Current J-1 Students: Employment
On-Campus Employment
International students that hold a J-1 student visa are permitted to work on campus with authorization from ISSS. On-campus employment is defined as work done on the premises of the school. A J-1 student may be authorized to work on campus up to 20 hours per week during the academic year and up to 28 hours per week during summer and official University holiday breaks.
You may request on-campus work authorization via iCats. To authorize a J-1 student work on campus, ISSS must receive an offer letter for the position for which the student will work. The offer letter must be on official letterhead and must include the following.
- Employer name (this may be part of the letterhead)
- Employer address (this may be part of the letterhead)
- Title of position
- Number of hours per week (note limits above)
- Employment start date
- Employment end date
Students with graduate assistantships: Please ask your department to complete this letter template [PDF]. The letter must be prepared on the department letterhead. Students who will be working different numbers of hours in different semesters should submit separate letters each semester.
Students without graduate assistantships: Please ask your employer to complete this letter template. The letter must be prepared on the department letterhead. Students who will be working different numbers of hours in different semesters should submit separate letters each semester.
Do not begin working until you have received authorization from ISSS.
Once you complete your academic program, you are no longer eligible for on-campus employment unless you have obtained employment authorization based on academic training.
Academic Training
Academic training is employment authorization for work related to a student's field of study. It can be issued for full-time or part-time employment. In order to be eligible:
- You must have a job offer in your field of study and submit a completed Academic Training application to ISSS.
- You must be completing a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree program or have completed a semester or year at OHIO as an exchange student.
- You must also be in good academic standing.
Time allotted for academic training may not exceed a period of time equal to your full course of study or 18 months, whichever is shorter. If you are working on a PhD program, you are allowed 36 months total of academic training. Completing multiple degrees does not increase the amount of time available to you for academic training. The training can take place during the academic program or after.
You can learn more about Academic Training by attending one of our Academic Training workshops. Register for an upcoming workshop in iCats, under “Session Sign-Ups”.
How To Apply
Log into iCats and submit the "Academic Training (AT) Request" e-form, found under J-1 Student Services. You will be required to upload PDF copies of the following documents:
- Academic Training Recommendation Form [PDF] completed by your Academic Advisor
- Job offer letter which includes:
- Name and address of the institution or company where the academic training will take place
- Name and contact information of your supervisor
- Position offered including a description of the experience
- Specific employment start and end dates
- Number of hours of academic training each week
- Original signature
The offer must be printed on letterhead. Scanned copies of the letter are acceptable. However, we cannot accept offers made via email that do not contain a scanned letter.