Internships - Page 2

Does anybody know if an unpaid internship even requires the right to work in the county or could it be considered part of your academic program? Could it possibly fall into the volunteering category?

This could be the difference between getting one and not getting one. If you point out that, by law, you do not need employment authorization to take on an unpaid internship position, you just might get it.

I've had 2 unpaid internships in while I was at a university, both unpaid, no such thing needed for work authorization. The stringent background check/requirement only comes with the type of field, obviously you can't expect the same process for an insurance sales internship as opposed to a nuclear physist internship.

Also note that I receieved college credit for both. In most cases, you don't even have to point out anything, since they won't make you fill out an I-9 or anything like that.

It would still be nice to know what the actual law says.

I had a few unpaid internships in college although they were in research labs at the college. I was supposed to be paid but I lied and faked laziness in getting my paperwork done in time to be paid for the internship.

No SSN or anything but I did have to be a student at the college. No paperwork that I can remember at all.

wow my thread was moved to the lounge
I feel special now

Well what I am going to do is apply for the one internship that says that "every matriculated college student is eligible" and see how much of that is true.

Keep us posted. From what I gather, it is an important issue for many people here.

There is actually very little legislation that addresses unpaid internships. Unpaid internships are sort of an evolutionary byproduct of the need for low wage labor and the supply of young labor.

Neither DHS nor USCIS has issued any guidance on unpaid internships. The closest thing is when they talk about employment for students on F1 visas. In that case, F1 students are required to obtain an EAD before accepting any type of employment, paid or unpaid. However, some unpaid internships may not be considered as "employment", in which case there is no requirement to obtain an EAD.

The closest federal legislation that deals with unpaid internships is the Fair Labor Standards Act, which was enacted in 1934 but subsequently amended many times.

The Fair Labor Standards Act outlines six conditions under which an intern is considered a "trainee" and therefore does not have to be paid. The two most important rules are that an intern cannot do the same work as a regular employee, and that the employer must not obtain "immediate advantage from the activities of the student."

Theoretically, an employer who makes the intern do all the copying and filing is actually violating the FLSA because the intern is doing the same work as a paid employee and that the employer is deriving an immediate benefit, namely diverting paid employees to do other tasks as opposed to copying and filing. However, its practically impossible to enforce these FLSA provisions.

In this sense, Congressional internships would be considered a violation of the FLSA.

Thats sounds pretty definitive to me. If there is no language that requires an unpaid "trainee" to have an EAD, then there is nothing, in the paperwork sense, stopping DREAMies from taking on unpaid internships.

Dream2007, did you ever find an internship? I have the same problem now, I need this done by January. I have looked into the Houston Area Women's Center and the other private organizations. It seems much like hands on volunteering that involves counseling and it shouldn't require a workers permit.

Here is my question, these applications ask for DL, easy I say I don't drive, but mostly all require a background check. Have you all gotten one a background check? If I am correct, we can get one but how? I don't want to have to explain my situation unless it is a must but I want to be able to help these volunteer coordinators filing my paperwork.

I have not started the application process for those internships that did not specify legal residence as a criteria, I'm waiting for thanksgiving break because I haven't had the time, but regardless I really won't know until next year. I'm really not getting my hopes up, though.

What I heard from my friend is that I can just go to a university and ask to do an independent study. So what I'm gonna do is look for a topic and go to a university and ask them if I can do my research there. But this is plan B.

As far as background checks, I have never had one but my dad has, but he has a DL though.