F-1 visa working off campus problem

B

Botng

New Member
Hi,

I'm currently enrolled in school full time. I recently got an Internship offer and have been working for them for a month (paid internship), without knowing about CPT approval. (I have social security number from working on-campus before). I found out that I needed to have CPT approval first before starting to work. I have accepted payments from them prior to knowing this. Now I have my CPT approval and everything, any advice on what else I should do? What should I do with the payments I got from them? What consequences may follow and how can i prevent them?

Many thanks!
 
Basically, you violated terms of your visa. In summary, you worked illegally. Since it has only been a month, your best option is to talk to your employer and return the money to them (for the duration that you did not have authorization to work -- it was the fault of the employer to not properly check your authorization to work and get paid). If you don't, then, a series of actions in their office will result in the information being passed to all sorts of government agencies. That will create a record for you that you worked illegally on F1 visa and that could hurt your chances to pursue other visas if you choose to do so later on.

You also have to make sure that you find out from your employer if you completed a Form I-9 the day you started to work because you clearly provided wrong information on that form. You need to make sure that you correct the error there as well that you were authorized to work when you clearly were not.
 
Hmm... what is the incentive of the employer to pass on this information to government agencies? Wouldn't they have to face a penalty for hiring somebody illegally?
 
komaro said:
Hmm... what is the incentive of the employer to pass on this information to government agencies? Wouldn't they have to face a penalty for hiring somebody illegally?
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Whether they hired someone legally or not, they have no choice but to report all new hires and then make all the necessary tax payments to state and federal agencies. Also, it is a much more serious crime to not act when a mistake was discovered. Typically, an employer will not be charged with a crime if the employee was mistakenly hired and the authorities were alerted when mistake was discovered. Employers who get punished are those who deliberately hire illegal aliens and then cover it up.
 
Tax payments aren't tied in any way to the legal status of the employee. Nobody reports to the IRS or the SS administration legal status of the employee, just the numbers and social security number.
 
komaro said:
Tax payments aren't tied in any way to the legal status of the employee. Nobody reports to the IRS or the SS administration legal status of the employee, just the numbers and social security number.
Click to expand...

Indeed, they aren't. I also understand that millions of illegal immigrants are working without authorization. However, unless you are beneficiary of an amnesty, having a record of illegal employment is never a good idea (for a future immigration benefit will be required to disclose all employment and if this fact is hidden, the USCIS has the means and the legal authority to force the alien to provide it or seek it by issuing subpoenas/requests to employers, IRS and SSA). USCIS has revoked green cards and citizenship for misrepresenting facts in their applications.

It is also both morally and legally wrong to work illegally.
 
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