F-1 On-Campus Jobs for Pakistani Students: Hours, Eligible Work and Pay (2026)

How many hours can an F-1 student work on campus?

The ICE employment page says an F-1 student may work up to 20 hours per week while school is in session, and the Study in the States employment resource roundup says you may not work more than 20 hours per week on campus when school is in session. In plain language: a normal teaching week caps you at 20 hours.

The ICE employment page allows full-time on-campus work during those periods when school is not in session or during the annual vacation. So a summer, winter or spring break is the time when a full-time shift pattern is allowed, if your school is genuinely not in session and you plan to continue studying.

Count every job together

The ICE employment page says that if a student has more than one on-campus job, the total hours for all jobs cannot exceed 20 hours during the school term. Students often forget this. Ten hours in the library and fifteen at the dining hall is 25 hours, and it is the total that counts. Keep a simple log of your shifts each week. If a supervisor asks you to cover extra hours, check your running total before you say yes.

When can you start?

The ICE employment page says an F-1 student may begin working as much as 30 days before the start of a program of study, while the Study in the States roundup words the same 30-day window as 30 days before the start of classes. The small difference in wording is a good reason to confirm your exact earliest start date with the designated school official, usually called the DSO, rather than counting backwards yourself.

Do you need a permit?

The ICE employment page says an F-1 student automatically has permission to work on campus, unless he or she is a border commuter, and that the student must stay enrolled and maintain status. That is very different from off-campus work, which needs separate authorization. It does not mean you can take any campus job without thinking. The job still has to qualify, and the DSO is the person who confirms that.

What counts as on-campus employment?

The word "campus" misleads people. Working in a university building is not enough, and some work off the physical campus can still qualify. The ICE page sets out the logic.

Work that usually qualifies

The ICE employment page says a commercial business on campus, such as a bookstore or cafeteria, can qualify if the work directly provides services for students, and that work which does not serve students, such as construction, does not qualify as on-campus employment. Think of a library desk, a residence hall front desk, a lab assistant role, a campus bookstore or a dining hall that serves students.

The same ICE page says that positions included in a financial aid package, scholarship, fellowship or assistantship can count as on-campus, and that work for an employer contractually affiliated with the school is on-campus employment even if it takes place off site. For research or teaching roles in a graduate programme, the offer letter and the DSO's view matter more than the job title.

Work that does not qualify

Construction or maintenance work that does not serve students falls outside the definition, according to the page quoted above. ICE also says a student cannot work for a company that does not contract with the school. A student can work for a food-service contractor at school facilities, but not for the same company at an off-campus location. The ICE employment page also says on-campus employment must not displace a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.

Border commuters are a separate group. The ICE page says the only employment open to an F-1 border commuter is curricular practical training and post-completion optional practical training. This will not apply to most Pakistani students, who arrive by air to study full time.

A quick test

1. Is the job on campus, or with a company contractually affiliated with the school?
2. Does it directly serve students, or is it part of your funded programme?
3. Will your total weekly hours across all jobs stay at 20 or below while classes run?
4. Has the DSO confirmed the job in writing?

If you cannot answer yes to all four, pause and ask before you start.

What do you need before the first shift?

There is no USCIS application to file, but there is paperwork, and the order matters.

1. Be enrolled and in status. Your I-20 must be valid and you must have reported to your school. If your arrival is recent, read our guide to the F-1 port of entry, I-94 and 30-day arrival rule.
2. Get a job offer that fits the rules. Ask the hiring department whether the position is student-eligible and how weekly hours are scheduled.
3. Talk to your DSO. The ICE page says employers should provide a letter about the nature of the job and the hours, and that students should talk to their DSO before changing jobs.
4. Request your Social Security letter. The ICE employment page says the designated school official gives the student a letter for Social Security purposes certifying that the job qualifies as on-campus employment. Our guide to the Social Security number for F-1 students from Pakistan walks through the application itself.
5. Complete employer paperwork. Your employer will ask for identity and work authorization documents. Ask them which documents they accept and bring your passport, I-20 and I-94 record.
6. Start only after the permitted date. Do not begin because a supervisor says it is fine. Begin when your DSO and your start-date window say it is fine.

How much can you earn?

As of 24 October 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor minimum wage page gives the federal minimum wage as $7.25 per hour, effective July 24, 2009, and the Department of Labor FLSA page repeats a minimum wage of not less than $7.25 per hour. That is the floor for covered, non-exempt workers. Your campus pay can be higher, and it varies by school, by department, and by the kind of role.

The Department of Labor says many states have their own minimum wage laws and that some give greater employee protections, and its wages topic page says an employee covered by both state and federal law is entitled to the higher of the two minimum wages. In practice, a campus in a high-wage state or city may pay noticeably more than $7.25, while a campus in a low-wage state may sit close to the federal floor. Check the posted rate on the job listing and ask HR about the pay schedule.

What does 20 hours look like in money?

This is arithmetic at the federal floor, not a forecast. At $7.25 an hour, 20 hours a week is $145 a week before any tax. Over a 15-week teaching term that comes to $2,175 before tax. A higher hourly rate scales that up. Either way it is a contribution to living costs, not a way to pay a year of tuition.

• Federal floor, $7.25 an hour: $145 for a full 20-hour week.
• Mid-range, $10 an hour: $200 for a full 20-hour week.
• Higher rate, $15 an hour: $300 for a full 20-hour week.

Those are illustrations. Actual campus pay, term length, and hours vary. Many campus jobs are scheduled for fewer than 20 hours, and some roles are limited to a handful of hours.

Do you pay tax on campus wages?

Yes, in most cases you pay income tax on wages, and you may or may not pay Social Security and Medicare (FICA) taxes. We are not tax advisers, and the following is a summary of what the IRS says, not tax advice for your situation.

Social Security and Medicare

The IRS page on foreign student liability for social security and Medicare taxes says F-1 students who are nonresident aliens are generally exempt from those taxes if they have been in the United States for less than 5 calendar years and the work is performed to carry out the purposes of their visa, including on-campus work of up to 20 hours a week (40 hours during summer vacations). If your payslip shows those deductions and you believe you are exempt, the IRS page says to contact the employer who withheld the taxes for a refund. Ask the payroll office or the international office to check your status when you first register.

Income tax return

The IRS page on the taxation of nonresident aliens says nonresident aliens who must file an income tax return use Form 1040-NR, and that F-1 students need to file it only if they have income subject to tax, such as wages. The IRS page on Form 8843 says an alien individual files Form 8843 to support a claim to exclude U.S. days for the substantial presence test when they were an exempt individual. Deadlines and the exact forms change with the tax year, so read the current instructions or speak to a tax professional who works with international students. We have not verified any tax-treaty provision between the United States and Pakistan for this article, so we are not stating one.

If you also want to understand off-campus training later, read our explanations of curricular practical training and of optional practical training after a US degree, because the tax and status rules there are different.

What happens between terms, after graduation or when you transfer?

The ICE page covers several situations that confuse students.

• Starting a new programme at the same school: you may continue on-campus employment as long as you plan to enrol for the next term.
• Pending applications: the page says a student may continue working on campus with a pending application for reinstatement or change of status.
• After the programme end date: work is allowed if you are continuing your education at the next programme level at the same school. During the 60-day grace period, the purpose is to prepare to leave, unless you are beginning a new programme.
• Transfers: on-campus work is available at the new school only after the SEVIS record release date.

Our guide to the duration of status rule and the F-1 grace period explains the 60-day period in more detail. The practical lesson is simple. A campus job is tied to being an active student at that school. When your enrolment changes, your work rights change with it, so ask the DSO before the change, not after.

What if you break the rules?

The ICE employment page says a school official should terminate the student's SEVIS record for unauthorized employment, and that a violation of status could result in the F-1 student having to leave the United States. This is the part to take seriously. Overworking by a few hours, working a job that does not qualify, or starting early are the kinds of mistakes that students make innocently. The consequence is not a warning email. It can be the end of your SEVIS record.

The Study in the States roundup states the principle bluntly: working in the United States without proper authorization is illegal and can jeopardise your student status. Your DSO can help you stay within the rules, so use that help.

If you think you went over

Stop working extra hours, write down exactly what happened, and speak to your DSO promptly. Do not hide it, and do not try to fix it by asking your employer to adjust payroll records. Honest, early disclosure gives your DSO the most room to advise you.

How does on-campus work compare with other work routes?

The SEVIS Help Hub says off-campus employment must be authorized by USCIS through the issuance of an Employment Authorization Document. That is the reason a "quick weekend job" at a shop down the road is not a safe option for an F-1 student, however small the pay.

We keep the limits in the table general because CPT and OPT rules have their own detail, covered in the linked guides. Our wider article on part-time work for Pakistani students in the USA gives the big picture.

Should you count on campus income when you plan your funds?

Our advice is no. Plan as though campus income will not exist. There are three reasons.

1. Jobs are never certain. Campus positions are limited, competitive and often filled before international students arrive.
2. The hours are capped. Even a full 20-hour week at a modest wage will not cover tuition, rent and insurance together.
3. Your first term is the busiest. Adjusting to coursework, a new city and a new country leaves less time than students expect.

Treat on-campus work as a bonus that helps with day-to-day costs and builds a reference. Show your funding for the visa on the basis of your family's real resources and your I-20 cost estimate. If you are comparing the cost of study across destinations, keep this in mind: a country that allows work rights is not the same as a country where work pays your fees.

What does a worked example look like?

This is an illustration with an invented student and invented dates, to show the sequence. It is not a real case.

Zainab, a master's student from Lahore, has a programme start date of 11 January 2027. She arrives in early January, checks in with her international office and reports to her DSO.

• Mid-December 2026: She asks her DSO in writing for her earliest permitted start date for on-campus work. The DSO confirms it from the programme start date and the 30-day rule.
• January 2027: She applies for a library assistant role advertised to students. The department confirms the role is student-eligible and sets a 12-hour weekly schedule.
• Late January 2027: She gets a Social Security letter from the DSO and applies for her Social Security number.
• February 2027: A second department offers her 10 hours as a research assistant. She checks her total: 12 plus 10 is 22. She declines the full 10 hours and agrees to 8, so the total stays at 20.
• March 2027 break: The school is not in session. Her library supervisor offers a full-time week. She confirms with the DSO that the break qualifies, and works it.
• April 2027: She notes her wage deductions and asks payroll whether she is correctly treated for Social Security and Medicare tax, given her status.

Nothing unusual happens. That is the point. Students who ask first rarely have problems, and students who guess often do.

Which mistakes cost students their status?

1. Treating "on campus" as "any job near campus".
2. Adding hours across jobs without keeping a running total.
3. Starting before the permitted date because the employer was in a hurry.
4. Accepting a role with a contractor that has no contract with the school.
5. Working while not enrolled, or after the programme has ended, without checking.
6. Taking cash work off campus because it is "only a few hours".
7. Ignoring payroll deductions that may be wrong for your tax status.
8. Planning your whole budget around hours you may not get.

What are the key takeaways?

Frequently asked questions