The International Student Office

This right here is the reason why I've been so off balance lately. It’s the reason why I've been sleepless and cranky for at least two straight weeks. It’s the reason why I've also let out a few choice words at the office. Positively, this has let me know that my boss and colleagues appreciate my efforts and undoubtedly like me.

Let’s begin shall we? If you’re like the me that I was about 5 years ago, when you think of an International Student Office, you think of a safe haven for international students, a place where they can go because all that is familiar to them is probably far away and they need someone to explain all the new rules that now govern them. You think of it as a place that will help them navigate their way around and if nothing else, help them with relevant issues.

If you’re an international student and that thinking process has not changed for you, I’m extremely happy for you. Hopefully, circumstances will not let your experiences change. Mine did change. That bliss I had was only bliss because I didn't need to deal with the international office. I also had friends ahead of me who were kind enough to always share their experiences with things such as health insurance, visas and the like. The moment I graduated, I got to need the international office and my young eyes were forcefully opened.

I had just graduated and after all the excitement had died down, I went in to the office to apply for my work permit (OPT). The then Director of International Programs was the one “assisting” me with my application. In retrospect, his staff so much more well suited to assist. But I digress. While putting together my packet, he looked me straight in the eye and told me my work permit would not be approved. Of course I was immediately afraid and asked why. He simply said my visa had expired and that I was illegal. You see I hadn't left the country for a while, was in school throughout and thanks to my first year orientation (done by his then Assistant Director), I knew F-1 status was not visa dependent. So I told him that. He simply huffed and didn't offer any kind of apology or counter argument. Now pause.

Had I not known that I was currently in status, can you imagine what that misinformation could have done to me, my family and my finances? He simply shrugged away vital information. Like that was not enough, he also refused to call my department and to tell them it was alright to write me a letter stating I had graduated (the secretary was being a real biatch pain and that would have helped). This man was sitting right in front of me with a telephone in his office, no pending appointment and couldn't be bothered to pick up the phone. I asked him to give me my packet and told him I would find a way. He simply said “the office will not be responsible when you’re denied.” As God would have it, all things worked out. I won’t bore you with all stories of the tears I shed before they did.

This single experience opened my eyes to the horrors that international students face at the hands of international offices. I mean here was the Director of the office giving me wrong information. How was I to trust those he had trained to be right? It showed me that position, intelligence and capability were not always related. 

It turns out I was only being prepared for future incompetence. My grad school is a huge school and my program is located on a satellite campus. Let me first say that all international students on this entire campus are to be served by one person alone. Aside from mailing I-20s to and from the main campus, I don’t know what the role of this person is for us. In my entire two years, I had to keep calling the main campus myself for documents as well as information. In this University, the saying “too many cooks spoil the broth” is apparent. There are way too many “advisors” and only a handful of them are competent. I dealt with so many clueless and rude people that I lost count. One occurrence that stands out, happened before my graduation. Seeing as I was on a graduate and medical campus, our graduation schedule was of course different from other campuses. This advisor would not change my graduation date on my I-20. She thought I was making up the date but couldn't even be bothered to use the ever available Google to verify this information!

That’s all in the past and I’m blessed to still be working at my graduate school’s department with a condition of employment being, a work visa. In order to process this, who do we have to go through? You guessed it! Our beloved international office! I’ll spare you all the long details but I want you to know some things that a qualified international advisor said to my department. She said things such as, “her F-1 status will expire before her work permit does”, “are you trying to file the work visa for her for six months?”, “she’s better off with a J-visa”, “there’s no time to file a work visa.” I’m just going to point out her stupidity thinking addressing only one of the things she said. How can an F-1 work permit expire after an F-1 status? The USCIS tells you that your F-1 status expires 60 days after your work permit expires. So how then can my status expire before my permit and way before the 60 days allowed?!

Lucky for this girl, I don’t dabble in voodoo dolls. I really would have loved to make one though. It’s amazing that this bagger person will advise people younger than myself and will most likely provide the wrong information. I don’t know why rather than find out and get back to a person, most of these people feel the need to assert their authority in these situations and say whatever they want. I mean students suffer a lot of consequences which range from paying extra expensive fees, to straight deportation when using the wrong information.

I’ll end by saying this. If you’re an international student reading this (or you know one), don’t be afraid to speak your mind. If what your advisor is feeding you sounds like baloney, ask another person. Use the resources available to you (USCIS, other students, other school’s websites and offices) to find out exactly what is expected of you. Also, never ever delete correspondence between you and the international office. You never know when information in there could come in handy for you or someone after you. Lastly, look for someone in your department that you trust and keep them in the loop so you don’t ever go through your experiences alone. They are very draining and I have seen them lead to mental breakdowns for some students. 

This is not a post blaming the U.S. but rather speaking to the incompetent people in important positions.

~~~Tonia~~~