It’s almost April, the month where most students have to decide where to matriculate. So a point of interest for most international students is the F-1 visa. The F-1 visa allows international students to legally stay in the U.S in order to study and work (to help pay their tuition) on campus.
The F-1 visa is available for any level of education, ranging from elementary to doctorate, but the “course of study that culminates in a degree, diploma, or certificate” (USCIS.gov). The institution at which the international student is enrolled must be certified to accept international students by the federal government. The F-1 visa is for academic students. The M-1 on the other hand is for international students who are in the U.S to study a certain skill. The M-1 is for vocational students. Both the F-1 and M-1 pay only work off campus if their work correlates with their area of study.
The J-1 visa is only for exchange students, who will have to return back to their original school after their period of exchange.
There is a third category in the visa types: the F-3 and the M-3, designated especially for Canadian and Mexican national academic commuter students.
Also the F-2, M-2, and J-2 are obtained by the spouses and children of the international student with the respective visa type. This brings an international’s family together during his or her time of study. I believe this greatly helps the visa holder, as well as make his immediate family more comfortable.
-Jenny
When you say, "Both the F-1 and M-1 pay only work off campus if their work correlates with their area of study," do you mean that the visa holder gets paid by the Federal Government?
ReplyDeleteDear John,
DeleteThat is a very good question. I believe that unless the internship is a government sponsored internship, the international student will be paid by the company that is offering them the internship. But if the student is hired by a government agency, then their pay comes from the government.
I hope your internship is also going well!
-Jenny