US Homeland Security
revised its rules-getting tougher for international
students
New York, Sep.18, 2004
Jagdish Pande
NRI Press
The US Homeland Security has revised its rules on assigning social
security numbers (SSN) to international students. As of October 13,
F-1 visa holders will have to, like all other applicants, submit evidence
of age, identity, immigration status, and work authorisation. The purpose
for such stringent requirements: security.
The F-1 student must have an employment authorisation document (EAD)
from DHS or be authorised by the educational institution for curricular
practical training. Otherwise, the international student must provide
evidence that he or she has been authorised by the institution to work
and has secured employment or a promise of employment before a social
security number is assigned.
Educational institutions have expressed reservations about the effectiveness
of these changes. Instead, it is felt that the changes will result in
unnecessary additional burden and hardships on certain F-1 students
and the universities in which they are enrolled. The new rule limits
issuing social security numbers to F-1 student visa holders who have
secured employment.
- The rule will pose a problem to students on fellowships and those
unable to secure employment. A social security number is crucial for
life in the US.
- Without it, it becomes nearly impossible to rent apartments, open
bank accounts, apply for credit cards and loans, and obtain driver's
licences.
-
It would make studying in the US a difficult proposition for most
international students.
To make matters worse, because international students are technically
eligible for a social security number, they can't be issued the alternative
individual taxpayer identification numbers (ITINs).
In other words, international students will find it difficult to obtain
any one of the crucial identifications required for a functioning existence.
Universities and educational institutes also find that the new rule
runs counter to the existing on-campus employment regulations.
Besides this, institutions feel that additional resources will now
have to be allocated to assist those F-1 students who are denied social
security numbers.
For its part, the social security administration believes that the
new rule will restrict misuse of social security numbers "further
enhance the integrity of SSA's enumeration processes for assigning SSNs
by reducing the proliferation of SSNs used for purposes that are not
related to work".
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