Graduation
may hinder job plans
By Amy Cucinella
On-line Forty-Niner
Of
the more than 1,500 international students
on Cal State Long Beach’s campus, an estimated
300 will be graduating this May.
“You guys represent some of our best and
our brightest,” President Robert Maxson
said to students gathered at a reception
for graduating international students last
Thursday. “We’ve learned more from you than
you have learned from us. You have brought
so much to this university.”
These students, who come from various countries,
are able to study at CSULB only after they
are accepted into the university and have
obtained a student visa, which can last
up to five years and is granted through
the Immigration and Naturalization Services.
“You are our jewels, which we are giving
back to the world,” said Gary Reichard,
provost and senior vice president for academic
affairs, to the graduating international
students at the reception. “There has never
been a more important time to have international
exchanges, and there has also never been
such a difficult time. You are what the
world needs.”
Upon graduation, these students must return
home, or, if they find a job in the United
States they can apply for an Optional Practical
Training visa, which permits them to work
in the country for one year. The visa can
then be extended if the employer requests
a work permit for the individual, said Ewo
Uchenunu, an international student from
Nigeria who has been studying in the United
States for over four years and will be graduating
at the end of this summer with a degree
in accounting. Uchenunu also works at the
Center for International Education on campus,
which provides numerous services to international
students at CSULB.
Although international students are an invaluable
asset to the university, as was recently
emphasized by Maxson and Reichard, some
of the students have run into complications
with the process of studying abroad.
It costs more for an international student
to study on campus than it does a California
resident because they pay a non-resident
fee of $282 per unit on top of the basic
tuition fees, said Ignacio Castor, who also
works at the Center for International Education.
International students are charged $4,000
to $5,000 a semester in tuition, depending
on how many units they take, Castor said.
An individual must show that he or she has
sponsorship from someone who can afford
to fund their education in order to obtain
a student visa.
“We don’t really complain much about the
tuition because it costs almost the same
as it does in Japan,” said Mari Shinkai,
an international student from Japan majoring
in journalism who will be graduating in
December. “But we’re not supposed to work,
except at the school, which has low wages.
This is difficult.”
Under INS regulations, international students
are prohibited from taking jobs off campus
unless they apply for a Curriculum Practical
Training visa, but even this only permits
a student to work for a maximum of 11 months
during their entire tenure in the country.
Furthermore, the job must be related to
the student’s major, which is very limiting
because such a job can be difficult for
an international student to find while still
in school, Uchenunu said.
“We can’t work because the main purpose
for us being here is to study,” Shinkai
said. “We have a student visa; we’re not
supposed to work.”
Some international students, who wish to
remain unidentified, have taken jobs, such
as working in restaurants, despite the prohibition.
“We need to make money,” one international
student who works off-campus said. “The
government knows we’re working because it
goes on our tax return, but they haven’t
bothered investigating before.”
However, these students have recently become
alarmed because the INS and the IRS have
come together under the umbrella of the
recently created Department of Homeland
Security. Some international students fear
their employment may be discovered when
they attempt to re-enter the country and
go through customs because the two agencies
now share information such as tax returns.
“I am not going home this summer because
I am avoiding the airports,” another international
student who works off-campus and filed a
tax return with the IRS said. “All my friends
are scared of going back. As of now, it’s
just a rumor, but it’s probably true.”
“We don’t want to get caught and sent home
over this,” the international student said.
“We need to graduate. We’re so close.”
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