Can I volunteer while on an F-1 visa?

The F-1 student visa is appropriate for students who want to come to the U.S. and attend university, college, high school, elementary school, or other academic institutions. Our F-1 clients commonly ask us whether they are permitted to volunteer while in the United States on F-1 status.

To determine whether the volunteer work is permitted while on the F-1 visa, you should consider the following:

• Are you volunteering for a charitable, humanitarian or civic purpose?
• Are you volunteering for a non-profit organization?
• Are you receiving any type of compensation, or you do expect to receive compensation in the future? Even if you do not receive a salary, if you receive any kind of compensation for the volunteer work, such as room and board, this may mean that the activity is not considered volunteer work.
• Are you being pressured to volunteer or threatened with a penalty if you do not volunteer?
• If you were not doing this volunteer work, would this work be performed by a paid employee?

Volunteering while on an F-1 is permitted if you are volunteering for a charitable, humanitarian or civic purpose with a nonprofit organization and you are not receiving any compensation, now or in the future. Additionally, it is important that you are not providing services for free that would otherwise be provided by a paid employee in the organization and that you are not being pressured or coerced into volunteering. Volunteering for a local soup kitchen or as a tutor at a non-profit that tutors children for free are examples of volunteer activities that are permitted while on the F-1.

Prior to starting any volunteer activities, you should speak with your Designated School Official and/or an immigration attorney to make sure that the volunteer activities are permitted. If the activities would actually be considered work, this would be a status violation and could impact your ability to remain in the U.S. and get new visas in the future.