Global Education Office

Regulatory citation: 8 CFR 214.2(f)(9)(i)

On-campus employment authorization allows a student in F-1 status to be employed as follows:

• Hired and paid directly by VCU or by a company (vendor) with a VCU contract to provide services to students
• 20 hours maximum per week during the Fall and Spring semesters
• 40 hours maximum per week during scheduled VCU Winter, Spring, and Summer breaks

Graduate Assistant: If you are employed by VCU as a Graduate Assistant (GA) this employment exhausts the 20 hour weekly maximum authorized for On Campus employment.  You are not eligible for additional On Campus employment authorization during the Fall or Spring semesters.   You are eligible to work up to 40 hours per week On Campus during the Winter, Spring, and Summer breaks.

If you are in F-1 status, you are automatically authorized to be employed on-campus as described above. No additional GEO or U.S. government authorization is required.

On-campus employment can be related to your major—although it does not need to be.          

• Hourly employment required. You must record the actual number of hours you work per week in VCU or the vendor’s time recording system and be paid an identifiable wage for each hour worked.  This is to ensure that you and your employer can both document the number of hours you work per week to show your respective compliance with the F-1 regulations.  Therefore, you cannot be paid a stipend, honorarium, or other “flat amount” for On Campus employment.
• You cannot be paid as an independent contractor.
• You cannot be self-employed.

Yes, for information about obtaining a SSN, go to https://global.vcu.edu/students/immigration/social_security_number/

Yes. For general information about U.S. tax obligations for F-1 students, go to https://global.vcu.edu/students/immigration/taxes/

If you have specific questions about U.S. F-1 visa tax obligations for On Campus employment, please send an email VCU Payroll and Tax Services at intltax@vcu.edu

All available VCU jobs, including student jobs, are posted online at https://vcu.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/1/home?c=vcu. GEO cannot provide additional information about how to find a job at VCU.

Work/Study (with capital letters W and S) refers to a U.S. government program that subsidizes some student jobs. To be eligible for a Work/Study job, you must be either a U.S. citizen or permanent resident (green card holder). 

Many student jobs at VCU are Work/Study jobs. If you are an F-1 student, you are not eligible for Work/Study employment.   

Work/Study jobs listed at the VCU jobs site above sometimes indicate that they are Work/Study jobs, but you should ask during the application or interview process if the job is Work/Study. 

If you or your HR manager have questions about whether a VCU job counts for on-campus employment, please contact GEO before applying for the job.

GEO is not authorized to determine whether a job with a vendor counts for on-campus employment authorization. You need to determine this for yourself by consulting with the vendor’s Human Resources (HR) manager before applying for a job with them.