Issued: February 1, 1995
Revised: April 9, 1998
Effective: January 5, 1998

A. Purpose

To explain the policy and procedures concerning the FICA exemption for students with an F-1 visa.

B. Scope

Applies to all F-1 visa students receiving compensation from on-campus employment.

C. Policy

Compensation paid to students with an F-1 visa may be exempt from FICA (Social Security and Medicare taxes) withholding taxes for five calendar years. To qualify for the exemption, a student must be enrolled in a full course of study and not work more than a total of twenty hours a week while school is in session. Between semesters and during annual vacation, a student may work full-time.

D. Procedures

  1. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) regulations define a full course of study for an undergraduate student as enrollment in at least 12 credit hours a semester during the academic year. For a graduate student, the College of Graduate and Extended Education (CGEE) and the Designated School Official (DSO) determine the number of credit hours for a full course of study. The CGEE and DSO have certified that, during the academic year, a full course of study for a graduate student is 6 credit hours a semester for those students with a teaching fellowship and 9 credit hours a semester for all others.
  2. he DSO and/or the CGEE will verify enrollment hours for all students with an F-1 visa for each semester or summer school session as of the census date. If a student is not enrolled full-time, the DSO and/or CGEE will notify the Tax Compliance Manager (TCM). The TCM will notify the Payroll Office of any change in FICA status.
  3. The DSO may grant exceptions, as defined by INS, to the full course of study requirement for students that need fewer hours in order to graduate in the current semester or have approval from the DSO to enroll in less than a full course of study. In order to receive this exemption, each student must complete and submit an "Application for Exemption from Full-Time Student Registration" form to the DSO. Upon approval, the DSO will forward a copy to the TCM within three weeks of the beginning of the semester. The TCM will notify the Payroll Office of any students that do not receive this exemption.
  4. All students with an F-1 visa are required to meet with the TCM when they work on-campus each academic year. At this meeting, the TCM will determine the student’s FICA status and complete the "Nonresident Alien Withholding Worksheet". The TCM will forward a copy of this worksheet to the Payroll Office.
  5. Students with an F-1 visa may work more than one job on-campus as long as the TOTAL number of hours for all jobs does not exceed twenty hours a week while school is in session. The Payroll Office will notify the TCM if a student works more than one job on-campus during the academic year. The TCM will review the available Payroll reports to determine if any F-1 student works more than twenty hours a week. The TCM will notify the DSO of these students and inform the Payroll Office of any change in FICA status.
  6. Graduate students with an F-1 visa are not eligible to participate in the Graduate Work Fellowship program because it is a federally funded program.
  7. After 5 calendar years, students with an F-1 visa may still qualify for the FICA exemption under one of the other FICA exemption policies. In order to qualify, the student must meet all of the requirements for that policy. The TCM will notify the Payroll Office of any students who have exceeded the 5 calendar year limitation.
  8. INS regulations define the DSO as an individual who is a regularly employed member of the school administration, their office is located at the school and their compensation does not come from commissions for recruitment of foreign students. At Radford University, the DSO is the Immigration Counselor who is in the Office of International Programs.
  9. INS regulations state that "On-campus employment must either be performed on the school’s premises (including on-location commercial firms which provide services for students on campus, such as the school bookstore or cafeteria) or at an off-campus location which is educationally affiliated with the school. Employment with on-site commercial firms, such as a construction company building a school building, which do not provide direct student services, is not deemed on-campus employment. In the case of off-campus locations, the educational affiliation must be associated with the school’s established curriculum or related to contractually funded research projects at the post-graduate level."
NOTE TO #5 ABOVE: Until an automated system, which will track multiple payrolls, is developed, this policy cannot be implemented. Manual detection is too labor intensive and is not cost effective. However, for any student who is detected, the policy will apply.