J-1 On-Campus Employment

J-1 students are allowed to work on-campus up to 20 hours per week while school is in session. If you have been registered in spring and are registered for the summer term or will enroll for the following fall, you may work full-time on campus (more than 20 hours per week) during the summer.

However, all J-1 student employment requires written authorization each year by the Responsible Officer or Alternate Responsible Officer (RO or ARO) of the student's program. This is done by completing the Permission for J-1 On-Campus Employment form in iStart. If your DS-2019 was issued by a programming agency such as IIE, then the RO or ARO of that agency must give you annual work authorization.

Note: You can only be authorized for on-campus employment 12 months at a time. You must submit a new request in iStart each year.

All employees must complete the Employment Eligibility Verification form known as the  I-9. 

Penn State Human Resources (HR) processes I-9s for most individuals. See Steps 6-8 below for further information.

Steps for Initial On-Campus Employment

Obtain an employment letter from the hiring department. (Visit the Social Security page of this website for more details about Steps 1-4.)
Request a Social Security letter in iStart. You must upload the employer letter.
When the letter is prepared by ISSA, you will be notified by email.  If you are at another Penn State campus besides University Park, you can have the letter delivered to you.
Take all necessary documents to the Social Security Administration office in your area.
You will get a receipt from the Social Security office indicating that you have applied for a Social Security Number (SSN).
New employment: Review welcome email from HR Onboarding and follow instructions to complete the background check and section 1 of the form I-9.  Continuing employment after extending I-20 or DS-2019:  If you have been working and your I-20 or DS-2019 has been extended, you will not have an email about onboarding so schedule a session at the link below and select ‘other’ in the appointment detail field and add ‘reverification’ to the comment.
Schedule an onboarding session via the Penn State Onboarding Scheduler
Bring original identification documents to your onboarding session to complete section 2 of the I-9.