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:
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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.
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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!
bump
dont tell HR
But eventually they will find out when they do the background check and asks me to fill the I9 I think
Yikes, rough situation. #2 is probably out of the question. I would force #1 by claiming a late COVID-fear or something, that you need to WFH. Fair odds internships would be WFH anyway depending on the state things are in. Are you even sure the bank would let you WFH from outside the US? Potential legal complications with that route too.
I mean... the banks can’t keep track of where their employees physically are... right?
Vpn, should be easy to see where you log lol
So how should I tell the HR? Should I tell them my situation? I mean... I don’t want to lie to them.
bump
your school terminated your f1 status without figuring out your internship is part of a program? wtf? which school is this? sounds extremely unprofessional of them
Semi-target with a decent presence on the street, especially in recent years.
The whole situation was complicated, and I have had a bunch of conversations with the international office, but they had to terminate it anyway.
The program is relatively new, so...
Lucky you in that SA 2021 is likely virtual, especially in CA.
I'd get an immigration lawyer to figure this out with your school
The school can't revert my status. They didn't do anything illegal, but they're just not thorough with this. Sucks for me I guess.
Does your bank allow you to WFH outside of the US?
Anecdotally, I know of a few international student BB SA’s this year who were supposed to be interning in the US (like NYC or Menlo) and were able to intern through the firm’s London office due to visa or covid issues
woooow interesting. Can I PM you?
Unfortunately I can’t give you more detail than that. Heard through the grapevine that this was the case for a girl who was supposed to be at MS NY but instead interned with MS London, don’t know anything more about the situation than that
bump
#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.
so would you think #2 could work maybe?
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)
Get a good immigration lawyer.
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