International Students

1.1. Are nonimmigrant students allowed to work?

1.2. Do all nonimmigrant students need Social Security numbers?

1.3. Employed students


1.4. Students without employment

2.1. Can the dependents of a nonimmigrant student be employed?

2.2. Do the F-2 or M-2 dependents of a nonimmigrant student need a Social Security number?

2.3. What if a federal or state agency requires a Social Security number?

3.1. Where can I refer my nonimmigrant students who have problems with Social Security payments?

3.2. Who do I contact if one of my students is having a problem getting a Social Security card?

3.3. Is there anything, long-term, that DSOs can do to help students avoid data discrepancies?

3.4. I have a student whose file needs a data fix. Until the data fix is complete, I cannot issue a Form I-20. With no Form I-20, there is no document to complete list C on the Form I-9. What should I do?

4.1. Where can I find more information about U.S. income taxes for nonimmigrant students?

4.2. Are nonimmigrant students required to file U.S. income tax forms?

4.3. Are there special income tax rules for nonimmigrant students?

4.4. Where do I find a Form 1040NR, 1040NR-EZ, or IRS Form 8843?

Nonimmigrant students may work in certain circumstances and with your approval or recommendation. Working without permission violates student status. For more information, see the sections on employment in the FAQ section of the SEVP Web site.

No, F–1 or M–1 students do not need a Social Security number, unless they are employed.

See Social Security Administration (SSA) Publication No. 05-10181, International Students And Social Security Numbers, December 2005, at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10181.html.

For on-campus employment, you will need to provide students with a letter (sample letter in pdf format) that:

• Specifically identifies the specific student as the applicant



• Indicates that this student meets all work requirements



• Contains your name and telephone number



• Describes the nature of the employment



• Identifies the employer

Students will also need a letter from their employer (sample letter in pdf format).

Students must file a Form SS-5. See http://www.ssa.gov/online/ss-5.html for a copy of the form and filing information.

For more information, see International Students And Social Security Numbers, SSA Publication No. 05-10181, December 2005 http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10181.html.

No. SSA will not process the request for a Social Security number until the beginning day of the student’s authorized period of employment. However, the employer may allow the student to start working and to receive pay while the application is pending.

See the SSA online guide, Employer Responsibilities When Hiring Foreign Workers, at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/employer/hiring.htm.

Advise applicants to get letters verifying their pending SSN application from the SSA official. Presenting these letters to employers enables the applicant to begin employment immediately and get paid without delay. You can let students know to refer employers to the FAQ for employers of nonimmigrant students.

SSA uses the DHS Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) Program’s Verification Information System (VIS) as its primary data source to verify legal entry into the United States and, in conjunction with travel documentation, to verify the immigration status of non-citizen SSN applicants. It may take several days after arrival of a nonimmigrant for data about the arrival to be uploaded to VIS. To provide a secondary data source, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), along with the SAVE Program, developed a method for SSA officials to indirectly access SEVIS data for comparison. SEVIS offers alternate data verification for F/M/J nonimmigrants and more rapid updates. Since this alternate approach was introduced in early 2004, the immigration status of nearly 125,000 F/M/J SSN applicants has been verified using SEVIS.

Step 1: If SSN applicants need to begin employment immediately, tell them to report to you as soon as possible after admission at the port-of-entry. Delays in reporting to you cause delays in updating SEVIS. If SEVIS is not updated, it cannot be used as a secondary method to verify immigration status for SSN purposes.

Step 2: When your prospective Social Security number applicants report to you for the term or program, you need to activate their SEVIS records as soon as possible. This ensures that SEVIS can be used, if needed, to verify the applicant's current immigration status. Applicants should wait 48 hours after you've activated their records before submitting Social Security number applications. Ensure the data in SEVIS is accurate and matches that on other documents. See the FAQ on Eliminating Data Discrepancies.

Step 3: Make sure applicants wait at least 10 days from arrival into the United States before applying for their Social Security number to allow time for necessary arrival data to be uploaded in VIS.

Step 4: Make sure students have all the required documentation when they go to the SSA office. See International Students And Social Security Numbers, SSA Publication No. 05-10181, December 2005 http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10181.html for details. This includes recent changes pertaining to on-campus employment for F-1 students.

Step 5: Advise applicants to ask for letters from the SSA official acknowledging that they filed an SSN application. Presenting these letters to employers may better enable applicants to begin employment immediately and get paid without delay.

Step 6: Discourage applications for invalid reasons. Authorized employment is almost always the basis for assignment of a Social Security number. See the section below on students without employment for suggestions on how to handle Social Security number related issues for these students.

Nonimmigrant students are exempt on wages paid for services performed within the United States as long as such services:

• Are allowed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for F and M nonimmigrants



• Are performed to carry out the purposes for which the visas were issued

Exempt employment for students includes:

• On-campus student employment up to 20 hours a week (40 hours during summer vacations)



• Off-campus student employment allowed by USCIS



• Practical training, on or off campus



• Employment as a professor, teacher or researcher



• Employment as a physician, au pair, or summer camp worker

This exemption does not apply to:

• Unauthorized employment



• Employment not closely connected to the student's academic program



• Students that change to an immigration status which is not exempt or to a special protected status



• Nonimmigrant students who become resident aliens

This information comes from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website on Alien Liability for Social Security and Medicare Taxes.

Yes. Nonimmigrant students with work authorization get a card that shows the person’s SSN and the notation, Valid For Work Only With DHS Authorization.

For more information, see: http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10002.html.

No. See http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/11051.html for more information.

Discourage students from applying for Social Security numbers for reasons other than work. Authorized employment is almost always the basis for assignment of an SSN. Other circumstances where an SSN might be requested (e.g., driver licenses, loans, bank accounts, rental agreements) reflect business practices established prior to identity theft emerging as a public threat. To counter the threat, SSA no longer assigns Social Security numbers for non-work reasons.

For suggestions on how to handle requests for Social Security numbers for nonimmigrant-work reasons see, What do students do if a business or organization requires a Social Security number in order to provide services?

For more information see:

• International Students And Social Security Numbers, SSA Publication No. 05-10181, December 2005 http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10181.html.



• Question 83 from Social Security Online, How do non-working legal aliens get a Social Security number?http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/ssa.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=83.



• Social Security Numbers for Noncitizens, SSA Publication 05-10096, December 2005, at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10096.pdf.

The following comes from the SSA publication, Social Security Numbers for Noncitizens, at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10096.pdf.

If you do not have permission to work, you may apply for a Social Security number only if:

• A federal law requires you to provide your Social Security number to get a particular benefit or service; or



• A state or local law requires you to provide your Social Security number to get general assistance benefits that you already have qualified for.

If you need a number to meet state or local requirements, you must bring us a letter from the government agency. It must be on letterhead stationery (no form letters or photocopies) and:

• Specifically identify you as the applicant;



• Cite the law requiring you to have a Social Security number;



• Indicate that you meet all the agency’s requirements, except having the number; and



• Contain an agency contact name and telephone number. If you are assigned a number for non-work purposes, you cannot use it to work. If you use it to work, we will inform DHS.

If the organization asking for the Social Security number is a government agency, see the question above.

See Question 83 from Social Security Online, How do non-working legal aliens get a Social Security number? http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/ssa.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=83. This makes it clear that, "You do not need a Social Security number to conduct business with a bank, register for school, apply for educational tests, obtain private health insurance, apply for school lunch programs or apply for subsidized housing. You cannot get a Social Security number for the sole purpose of obtaining a driver license."

For banks, landlords, and other organizations who ask for a Social Security number, some schools have found it effective to write a letter on school letterhead for the student, giving the student's full name, address, program start date, and the program end date. The letter explains that SSA will not issue a Social Security number for nonimmigrant students who do not have work authorization. It suggests that the business accept the student's passport, Form I-20, and/or Form I-94 as an alternate form of identity.

The sample letter (PDF) is only a suggested format and schools may modify this letter to fit their needs.

No. A student cannot get an ITIN solely for identification purposes. However, if the student is not allowed to work, but must still file income tax forms, he or she may be given an ITIN.

For more information on the ITIN see:
http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10096.html#taxpurposes and
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=129246,00.html

No. F-2 and M-2 nonimmigrants are not allowed to be employed.

No. See http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10096.html for more information. A DSO could prepare a letter for a dependent similar to that suggested above for students.

The following comes from the SSA publication, Social Security Numbers for Noncitizens, at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/10096.pdf.

If you do not have permission to work, you may apply for a Social Security number only if:

• A federal law requires you to provide your Social Security number to get a particular benefit or service; or



• A state or local law requires you to provide your Social Security number to get general assistance benefits that you already have qualified for.

If you need a number to meet state or local requirements, you must bring us a letter from the government agency. It must be on letterhead stationery (no form letters or photocopies) and:

• Specifically identify you as the applicant;



• Cite the law requiring you to have a Social Security number;



• Indicate that you meet all the agency’s requirements, except having the number; and



• Contain an agency contact name and telephone number. If you are assigned a number for non-work purposes, you cannot use it to work. If you use it to work, we will inform DHS.

If the student has followed the advice in this FAQ and there still are difficulties, contact the local SSA office. Some schools have called and/or met with local SSA office managers to decide the best way to handle these applicants, particularly if you will have large numbers of applicants going to any one office. You may also want to call ahead and discuss optimal times to visit the office. This helps ensure that SSA has sufficient office staff available to handle the traffic and can help expedite the application process. If this doesn’t help, advise SEVP through an email addressed to SEVIS.Source@dhs.gov. Provide:

• Applicant's family name, first name, SEVIS ID#, date of birth, and most recent I-94 number



• Applicant's contact information (include mailing address and telephone number)



• Specific SSA office where the application was submitted and the submission date



• A brief description of the problem

SEVP and SSA will work together to resolve the problem. However, investigation will not begin until all information requested above is received. Allow several weeks for resolution.

Data discrepancies aren't isolated to SSN issuance, but do complicate the process. From your earliest communication with prospective F/M/J nonimmigrants, try to minimize potential data errors. See the FAQ on Eliminating Data Discrepancies.

Be sure you have an open ticket on the data fix. If not, call the Help Desk and open a ticket. Send an e-mail to toolbox.SEVIS@dhs.gov asking for an expedited data fix because the student needs to begin working. Be sure to include the ticket number.

In the meantime, the student can use their most current Form I-20 along with a letter from you explaining that the student is currently in status and that a more up-to-date Form I-20 will be furnished upon completion of the data fix.

The IRS has a Web site at http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=96431,00.html specifically to answer tax questions for foreign students and scholars.

Nonimmigrant students that have any of the following types of income need to file a special form 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ:

• A scholarship or fellowship, which is not partially or totally a Tax Free Scholarship or Fellowship as defined by the IRS



• Income partially or totally exempt from tax under the terms of a tax treaty; and/or



• Any other income, which is taxable under the Internal Revenue Code.

See the IRS Web site at http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=129239,00.html for more information.

Yes. The IRS divides aliens into residents and nonresidents for tax purposes. (These rules are different than the DHS rules governing immigration status.) Generally speaking, aliens who are in the United States for more than 183 days in any three-year period are considered resident aliens for tax purposes and are taxed in the same way as U.S. residents.

However, there is an exception available to students if they:

• Do not intend to reside permanently in the United States



• Have substantially complied with the immigration laws and requirements relating to their student nonimmigrant status



• Have not taken any steps to change their nonimmigrant status in the United States to become a permanent resident of the United States; and



• Have a closer connection to another country than to the United States

To claim the exception for students on an income tax return, students should attach Form 8843 to their Form 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ along with an attachment explaining their eligibility for the closer connection exception. See http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=129255,00.html for more information.

You can download IRS forms at http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/lists/0,,id=97817,00.html.