Immigration regulations state that on-campus employment is automatically authorized for any student in lawful F-1 status. F-1 students should check with ISL staff for school requirements and procedures for authorizing on-campus employment.
All F-1 employment is limited to 20 hours per week during the school year, however, Carleton College limits on-campus employment to 8 hours for first year students and 10 hours for upper class students.
There are some limitations to on-campus employment for international students. Federally funded positions are exclusively available to U.S. citizens and/or permanent residents; if for example, a summer science research project is funded by NSF (National Science Foundation), an international student would NOT be able to be paid with NSF grant funds.
Type 1: Employment by Carleton College
- On-campus work, whether it is employment in a student’s academic department, the library, the computer center, the housing office, etc. is allowed for F-1 students. Work required by a scholarship, fellowship, or assistantship is also acceptable.
Type 2: Other Employment on Carleton College Premises
- Work performed on Carleton College’s campus for an outside contractor or firm is considered to be on-campus employment as long as the employer provides direct services to students, i.e. Bon Appetit and the bookstore.
Type 3: Work Off-Campus that Qualifies as On-Campus Employment
- Some types of employment off-campus are defined by the INS as “on-campus employment.” There must be an official relationship between Carleton College and the off-campus employer, the work must be associated with Carleton College curriculum or related to a graduate-level research project, and the employment must be an important part of the student’s program of study. This could be work that is found through the Career Center or CCCE, but is funded by Carleton, i.e. grant-funded projects.