An F-1 student may accept employment at the institution he or she is authorized to attend without prior approval from US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), provided the student is enrolled in a full course of study and the employment will not displace a U.S. resident. [8 CFR 214.2(f)(9)(i)] In this context, “displace a U.S. resident” means that an on-campus employer may not remove a U.S. worker to hire a foreign student.

On-campus employment primarily means work performed on the school’s premises. It includes employment with “on-location commercial firms which provide services for students on campus, such as the school bookstore or cafeteria.” [8 CFR 214.2(f)(9)(i)] It does not include employment on the school’s premises for a commercial firm that is not providing on-campus services for students, for example, at a construction site for a new school building.

It may also include work at an off-campus location which is educationally affiliated with the school.... In the case of off-campus locations, the educational affiliation must be associated with the school’s established curriculum or related to contractually funded projects at the post-graduate level . . . [and] the employment must be an integral part of the student’s educational program. [8 CFR 214.2(f)(9)(i)]

In the preface to the October 1991 regulations, USCIS elaborates on its conception of “educational affiliation by contract.” The Service acknowledges that expansion of the definition of on-campus work was a response to complaints “that many professors have contract-based research grants which are not payable through the educational institutions. Including this type of ‘contractually based educational affiliation’ would enable graduate students to conduct research under the supervision of their professors. Noting the similarity in the above-described employment and a graduate research assistantship, the Service adopted this suggestion.” [Supplementary Information to 8 CFR 214, Federal Register, 29 October 1991, p. 55609]

USCIS has provided an example of on-campus work under what it has coined the “extended campus” concept:

The anthropology department of university X has entered into an agreement with the Museum of Natural History in city Y to conduct a joint research program on colonial Americans. Students of anthropology from university X who are part of the research project attend classes and/or work on the research project as research assistants at the museum. . . . These research assistants are considered to be engaging in on-campus employment in conjunction with their educational program at a location that is educationally related to the school. [Draft OI 8 CFR 214.2(f)(9)(i), 29 October 1991]

In the example above, the students may be paid by either the museum or the university.

On-campus work is limited to 20 hours per week while school is in session. Such employment may be full time during vacation periods for students who are eligible and intend to register for the subsequent academic term. There is no exclusion from the overall on-campus 20-hour-per-week ceiling for work undertaken pursuant to a scholarship, fellowship, assistantship, or postdoctoral appointment. Although not required by regulations, DSOs may wish to endorse the I-20 on p. 4 indicating on-campus employment at an off-campus site pursuant to 8 CFR 214.2(f)(9)(i).

On-campus employment is not permitted after completion of a course or courses of study, except employment authorized for practical training [see Sec. 4.9.4.2], unless the student has been “issued a Form I-20 to begin a new program in accordance with the provision of 8 CFR 214.3(k) and . . . intends to enroll for the next regular academic year, term, or session at the institution which issued Form I-20.” [8 CFR 214.2(f)(9)(i)] For example, a student who completes a bachelor’s degree in May and has been issued a Form I-20 to begin a master’s program in September may work on campus during the intervening summer. If the new Form I-20 is from a different school, the student may engage in on-campus work on the campus of the new school before classes begin or on the campus of the old school until the new school’s classes begin.