Advice Needed: Peculiar Situation

It's a lot to read, so thank you in advance, my fellow monkeys, for reading through this.

The full story is very, very, very complicated, but the end result is the important part, so I will just fly through the first part of the story.

I'm international, so I need authorization from my school to intern in the United States. During this past semester, I engaged in a training opportunity/ internship as a part of a school program and did not apply for authorization. My school's international office later found out about it and had to terminate my status.

Since I wasn't informed at all (kind of an oversight situation) to acquire the authorization from my school because the training was a part of a school program, not a stand-alone internship - it was really ambiguous - my school is now trying to help me to reinstate my status. That's cool - just a lot of paperwork and a big fee, and I have to wait for the government to approve it. 

Hopefully the government will get back to me quickly, but just in case they don't, my BB internship this upcoming summer starting in June (SA 2021) might be affected.

I won't dive into too many details here about the related laws and regulations, but these are the two possible scenarios:

1. If the internship ends up being remote (still up in the air for my firm), I can do it anywhere outside of U.S., so things will be totally fine. The office is in CA but not in the city of SF.

2. If we need to be in the office, I need to make the internship unpaid according to the rules of the Department of Labor. Essentially, I must take no salary nor any form of remuneration (which is totally okay with me), and the training must benefit me, the intern, which is true.

I'm planning on talking to HR about this situation soon, but I'm not sure if they will be willing to work with me in the second scenario. I totally understand that HR needs to put in some extra work to accommodate my request, and firms wouldn't take any chance on potential legal issues (but after I did my research, I don't think the second option is illegal by any means).

My main concern is that they might pull the offer, which will be really harsh :(   This is my junior summer internship, so it is very very very important to me.

So I'm wondering if anyone here has experienced this type of situation, or if anyone has heard others in this type of situation. And any advice on when and how I should communicate with HR? 

Appreciate your insights!

33 Comments
 

#1 If the internship ends up being remote (still up in the air for my firm), I can do it anywhere outside of U.S., so things will be totally fine. The office is in CA but not in the city of SF.

This is a no-go. No matter where you physically are, you are still working for a US firm and a US office and therefore need US work authorization because they need to include you on the payroll. 

 

Unfortunately no, because 1) highly standardized practices at BBs and the legal liability that the BB is violating immigration laws, not because they're hiring you for free, but because you have no work authorization in the US and you are performing the same tasks as other international interns who are paid 

2) the PR nightmare once word gets out that a BB would rather hire foreign labor for free rather than pay an honest intern wage to an American kid

You should be upfront about it with the firm. Sooner or later they will find out. Might as well ask them to transfer you to a location in your home country (if they have an office there)

 

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