New VA contract limits outside work for international students
International students at Augustana are reconsidering their roles as Viking Advisors (VAs) following a specification in the contract that strictly limits their working hours.
On March 3, an email went out to all current and prospective VAs, highlighting an edit to the 2026–27 contract. The addition speaks to students on F-1 visas: nonimmigrant visas that allow international students to enter the U.S. for full-time education at a university.
The email, sent by Director of Residence Life Danny Sandberg, quoted the changed language of the contract: “Five hours of additional work per week outside the VA position are the maximum number of allowable hours for F-1 students to remain within the 20-hour employment limit.”
Students on these visas are limited by the federal government to 20 logged hours of employment a week while university classes are in session; this includes both on and off-campus positions. While the original contract says “Viking Advisors are expected to work an average of 15 hours per week,” it also said that “10 hours of additional work per week outside of the VA position is the maximum allowable number of hours.”
In previous years, this 15-hour average was not officially applied to F-1 visa holders’ 20-hour limit. This meant that international student VAs were able to work more than five hours outside of their VA role.
While this five-hour limit was not explicitly stated in previous contracts, Sandberg said this rule applied regardless.
“Language in the Viking Advisor contract says that VAs work an average of 15 hours a week,” Sandberg said. “That leaves five hours there that students on F-1 visas could work outside of that, as a rule. Nothing has really changed other than somebody in the [Center for Global Engagement] office is paying more attention to that federal law, which has been true for a long time, just not included in our language.”
Many students had already signed the original contract, which did not include the new language regarding F-1 visas. These must be voided and resigned before the kick-off event in April. However, many international students are reconsidering their decision because of the working hour limit.
“I think most of the VAs that do have an off-campus job are upset about it, because everybody is either gonna have to quit their jobs or work less hours,” sophomore VA Utsaha Shrestha said.
According to Shrestha, many F-1 students seek the VA position because it offers them free housing, a stipend and the chance to make connections on campus. Working an internship on top of a VA job enables students to prepare for their future careers while paying for their education.
“In most of our countries, you don’t get a lot of opportunities to work while still on campus, still studying,” Shrestha said. “Here you’re always allowed to do smaller jobs, and that is why we come here. But now that you can work only five hours every week, most companies will not even want to hire you.”
Another F-1 student VA, junior Abdul Wasay Noor, suggested that VAs should be required to log their working hours, such as when on-call or planning events.
“That’s way more fair than stipulating the job counts as 15 hours,” Noor said. “If they’re going to have us on a contractual basis, they should have us properly track the hours or stick to the way it was before, because we are still doing the work. It’s not like international [student] VAs aren’t putting the work in.”
April Valentine, the Center for Global Engagement’s newly hired associate director of international students, said that students are voicing concern that five hours per week is not sufficient for them to either serve an internship or work a second on-campus position.
“They’re worried because they seek these outside internships, of course, to gain relevant skills outside of their degree programs to use later and apply in real-world situations,” Valentine said. “And some are saying that it’s just not fair because the American students can still work an additional ten hours.”
Noor does not intend to be a VA next year but is disappointed with the handling of the situation.
“It is a slap in the face,” Noor said. “International students have been a large and vital part of the VA program since the start. Doing this feels a little like betrayal to us.”
This year, over half of all VAs are international students. For now, those that are returning will have to decide whether the clarified work limitations outweigh VA benefits.
“If someone does their own assessment and decides that the value of being a VA and having that additional five hours to work outside is less than not being one and working 20 hours while paying for housing fully, then that’s an outcome I would accept,” Sandberg said. “Res Life isn’t an entity that exists so people can afford coming to college.”
