindergarten through 12th grade (K-12) private schools
• Public high schools (Nonimmigrant students are limited to a maximum of 12 months at a public high school.)
• Colleges and universities to include 2-year community colleges
• Fine arts schools and conservatories
• Seminaries
• Language training schools
• Other schools that provide instruction in the liberal arts or the professions.
Schools coming under the M-1 visa are:
• Community or junior colleges that offer technical or vocational instruction
• Post secondary vocational or business schools
• Vocational or other nonacademic high schools.
The visa-applicants proof of acceptance to one of these schools is the Form I-20, typically issued by the institution’s admissions office via SEVIS.
The Form I-20 is an official U.S. government form. A prospective nonimmigrant student must have a Form I-20 issued by an SEVP-certified school in order to become F-1 or M-1 student. Only an SEVP-certified school can issue a Form I-20 to students that have been accepted for enrollment. It acts as proof of acceptance and contains the information that is needed to pay the SEVIS I-901 fee; apply for a visa or change of status, and admission into the United States. The Form I-20 has the student’s unique SEVIS identification (ID) number on the upper right hand side directly above the barcode. SEVIS ID numbers are an N followed by 9 digits.
If the student fails to report as anticipated on the issuing-institution’s campus, the responsible institutional officer, such as the director of international programs or a member of the school’s legal department, must cancel the I-20 on SEVIS, categorizing the applicant as a “No Show.” The burden then call on ICE to pursue the matter further if the agency so desires.
10.2 The International Student’s Right to Work
The answer to whether or not an international student is permitted to work while studying in the U.S. is a qualified, and complicated, “yes.” Some of the main circumstances under which such students may work are:
• They may work on campus at the institutions they are attending, provided they have Social Security numbers.
• After one academic year, F-1 students are allowed to apply for Optional Practical Training (OPT). OPT is available on a full- or part-time basis with third parties, including private corporations, provided the job relates to the course of study pursued by the student. Students typically reserve their period of OPT eligibility (one year full-time or two years part-time) for after graduation.
• F-1 students also may work for third parties off campus if they can establish an economic hardship that did not exist at the time that they were issued visas to attend school in the United States.
• After one academic year of university attendance in the United States, an F-1 student may be permitted to work for a third-party employer off campus under a university-sponsored program of Curricular Practical Training (CPT). Typically, a bona fide CPT program must be for college credit and be an integral part of the student’s curricular requirements. Use of CPT typically does not prevent subsequent use of OPT.
The Social Security Administration requires that an F-1 visa holder applying for a Social Security number present the following four documents:
1. A valid passport;
2. A valid INS Form I-20, issued by the university he or she is attending;
3. A valid F-1 visa; and
4. An offer letter from the prospective employer (which usually will be the university the student is attending).
The Administration is then required to provide the local office or sub-office of the U.S. ICE agency an opportunity to review and approve the application. This requirement sometimes can result in a lengthy delay in the issuance of the Social Security number, although most applications are successfully processed within a couple of weeks. Delays can sometimes be overcome by employer recourse to the office of the local congressional representative, which typically has a staffer charged with assisting constituents in such matters.
Should you wish to hire an F-1 student to work in your office, lab or other facility, issues of which to be mindful include:
• Number of hours they can work
• Type of employment
• Need to maintain F-1 status
• Tax and social security implications
• Reporting changes in employment and hours worked
• Have a letter from each employer concerning the nature of the job and the work hours
• Give the student a letter for social security purposes certifying that the job qualifies as on-campus employment and that the student is in F-1 status
• Keep records on the student’s employment in the school files; and
• Terminate the student’s SEVIS record if the student engages in any unauthorized employment or works hours in excess of those allowed
F-1 students can begin working as much as 30 days before the start of classes. They should have permission from you before they begin work.
If an F-1 student finishes one program (such as a Bachelor’s Degree) and starts another program at the same campus, he or she may continue on-campus employment as long as he or she plans to enroll for the next term.
The job has to be physically located on the school’s campus or off-campus at the site of an educationally affiliated organization. Employment on-campus has to be for the school or for a company that contracts with the school to serve students directly. For example, if your school contracts with a food service company, F-1 students can work for the company at school facilities. However, they cannot work for the same company at any off-campus locations.
F-1 students cannot work for a company:
• Contracting with the school for something other than student services, or
• does not contract with the school, even if they are physically located on school property.
For example, they cannot work for a construction company even if the job site is on the campus. However, F-1 students can work for an educationally affiliated company, such as a school bookstore, even if it is not located on campus.
In the case of off-campus locations, educational affiliation means the location is associated with the school's established curriculum or related to contractually funded research projects at the post-graduate level.
Concerning Optional Practical Training after graduation, most international students seeking OPT employment opportunities with American corporations have hopes of remaining in the United States and in the employ of these American companies. The one-year OPT commitment enables the employer to ascertain the alien worker’s suitability for long-term employment with the firm. In instances where the relationship has proved promising, the company’s human resources department can sponsor the alien worker for an H-1B visa. The H-1B visa, if obtained, is good for three years with the possibility of a single renewal period of like length. From there, the alien-employee typically will apply for permanent residency (i.e., a “green card”).
International students holding F-1 visas must meet the following requirements to qualify for OPT:
• The student can apply no sooner than one academic year after commencing his or her U.S. studies.
• The student must apply before completing those studies.
• The application is sent to the USCIS service center with jurisdiction over the university where the student is studying.
• The applicant need not have a specific job offer in hand at the time of application, but must express intent to pursue a job opportunity related to his or her course of study.
• The applicant must have maintained unbroken F-1 status while in the United States and must hold a valid passport and INS Form I-20.
10.3 Other International-Student Visa Categories
The M-1 category, as noted above, includes students in vocational or other nonacademic programs, other than language training. Approval for the attendance of nonacademic students may be solicited by a community college or junior college that provides vocational or technical training and awards associate degrees; a vocational high school; a trade school; or a school of nonacademic training other than language training. Employment rules under this category are approximately the same as under the F-1 visa.
The J-1 (Exchange Visitor) visa is a different animal altogether. While USCIS oversees the F-1 and M-1 visa process, the U.S. Department of State deals directly with J-1 visas, which cover a wide range of non-immigrant aliens, including visiting scholars and professors, as well as exchange students, who typically are in the U.S. for a semester or an academic year at most. Often these exchange students come to our institutions under one-for-one exchange agreements under which we reciprocate by sending our American students to study abroad at the sister institution.
The State Department’s Exchange Visitor Program is carried out under the provisions of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, as amended. The purpose of the Act is to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries by means of educational and cultural exchanges. International educational and cultural exchanges are one of the most effective means of developing lasting and meaningful relationships. They provide an extremely valuable opportunity to experience the United States and our way of life. Foreign nationals come to the United States to participate in a wide variety of educational and cultural exchange programs.
The Exchange Visitor Program is administered by the Office of Exchange Coordination and Designation in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Internet website for information on the Exchange Visitor Program is http://exchanges.state.gov/education/jexchanges. At the conclusion of their program Exchange Visitor program participants are expected to return to the home countries to utilize the experience and skills they have acquired while in the United States.
In carrying out the responsibilities of the Exchange Visitor Program, the Department designates public and private entities to act as exchange sponsors. Designated sponsoring organizations facilitate the entry of foreign nationals into the United States as exchange visitors to complete the objectives of one of the exchange visitor program categories, which are:
Au pair
Camp Counselor
Student, college/university
Student, secondary
Government Visitor
International Visitor (reserved for U.S. Department of State use)
Alien physician
Professor
Research Scholar
Short-term Scholar
Specialist
Summer work/travel
Teacher Trainee
http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1267.html
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