What counts as 'work'?

[Dowbs 11]

Hi everyone,

I am a K-1 visa holder, recently arrived in the US. We are planning to get married in a couple of weeks and file for AOS and EAD soon afterwards.

While I wait for the EAD, I'd like to keep busy and potentially make some contacts and gain useful experience. I'm very interested in doing some voluntary work related to my field (I'm a teacher), and potentially contacting some schools to set up an unpaid placement, maybe as a teaching assistant for a month (for example).

This leads me to wonder... what counts as 'work'? I'm not supposed to work without an EAD. But would voluntary work be ok? If I called a school and set up some unpaid work there, would that be ok?

In summary: is there an official document / website that summarises what is and isn't ok to do when you don't yet have an EAD?

Thanks all!

[Merrytooth 5,748]

https://www.usavisanow.com/h-1b-visa/h1b-visa-resources/uscis-views-on-volunteering/

A foreign national cannot perform work as a volunteer in a position that would normally be a paid position or if the foreign national believes that some form of compensation will follow.

It is not permitted to volunteer for a productive position which is usually paid. The rationale is that if you are offering to work without a pay in a job which would otherwise be filled by an American who would be paid, then you are subverting the employment authorization system’s goals and undercutting Americans’ job prospects and wages.

However, if the volunteer work you are seeking is for a true volunteer position, for example working for a non-for-profit organization such as a museum, a fire-station, a school or a church where there is no general expectation of compensation, then volunteering and working without pay would be legal. One should look at whether Americans would perform the same job without pay and under similar circumstances and if the answer is “yes,” then a foreign national in an employment-restricted status can volunteer and work without pay.

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If the school normally has to pay a teaching assistant, then it is not a volunteer work.

Edited November 21, 2016 by Merrytooth

[Dowbs 11]

Thank you, that's exactly what I was looking for.

So voluntary work (explicitly advertised as such) through a voluntary organisation would be ok, but setting up my own placement in a school (e.g. as an assistant) probably wouldn't.

Thanks Merrytooth!

[aaron2020 11,651]

Volunteering for a potential employer is a big no no. Too much room for abuse.