Working as an International Student

[LaLuna123]

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I'm am an international student in a Clinical PhD program (here in the USA), and I was wondering if anyone had any advice... I'm entering my 3rd year of my doctoral program and will be starting my first clinical externship. I always hoped to do some teaching in the later years of my degree, but now I'm wondering if it's possible.

I'm on an F-1 student visa, which allows me to work for 20h per week. Because my externship counts as work and is 20h, it seems that I won't be able to teach at all, or even TA! I'm really worried about this, and although I'm not particularly interested in a career in teaching, I want to do research in some capacity. It seems that many reseach jobs require at least some teaching experience. I'll be on externships until the intership year, so it seems that I may never be able to get this experience in my school... unless the externship was officially significantly less than 20h, which doesn't seem like an option either.

Any other international students out there? Help!!!😕

 

[JockNerd]

You should talk to your school's international center about your options; a lot is going to depend on how your particular school classifies your activities, and how you get your funding.

You might be able to teach over a summer. Or, teaching instead of doing a practicum in your fourth year second semester might be an option too, since I don't think you could count those hours on your internship application anyway.

Also, be careful about how much money you make if that externship is paid; if you stay in the US for your internship, you might make too much money/have worked too much for OPT and end up totally screwing yourself and owe money to the US, or have to not be paid for part of your internship.

 

[LaLuna123]

Thanks for the advice!

So I guess there's some advantages for not having a paid externship... I'm not sure if I'll have any summers off, given that my current placement is a full year. There are so many bureaucratic hassles involved in being an international student... A Green Card would be nice!

Do you (or anyone else) know whether the OPT will be used during the internship year, or the post-doc? I'm so scared about messing up something with visas etc. and being suddenly deported mid-degree!

 

[Ollie123]

I may be wrong, but I think they only care about "paid" employment. There's always the possibility of volunteering to teach/TA for free. I may end up doing something like this, since I've been lucky enough to have grant funding available every year so far, and we're not allowed to have multiple funding sources.

 

[JockNerd]

Ollie's right that only paid employment matters. If you can teach for free you can do it... but, then, some schools don't allow this (for example, while your dept might love it, the grad student union at your school might not let students work for free).

You have to spend your OPT for internship, but you can get extensions to do a post-doc (I think that's how it works anyway--it's so confusing). I think the trouble arises if you get a paid externship during the year, because that sucks up your OPT.

Check with the international student center. 🙂

 

[runningrage]

Hi!
I am also an international student.... do a search on "curricular practical training"... this is different from the OPT and I plan to use the CPT for my internship and OPT for post-doc.
Hope this helps.

 

[JockNerd]

... "curricular practical training"... this is different from the OPT and I plan to use the CPT for my internship and OPT for post-doc...

Are you sure you can do this? I'm pretty sure if you do 1 year full-time cpt (as the internship would be) that you lose your ability to do an opt. I'd be happy to be wrong about that, though.

Cpt might be an option for the OP to do the externship (as long as it's less than a year, then opt can cover the internship)

 

[LaLuna123]

Hmmm this reminds me...I remember reading somewhere that if you arrange your internship to be just under a year (if even by a couple of days), you don't have to use your OPT and can use it for the post-doc. Or something like that, I may be making this up... Anyway, it's all very confusing, but good to hear that I may be able to teach given that my externship is unpaid.

 

[LaLuna123]

I'm on an APAGS International Student mailing list, and I just dug up some old emails that didn't say much to me at the time. There was a discussion about OPT and a couple of people said things such as:

"I used my CPT for my pre-doctoral internship. I communicated extensively with the international student office and the Training Director at the intenship site where I was matched as soon as the match was finalized. Some international centers (and officers within international centers) appear to be more conservative about the CPT one-year deadline. I asked my training director to revise my contract so that the dates listed were just short of a year (due to a weekend; thus 363 instead of 365 days) and she was willing to do this [....] For my post-doc I applied for OPT with no problem."

 

[silverlight]

hi laluna...

My cousin wants to be a pharmacist in the US. she is currently doing her Master of Pharmacy program in UK. what steps does she need to take to get to her goal. Thanks in advance

silverlight

 

[nononora]

I plan to use the CPT for my internship and OPT for post-doc.

This should be your plan. Make sure your CPT is less than 1 year - if exceeded, you will not be eligible to apply for OPT! This merely involves you communicating with your internship that your dates of employment on your contract should be less than a year (i.e. 09/01 to 08/31). You might also want to shave off an extra day in your employment contract just to be safe.

OPT is also for 1 year so you'd probably need your post-doc to apply for a H1-B visa for you. Or get married to a U.S. citizen!

 

[LaLuna123]

This should be your plan. Make sure your CPT is less than 1 year - if exceeded, you will not be eligible to apply for OPT! This merely involves you communicating with your internship that your dates of employment on your contract should be less than a year (i.e. 09/01 to 08/31). You might also want to shave off an extra day in your employment contract just to be safe.

OPT is also for 1 year so you'd probably need your post-doc to apply for a H1-B visa for you. Or get married to a U.S. citizen!

Can you have several CPTs or just one? The way people talk about it makes it sound like a one-time thing... I'm just worried because my current externship counts as CPT (it's stated as such on my I-20 form), and I'm supposed to have another externship next year. Did others have to get such permissions to do a clinical practicum? Perhaps all externship sites wouldn't care about immigration issues, but mine was really strict and wanted all the paperwork.

 

[nononora]

Can you have several CPTs or just one? The way people talk about it makes it sound like a one-time thing... I'm just worried because my current externship counts as CPT (it's stated as such on my I-20 form), and I'm supposed to have another externship next year. Did others have to get such permissions to do a clinical practicum? Perhaps all externship sites wouldn't care about immigration issues, but mine was really strict and wanted all the paperwork.

The CPT is a one-time thing... are you getting paid by your externship? I'm starting my (unpaid) externship in September and did not have to get CPT for it. If you are using CPT this year, you can go for an unpaid externship next year then use your OPT for internship. That won't leave you any leeway for post-doc or a job though.

As for TA-ing, you can certainly TA and receive money but I believe it has to be a stipend + tuition remission (i.e. in the form of a fellowship/scholarship) and not a salary. I'm an RA and am required to work for my funding, which does not qualify as a "job" in the international student sense.

 

[LaLuna123]

Resurrecting this thread seems appropriate now that I may be (fingers crossed for the 25th!) matched to an internship site later this week.

I'm assuming that IF I get placed, the site will be requiring me to present with some documents indicating that I can work.

CPT seems to be the way to go as it should be quick and easy to apply. However, when I mentioned this in passing to my international student office a year ago, they stated that they wouldn't give it for full-time employment. Based on what I've read online, this shouldn't be the case. Nevertheless, if my school refuses to permit me to CPT status, can I easily apply for OPT? I know the OPT is less preferable for various reasons (including need for postdoc), but is this something I could get pretty quickly?

I'm really terrified that they'll say it'll take me 3 months to get it and the internship says that's too long (especially ones that would start in July). Could the internship tell me they won't take me?

Anyone have any advice? This is really worrying me, but I don't want to talk to the international student office until I see if I actually get matched.

 

[nononora]

Resurrecting this thread seems appropriate now that I may be (fingers crossed for the 25th!) matched to an internship site later this week.

I'm assuming that IF I get placed, the site will be requiring me to present with some documents indicating that I can work.

CPT seems to be the way to go as it should be quick and easy to apply. However, when I mentioned this in passing to my international student office a year ago, they stated that they wouldn't give it for full-time employment. Based on what I've read online, this shouldn't be the case. Nevertheless, if my school refuses to permit me to CPT status, can I easily apply for OPT? I know the OPT is less preferable for various reasons (including need for postdoc), but is this something I could get pretty quickly?

I'm really terrified that they'll say it'll take me 3 months to get it and the internship says that's too long (especially ones that would start in July). Could the internship tell me they won't take me?

Anyone have any advice? This is really worrying me, but I don't want to talk to the international student office until I see if I actually get matched.

CPT takes about a week to approve while OPT may take significantly longer, so CPT is the way to go for internship. Make sure the international office knows that the internship is required for graduation.

CPT is absolutely valid for full-time employment and a school can't "refuse" to grant you CPT status if a full-time internship is a requirement for graduation. Ask to speak to the director/assistant director - they should know better about the CPT process. I believe it involves presenting an official letter from the internship site stating the dates which you will be required to work. Again, make sure it is less than 365 days so you will still be eligible for OPT.

 

[JockNerd]

My international student center processes opt/cpt and generates a new form in one day...

Do they understand that the internship is PRE-doc? Cpt is only for pre-doc paid work; they might think it's like a post-doc or residency.

 

[SingingCow]

It has to be a CPT. You will typically need your current I-20, your passport, a letter from the internship site that indicates the official start and end dates, number of hours you are expected to work per week, the exact address of the site, title of your position, your monthly salary/stipend... and probably a letter from your academic advisor or graduate department indicating that internship is a requirement if you want to graduate. When everything is ready, it typically takes 3-7 business days for most schools to get it done. Make sure you give a copy of your CPT to your internship as well.

Some schools won't grant you a 1-year CPT and may ask that you re-apply/ renew your CPT every semester. Check with them ASAP.

An internship site cannot turn you down after they have accepted you just because of the CPT issue and potential delays (unlikely) BUT it's up to them to decide to rank you lower or not rank you at all after thinking about your non-citizenship status.