P2 (F1VISA) Pharm D student - looking for internship

[prk]

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Hi,
I am a P2 Pharm D student. My school doesnot have oncampus job for me. I am thinking of working off campus in chain pharmacy and make up a bit of my huge fees. Any F1 student, please advice if i can work in a chain pharmacy store - offcampus - in chain pharmacy for my alloted 20 hours a week?
I would appreciate your inputs.

Thanks
Prk

 

[sdn1977]

Hi,
I am a P2 Pharm D student. My school doesnot have oncampus job for me. I am thinking of working off campus in chain pharmacy and make up a bit of my huge fees. Any F1 student, please advice if i can work in a chain pharmacy store - offcampus - in chain pharmacy for my alloted 20 hours a week?
I would appreciate your inputs.

Thanks
Prk

I can only speak for CA - yes, you can as long as you have a valid visa & an intern license.

Good luck!

 

[Gearhead-Rx]

visit your international student office. they should have some answers

 

[bananaface]

You also need a SSN and junk. An intern my company was supposed to get this October was not allowed to work because he didn't have one.

 

[genesis09]

One of my fellow students, had issues finding a job because of visa issues. She was only able to find a job through the university.

 

[sdn1977]

You also need a SSN and junk. An intern my company was supposed to get this October was not allowed to work because he didn't have one.

????junk???? what is that??? I'm an old person, but...is that money?😳

I thought when you got a work visa you got an SSN # at that same time - does anyone know for sure?

 

[All4MyDaughter]

????junk???? what is that??? I'm an old person, but...is that money?😳

I thought when you got a work visa you got an SSN # at that same time - does anyone know for sure?

When I was the immigration officer for a small Kentucky college, these were the rules. They may have changed some since 2000.

F-1 visa holders (students) cannot get work visas. They are already on STUDENT visas which prohibit work outside of campus except in certain circumstances.

If the off-campus work is a REQUIRED part of the curriculum, then they can apply for permission to work under the "curricular practical training" exception. But it has to be REQUIRED for school. You'll likely use this option for your clinical and community rotations.

Then there is "optional practical training" which is limited to 12 months but can be used during the academic year, vacations or summer. I'm not clear on whether that is 12 calendar months or whether you can work part-time and spread your months out over several years. You have to get permission from both your school and the INS for this program. The work must be related to your academic program.

Students can also apply for a hardship employment exception which would allow them to work 20 hours off campus. These are NOT always easily granted, in my experience. A hardship must be approved by the INS and your school and can take a few months to process.

It's hard to prove hardship since all international students are required to document that they have sufficient means to pay for school and support themselves before enrolling. There is a form that the school issues that basically says, "we've reviewed this students financial documents and yes they have the means to pay for their education at this institution."

You NEED (and I can't stress this enough) to be working with your school's International Student Office on this. Make sure you do this right. If you work (even one day) illegally and you get caught you can be deported and barred from the United States for a period of several years. It just isn't worth it. Your ISO can help you figure this out. Good luck!

 

[Ray1234]

Hi,
I am a P2 Pharm D student. My school doesnot have oncampus job for me. I am thinking of working off campus in chain pharmacy and make up a bit of my huge fees. Any F1 student, please advice if i can work in a chain pharmacy store - offcampus - in chain pharmacy for my alloted 20 hours a week?
I would appreciate your inputs.

Thanks
Prk

I dont think that should be a problem. You should be able to get CPT. Talk to your international advisor since you need to fulfill the requirement of certain number of hours before you take NAPLEX. The school should not have any objection providing you CPT.
Some hospital might sponsor H1 i am not sure. But you can to human resource ppl at any hospital that hires international nurses too. They can give you good information. You probably need visa screen too after you pass NALEX to hold a job on H1.
Try to search legal issues related to it in google. you should be able to find a lot of info.
Ray

 

[letjin]

I agree with All4MyDaughter. The only way you can work in the pharmacy while getting paid is to get hardship employment authorization. It can be hard to get depending on your situation. I'll still give a call to your lawyer and give it a try though...

 

[LiveLoveFartRepeat]

I know for sure that NO. no one get a visa and a SSN at the same time.

 

[LiveLoveFartRepeat]

I agree with All4MyDaughter. The only way you can work in the pharmacy while getting paid is to get hardship employment authorization. It can be hard to get depending on your situation. I'll still give a call to your lawyer and give it a try though...

Because my state (TN) requires "rotations hours" AND "non rotations" hours for licensure purpose, I work out of campus on a CPT for the "non rotations" hours.
Obviously, that's after my school back me up on that with a letter mentioning this "law". Also beyond the hours, my school recognizes that working in a pharmacy while in school is of a great value for the student education and put it in writting.
So, thanks to my school great spirit I am working since semester 1.

Now, during rotations I will be on my F1 not CPT because I won't be paid and I will be paying school fees.

I strongly recommend to any IS to always check their State requirement for licensure early in school. There is an opportunity to work off campus on a CPT and to be elligible for licensure as soon as you get out of school.

If you don't get those " non rotations" hours ( basically they want you to have experience out of your school scope) now while in school,you will have to get them right after school. This delays your licensure ( even with the Naplex in your pocket) but also makes you waste some of your OPT time filling those hours instead of sign up for a real job. Remember that, a company won't be able to sign you if you don't meet ALL the state requirement.

The international advisor (IA) are NOT aware of all the state laws. Because not many IS go into such programs it's your duty to educate your school and IA on your needs. I am talking from experience.
My dean's office did not realise that I could get my "non rotation" hours while in school like any of my classmates because the IS they had before never asked about it. And my IA did not know that there was a written law somewhere that would allow her to let me work off campus on a CPT until I brough my school letter with a copy of the law straight from the book. My IA worked mostly with medical/nursing/dental students. Those student as you might have notice don't have the opportunity to "practise" ,like we do as pharmacy intern ,out of their school scope.

 

[cozypark]

as long as you have a valid ssn and intern license, you can work off campus.
Don't forget that you need to get a letter from a pharmacy that hires you, and turn in the letter to international office to get all the authorization process done. in about a week, you will get a new I-20.

If you don't have SSN yet, then it will be rather tough to get a off-campus job.
anyways, there is a way, so don;t you worry.🙂