Imagine this: you're from a middle-class family and decided to study abroad in Switzerland because you know that they have one of the most successful hospitality management programs and the most beautiful sceneries in the world. You know that your parents are fully supportive of you studying abroad because they want you to be happy and successful, even though it is a big financial burden for them, but you keep thinking that you can work a part-time job when you arrive to alleviate the financial stress for your parents. Things aren't going the way you planned, however. When you got to the new campus, you found out that you are not allowed to work off-campus due to their immigration rule. And if you work over twenty hours a week, it is also a violation for your visa and can result in deportation. As the semester goes on, you realized that the money your parents send to you is barely enough for you to get by every month, but you don't want to ask them for more money because you know that they have sacrificed more than they should have for you to achieve your goals. You asked yourself "why can international students only allowed to work twenty hours a week and not allowed to work off campus?" This is exactly the same question that hundreds of thousands of international students here in the United States have when they try to look for part-time job opportunities. Every year, more and more international students decide to come study in the United States. As a matter of fact, the number of international students in the United States has grown from approximately 110,000 in 2001 to 524,200 in 2012. (Ruiz) These international students leave their own countries to come over to the U.S. because of the strong reputation and the unique cultural experience that can't be found elsewhere. (Tempera)

However, there is a price that these students have to pay. As we are all aware, higher education in the United States is not cheap, in fact it is considered the most expensive among most of other countries. (Taylor) Not being citizens of the U.S. and the state in which they are studying, thus not required to pay taxes, International students already have heavier financial responsibilities as they have to pay their tuition at the out-of-state rates. (Sami) And since international students are not eligible for federal student loans and financial aids unlike domestic students, they have to either fully fund themselves or find other scholarship sources to cover their tuition costs. Additionally, while many college students have a part-time job while being a full-time college student since it allows students to earn additional cash to pay their tuition or other living expenses. International students, however, are not able to take advantage of this opportunity. While not allowed to work off-campus, international students are restricted to a twenty-hour work limit per week for the already-competitive on-campus positions. This gives many international students a very big headache because they can't help pay some of the bills by working a part-time job. The immigration policies create a tremendous amount of illegal job opportunities. ("The Right to Work") Many international students, despite knowing the risks of getting caught, decided to work off-campus illegally just so they can earn extra money to support themselves, because "everybody does it." (Villumsen)

Even though the reasons for these students to work illegally seem to be legitimate, it is quite concerning at the same time. The employers of these illegal student-workers typically pay them below minimum wage and often treat them unfairly such as lower their already-low wages or withhold their salary. But because these student-workers are do not have a work permit and are working illegally, there is no way for them to report the unfair treatments that they receive from their employers, as it could possibly affect the immigration status of the student. Rosanne, an international student studying at the University of Washington recalls that her previous employer at a restaurant not only owed her over one thousand dollars but he ran away and never paid her. (Yeung) Rosanne is just one of the many illegal student-workers that received unfair treatments from their employers.

These illegal jobs also has effects on the country's economy. International students contribute a lot to the U.S. economy with billions of dollars every year spent on their tuition and other living expenses. ("The Right to Work") Inability to work off campus only makes these international students to hesitate about their decision of coming here to study. On top of that, this can force the students who have graduated from an U.S. institution to return to their home because there is nowhere for them to apply what they have learned here in the countries. This causes a loss of a great amount of skilled personnel. In addition, most international students are multilingual. In the time period that many companies are doing international business, these international students can actually be beneficial for these companies as they can speak multiple languages and have better understanding of the culture of the country. ("International Students Facing Difficulties")

There are ways for international students to work off campus, but the requirements such as that the job has to related to the students' field of study and the lengthy application process make students back off from applying. (Brockman)

So someone might question why international students are not allowed to work off-campus? Some might say that because their purpose of being in the United States is to study, therefore they should only focus on the academics, having a part-time job will distract them from their school work. However, they forgot that these international students are not only here for a degree but also to experience the culture and learn about this country, both of which are not something that can be taught in the classroom. Additionally, international students have to remain as full-time students at their institution in order for them to maintain their visa status, which requires students to keep up with their school work so they don't fall behind in their classes. Someone might also say that allowing international students to work off-campus will cause unemployment rate to go up as these international students are taking job opportunities from local residents. In reality, however, this simply is not true. In the 2012-2013 academic year, international students nationwide actually contributed 313,000 jobs and added twenty-four billion dollars to the U.S. economy, which is a 6.2 percent increase in job support and creation and close to ten percent increase in dollars contributed to the economy from the previous academic year. (Yeung)

As an international student myself, I understand how frustrating it is to have such a strict restriction for working in the U.S. But there is something that I am more concerned about. As an athletic training major and a passionate prospective certified athletic trainer, I see most of the graduates from our program got offered graduate assistant positions at different graduate programs, which they get their graduate degrees paid for and receive monthly stipends. However, a study done to assess the burnout of graduate assistant certified athletic trainers shows that these athletic trainers work averagely 39.0  plus or minus  13.5 hours a week in their clinical settings. (Mazerolle) This has way exceeded the allowed twenty-hour limit, which means that if I am planning on furthering my education by going to graduate school, I might have to pay the tuition in full just because of the time commitment required by the assistantship position, even though I am more than qualified for the job. I am sure that I am not the first and certainly will not be the last person to feel this way. Many graduate international students take advantage of the full-ride benefits that graduate assistantships offer to pursue post-baccalaureate degrees. But the twenty-hour-per-week limit forces these talented international students to take on positions that are not as good as the original one.

While the United States being one of the countries that has strict regulations for international student-workers, Australia and England allow international students to work part-time off campus as long as these students remain the full-time status at the institution in which they are enrolled. (Yeung) Other countries such as Canada, France, and Germany also have similar rules that allow international students to seek off-campus employment. ("Countries That Allow International Students") Why can these countries do it and we can't? Understandably, there are people who are concerned about students losing focus in their academics. But the requirement of these students to remain in full-time position with the institution in which they are enrolled basically makes sure that the student will not drop out of school.

Instead of continuing to worry about more and more international students becoming illegal workers and the issues that comes with it, why can't the government just loosen the restrictions and allow these students to work off campus? Once the regulation is loosened, it will immediately create a huge source of relatively cheap and skilled labors, which can help with the country's economy. All these evidences show that there are only more goods than bads for allowing international students to work off campus, so what are we still waiting for?

