volunteer services?

[Oomer 0]

i have the interview next week. I am on B2 right now. I am offering my servises to an institution as volunteer. Is it worth to say immigrant officer that i am doing volunteership during interview?

I do not want to hurt my case, as on B2 i am not supposed to do work.

Need your suggestion.

Ans

[sparkofcreation 0]

My understanding has always been that you are allowed to do volunteer work in a job that is purely volunteer (e.g. as a candy-striper in a hospital) but not in a job that someone else could be paid for doing. So you couldn't do a regular job and just not get paid for it (because if the company had hired someone else instead of you, that person would have gotten paid), but if a place had a volunteer program, then it's okay. Although I believe "payment" includes things like feeding you and reimbursing you for travel expenses.

Actually, back when we were starting the process in the spring of 2004, there was a case in the news of a student on an F-1 who wasn't supposed to work off-campus--or something, I forget the details of her visa--and did some volunteer reporting for a local paper, and the local paper reimbursed her for travel and expenses. It was a total of about $25/week, and when she went to visit her family in Asia [Thailand?], she was denied re-entry for violating the terms of her visa.

Edited July 13, 2006 by sparkofcreation