International students are permitted to work an aggregate of 20 hours per week of on-campus employment during the semester, and full-time (40 hours) on-campus employment during school vacation periods, provided that the student is maintaining valid F-1 or J-1 student status (by fulfilling their full-time enrollment requirement or if they’re on an approved reduction of course load status as approved by the International Students & Scholars Office).

On-campus employment is primarily considered to be traditional on campus jobs paid by a UMass Lowell paycheck which follow a Saturday-Sunday work week. There are a few UMass Lowell vendors that are also legally considered to be on-campus employment, as per the list at the bottom of our on-campus employment website section. These are a very select group of on-campus vendors that hire international students to work on the physical UMass Lowell campus. Any employer other than on this list would not be a permitted on-campus employer.

Since the F-1 or J-1 student is on a UMass Lowell issued visa document, their work week follows the Saturday-Sunday work week.& This means that all their on-campus jobs combined cannot exceed 20 hours during the Saturday-Sunday week.

The only exception to above would be during their first week of the semester. Because students usually wish to maximize their full-time work as long as possible, they can adhere to the following rule during their first week: As an example, if the official start date of the semester is September 6th, whether or not you have classes that meet that day, it is still the official start date of the semester. If so, please refer to the following:

For that first week, student cannot exceed 20 hours of aggregate work time from the first official day of the semester (i.e. using 9/6 as the official semester start date, then from 9/6 – 9/12). But they need to adjust to the second week of work to ensure that they do not exceed 20 hours from a Saturday-Sunday work period.

All Off-campus employment (paid or unpaid) must have the prior approval of the ISSO and issuance of a new Form I-20 or Form DS-2019. Failure to comply with the F-1 or J-1 student work regulations will jeopardize a student’s legal status.

Feel free to contact the ISSO with any questions.

Also, check the Employment section of our website for comprehensive on and off-campus employment information.